If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?
- Albert Einstein
Embedded Files
Dr. Kushan Sudheera, PhD | Senior Lecturer | AI & Cybersecurity Researcher | Computer Engineer
Department of Electrical and Information Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka
Convocation 2020
Convocation 2020
About Me...
About Me...
I am a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Electrical and Information Engineering at the University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka. My research spans Artificial Intelligence, cybersecurity, intelligent networks, the Internet of Things, machine learning and emerging language technologies, with a growing focus on practical AI systems, Sinhala language technologies, AI-enabled healthcare and secure intelligent systems.
My research journey began with Software Defined Vehicular Networks and intelligent networking during my PhD at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, and continued as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the National University of Singapore (NUS). It has since expanded toward AI, cybersecurity, IoT, large language models and locally relevant AI technologies.
Featured initiative: HelaAI (helaai.lk), a Sri Lankan AI research initiative focused on Sinhala language models, NLP, OCR and locally relevant AI, including SinhalaLM, a compact Sinhala language model. I am actively involved in research supervision, Computer Engineering education, student innovation and technology development.
Building intelligent, secure and locally relevant computing systems through AI, cybersecurity and engineering.
Kushan Sudheera –
Education
Education
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (2015 - 2019)
PhD in Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Thesis: Software Defined Networking Approach for Efficient Information Dissemination in Vehicular Networks (Coursework CGPA: 4.70/5.00)
University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka (2010 - 2015)
Bachelor of the Science of Engineering (First Class Honors) in Electrical and Information Engineering
(OGPA: 3.92/4.00) (First in the Batch) (Vice Chancellor's List, 2014)
Work Experience
Work Experience
Senior Lecturer, Department of Electrical and Information Engineering, University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka (Sep 2021 - Present)
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, NUS-Singtel Cyber Security R&D Lab, National University of Singapore (Aug 2019 - Apr 2021)
Teaching Assistant, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (Aug 2015 - Aug 2019)
Temporary Lecturer, University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka (Feb 2015 - Aug 2015)
Product Verification Engineer (Intern), Atrenta Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, Sri Lanka (Jan 2014 - Apr 2014)
Electronics Engineer (Intern), Brandix Lanka Limited, Sri Lanka (Oct 2012 - Dec 2012)
Freelancing Software Developer at Fiverr (Jan 2013 – Dec 2015)
Awards
Awards
Most Outstanding Young Researcher Award, Vice Chancellor's Awards 2026, University of Ruhuna
Gold Award, National AI Awards 2026 for Best AI Solution in Healthcare and Life Sciences: COGNI, an AI-enabled wearable and mobile system for stroke hand rehabilitation
Gold Award, National AI Awards 2026: SinhalaLM, a compact Sinhala language model developed under HelaAI, in the Sinhala/Tamil Language Localisation Innovation category
First Place, IEEE FYP Arena: Drone-based water quality monitoring (final-year project), Embedded and Robotics track, 2026
NTU Research Scholarship for PhD studies at the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Dr. A.D.V. Premaratne Memorial Gold Medal for the Best OGPA in the Dept. of Electrical and Information Engineering (DEIE), Faculty of Eng. (FoE), University of Ruhuna (UoR), Sri Lanka
Ronnie De Mel Gold Medal for the Best OGPA in the FoE, UoR, Sri Lanka
S.D. Jayasundere Memorial Gold Medal for the Best performance in the final year undergraduate projects in the DEIE, FoE, UoR, Sri Lanka
Achieved titles of “Outstanding Student in Electronic Engineering, Outstanding Student in Software Engineering and Outstanding Student in Research and Development” in DEIE, FoE, UoR, Sri Lanka
Migara Ratnatunga Trust Award awarded by the Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka for University Undergraduates for Industrial Training Projects - 2014
Internationally represented Sri Lankan Universities in JENSYS 2.0 Program at Japan - May 2014
Achieved 1st Place in Sense-Making IoT Workshop for Young Researchers (IEEE CASS) - 2017
Achieved 1st Place in IEEExtreme coding competition from the University of Ruhuna - 2014
News
News
2026: Received the Most Outstanding Young Researcher Award at the Vice Chancellor's Awards, University of Ruhuna.
2026: COGNI, an AI-enabled wearable and mobile system for stroke hand rehabilitation, won the Gold Award for Best AI Solution in Healthcare and Life Sciences at the National AI Awards.
2026: SinhalaLM, our compact Sinhala language model developed under HelaAI, won the Gold Award in the Sinhala/Tamil Language Localisation Innovation category at the National AI Awards.
2026: The drone-based water quality monitoring system by my final-year project students (Banula J.Y., Jayawardhana W.P.G.M.S., Kaushika M.K.I. and Kumarasinghe D.D.I.C.) won First Place in the Embedded and Robotics track of the IEEE FYP Arena competition.
HelaAI (helaai.lk): building AI for Sri Lanka, including SinhalaLM, a compact Sinhala language model.
Research snapshot (Google Scholar, 2026): 920+ citations, h-index 17, i10-index 20.
Find our latest review paper, "Artificial Intelligence and IoT in Elderly Fall Prevention: A Review," in IEEE Sensors Journal, 2024.
Find our latest paper, "Enhanced Aspect-Based Sentiment Analysis with Integrated Category Extraction for Instruct-DeBERTa," in PACLIC 38, Japan, 2024.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse