Sukitha was a Researcher at LIRNEasia. He holds an MA in Political Science from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, with a specialization in social science research methods. He also holds a BA in Political Science (Honours with Distinction, 2021) from the same university. Prior to his MA, Sukitha worked as a Junior Researcher at LIRNEasia (2022–2023), contributing to projects on election misinformation, social safety nets, data for the SDGs, and digital government. He also served as a Research Executive at Kantar from 2021 to 2022. 
Sukitha was a Researcher at LIRNEasia. He holds an MA in Political Science from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, with a specialization in social science research methods. He also holds a BA in Political Science (Honours with Distinction, 2021) from the same university. Prior to his MA, Sukitha worked as a Junior Researcher at LIRNEasia (2022–2023), contributing to projects on election misinformation, social safety nets, data for the SDGs, and digital government. He also served as a Research Executive at Kantar from 2021 to 2022. 
Shenali is a former researcher at LIRNEasia, where her work focused on the intersection of technology, economic growth, and sustainability. She holds a BSc (Honours) in Economics from the University of London. Prior to her time at LIRNEasia, Shenali worked in the finance departments of MAS Holdings, a leading apparel manufacturer in Sri Lanka, and :Different, a property management start-up based in New South Wales. She also had a brief stint as a freelance journalist for the Daily FT, and later joined the research and communications teams at the Advocata Institute. 
Merl is a Research Manager and the Team Lead at the Data, Algorithms and Policy (DAP) team at LIRNEasia. His diverse research interests are unified by a strong desire to utilise data science methods for crafting practical solutions and generating policy-relevant insights for the public good. At LIRNEasia, Merl is currently leading the creation of machine learning datasets focusing on household electricity consumption in Sri Lanka. These datasets aim to assist researchers and practitioners in formulating evidence-based strategies for managing energy demand within the country’s energy sector. Additionally, he is utilising satellite imagery and machine learning to map urban expansion in Sri Lanka, unveiling crucial trends in the country’s urbanisation process. 
Nisansa de Silva’s area of expertise include Natural Language Processing, Deep Leranng/Machine Learning, Data Mining, and Bioinformatics. He is a lecturer attached to the Department of Computer Science & Engineering, University of Moratuwa where he taught subjects: Machine Learning, Advanced Algorithms, Bioinformatics, Programming Challenge, and Software Engineering Project. At University of Moratuwa, he is a member of then DATASearch research group, Data Mining Research Group, and Teaching, Learning and Assessment for Engineering education research group. He was involved in LIRNEasia’s recent research efforts on Big Data for Development as a part time researcher. He holds a PhD from the University of Oregon, 
Nilusha Kapugama rejoined LIRNEasia in 2020 and is currently working as LIRNEasia’s Chief Operating Officer. She is responsible for managing LIRNEasia’s operational and business development activities. Previously she worked at LIRNEasia for 7 years until 2015. During this time, she engaged in and managed research projects in areas such inclusive agriculture and electricity. Nilusha also conducted systematic reviews and later managed a multi-country systematic review capacity building project. 
Isuru Samaratunga is a Research Manager at LIRNEasia. He is currently engaged in ICT-related qualitative research projects in Asia and the Pacific. Some of the major qualitative research projects he has led have been for global funders such as ESCAP, GSMA, Ford Foundation, IDRC, USAID, Asia Foundation, UNFPA and UN-Habitat. The projects include landscape study and assessment of ICT capacity building needs, developing Mobile solutions for persons with disabilities, online privacy and security of marginalized communities, countering misinformation using AI, empowerment through online platforms, developing communication strategies for family planning programs and social impact assessments of development projects. In the recent past, Isuru has been using online methods and participatory user research approach for qualitative data collection. 
Pamudu reviewed the literature and data related to women’s labor force participation and the effects ICTs could have on these low participation rates, for LIRNEasia. Prior to LIRNEasia, Pamudu worked stints as a market researcher, academic tutor, and a coordinator of art shows. She recently completed her thesis for an MPhil at the School of Architecture, University of Queensland, Australia. She has a BA (Magna Cum Laude) in Growth and Structure of Cities and Fine Arts (Sculpture) from Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania, USA. She is currently reading for a PhD in the History of Art and Architecture, at Brown University, Rhode Island. 
