Catalyzing policy change and solutions through research to improve
the lives of people in the Asia and Pacific
using knowledge, information and technology

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• Report on election misinformation in Vietnam
  This report is one of the final outputs of an IDRC-funded project to 1) understand election influence operations and measures to counter disinformation globally, especially pertaining to Asia; 2) map actors who are involved in election-related counter-disinformation actions in five countries in South and Southeast Asia, and 3) document their past and upcoming activities related to countering disinformation around elections...
• Use of online job portal data in research and in practice: A review
  Last year we conducted research to explore the possibility of leveraging online job portal data for economic analysis in 13 Asia Pacific countries, as a part of a project for the Asian Development Bank...
• Report: Digitalisation for a Just Social Compact – Global South Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic
  This policy paper addresses the urgent need for a new social compact in response to the global challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic...
• Policy Influence in Crisis: Reflections from a Southern Thinktank
    An article authored by LIRNEasia researchers Helani Galpaya, Gayani Hurulle and David Gunawardana was recently published in the IDS Bulletin, published by the Institute of Development Studies...
• Making sense of Sri Lanka’s efforts to criminalise internet content
  Now that the fate of the “online safety” bill is in the hands of the many petitioners (45) and the three-judge bench that is looking at its constitutionality, we can look at the big picture of what the government is trying to do with this draconian legislation...

• LIRNEasia CEO Helani Galpaya Shares Insights on AI and Labour at ISLE Conference 2026
  Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming labour markets worldwide...
• LIRNEasia CEO Helani Galpaya at the Global South Policy Dialogue: Securing Labour Justice in the Age of AI
  As Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to transform the world of work, its impacts in the Global South present urgent and unique challenges...
• Ashwini Natesan at Factum’s ‘Case for and against the Online Safety Act’ panel discussion
  On February 26, Factum, with the support of the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives (CFLI), officially launched a policy report titled “Online Safety’s Impact on Human Rights and Digital Governance...
• Gayani Hurulle at UNESCAP workshop on Cross-Border Data Sharing for Digital Public Service Innovation
  Gayani Hurulle (Senior Research Manager, LIRNEasia) was invited to conduct a session on the current state and challenges associated with cross-border data sharing at a regional capacity-building workshop on ‘Cross-Border Data Sharing for Digital Public Service Innovation’...
• Sharing Global Lessons on Misinformation: Insights from Three Regions
  In October 2025, researchers from across the Global South gathered in São Paulo, Brazil, for the closing workshop of the three-year project, Resisting Information Disorder in the Global South, funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC)...

• LIRNEasia CEO Helani Galpaya at UNDP conference on New Ways of Governing
  LIRNEasia CEO Helani Galpaya attended UNDP’s New Ways of Governing Conference in Oslo on 28–29 October 2025, contributing to discussions on AI and data governance...
• Untangling Data Governance – Sri Lanka’s Way Forward
  “Untangling Data Governance – Sri Lanka’s Way Forward” was held on 13 November 2024 in Colombo, Sri Lanka...
• “Day of Information Disorder”: Evidence-Based Solutions for a Resilient Digital Age
  On July 3, 2025, in Colombo, LIRNEasia organized the “Day of Information Disorder” to disseminate research findings from two major studies: a nationally representative survey and an experimental study measuring the effectiveness of misinformation countering measures...
• Missed opportunities in Philippine data governance
  Even though the Constitution of the Philippines protects citizens’ right to access official records and research data used in policymaking, the absence of a comprehensive right-to-information law has left implementation subject to executive discretion...
• Rethinking Sri Lanka’s Data Centre Hub Ambition
  The idea of turning Sri Lanka into a regional data centre hub is an attractive one, particularly in the context of growing global demand for digital infrastructure and AI-driven services...
• Nepal’s digital crossroads: building a transparent data governance framework
  Nepal’s evolving digital landscape highlights a growing tension between constitutional guarantees of privacy and access to information, and a fragmented, outdated data governance framework...
• LIRNEasia CEO Helani Galpaya Shares Insights on AI and Labour at ISLE Conference 2026
  Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming labour markets worldwide...
• LIRNEasia CEO Helani Galpaya at the Global South Policy Dialogue: Securing Labour Justice in the Age of AI
  As Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to transform the world of work, its impacts in the Global South present urgent and unique challenges...