Sachini joined LIRNEasia in February 2024 as a Junior Researcher. She holds a BSc in Business Economics with First Class Honours from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura. In addition to her academic background in economics, she is also an Attorney-at-Law, bringing interdisciplinary expertise to her research work. She is currently pursuing an MSc in Applied Statistics at the University of Colombo.
Before joining LIRNEasia, Sachini worked as a Junior Macro Analyst at a fund management company, where she was engaged in macroeconomic research with a specific focus on Sri Lanka. She also has legal experience, having worked as a legal apprentice specializing in civil and commercial law, which provided her with exposure to legal analysis and regulatory frameworks.
At LIRNEasia, she is currently involved in the following projects:
- A national survey to identify human factors associated with information disorder, along with an experimental study assessing the effectiveness of solutions to counter misinformation.
- The Harnessing Data for Democratic Development in South and Southeast Asia
- Media monitoring and analysis of proposed laws and regulations.
Her past work at LIRNEasia includes:
- A digital landscape analysis of the Maldives and a policy note on the country’s progress and challenges in digital development, with recommendations, where she focused on government and regulatory aspects. This involved desk research and in-depth interviews with key stakeholders.
- Research on the impact of draft personal data protection legislation in Pakistan, particularly regarding proposed data location clauses. She contributed to the synthesis and writing of the report.
- A report on cross-border data flows for regional integration, where she conducted key informant interviews for sectoral analysis.