Lasantha is a Research Fellow with LIRNEasia. He previously worked full-time as a Senior Researcher on the Big Data for Development (BD4D) project. While at LIRNEasia, his research focused on spatiotemporal forecasting of infectious diseases, predicting population-level socio-economic characteristics, and privacy preserving data generation using machine learning and mobile network big data. Prior to that, he worked as a Senior Software Engineer at WSO2, a leading IT company in Sri Lanka, where he was a key member of the Complex Event Processor (CEP) team. He holds a BSc (Hons) and a research-based MSc in Computer Science & Engineering from the University of Moratuwa. 
Shazna is a Research Fellow at LIRNEasia. She’s had 9+ years of experience in managing research projects in the ICT domain and 4 years in the software industry. At LIRNEasia she led the benchmarking of ICT indicators such as voice and data prices and broadband quality of service. Shazna has been active in the ITU’s Expert Group on Telecommunication/ICT Indicators (EGTI), which is responsible for improving the ITU’s supply-side indicators through revising data collected from operators, establishing new indicators and resolving methodological issues for existing and new indicators. In 2017 she was appointed by ITU to lead a sub-committee responsible to propose revisions to the methodology for benchmarking ICT price baskets, the only globally comparative price benchmark of the UN member states.
Laleema was a research manager at LIRNEasia. She managed the Ford Foundation-funded projects on “Facilitating and enriching policy discourse on improving broadband access by the poor” and “Enhancing broadband policy discourse in Nepal, with emphasis on inclusion of the differently abled”. Her work as a the project manager involved a research study to assess the potential of broadband networks for rural connectivity in India, nationally representative research on Internet and mobile access and use in Indonesia and Internet and mobile access and use survey in Nepal with a special focus on those living with disability, capacity building courses on “How to Engage in Broadband Policy and Regulatory Processes” in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka and management of a single window of information related to broadband that may be needed by a policy maker in the Asian region in the form of a website. She also managed a component of the IDRC funded research on Inclusion in business process outsourcing. This research focused on the employability of lower income individuals in online work platforms in India, Sri Lanka and Myanmar.
Gayani is a Senior Research Manager at LIRNEasia, where she focuses on mixed-methods research at the intersection of economic development, policy, and digital technologies. Her areas of expertise include social protection, poverty, digital access, use and skills, digital taxation, and cross border data flows. She has worked on several Asian countries including Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Myanmar, India, and Nepal. She has contributed to national policies and regulations, managed large-scale research projects, and delivered capacity-building programmes for government agencies. In addition to her role at LIRNEasia, Gayani is a consultant with the Asian Development Bank and has previously consulted with the World Bank, Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Digital Infrastructure and Information Technology, and EY. 
Chiranthi Rajapakse was a Research Manager (Legal and Policy) at LIRNEasia. She is an Attorney at Law with a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from the University of London (International Programmes), and holds a Diploma in Human Rights from the Institute of Human Rights. She has also completed a Master’s in Human Rights and Democratisation from the Faculty of Law, University of Colombo. Her postgraduate research explored legislation prohibiting hate speech in Sri Lanka and the rise of online hate speech targeting minority communities in the post-war period. Chiranthi brought extensive experience as a researcher, writer, and project manager. 
Ayesha served as a Senior Research Manager at LIRNEasia. Her core areas of interest lay at the intersection of technology and inclusion in the Global South, with a focus on the future of work. She had over 19 years of extensive experience in this field, having designed, managed and led numerous research projects in the South and Southeast Asian region for clients such as IDRC (Canada), the World Bank, the Ford Foundation, the GSM Association, the Asian Development Bank, and GIZ, among others, and led LIRNEasia’s gender work. She managed a regional hub for research on the future of work in LMIC Asia, as part of IDRC’s FutureWORKS initiative toward an inclusive and sustainable future of work. In her most recent research, she documented how digital technologies are changing work opportunities and contexts in particular for women in South Asia.