Prof. Roshan G. Ragel

Dr Ragel was appointed a Senior Lecturer in Computer Engineering at the University of Peradeniya in December 2007 and has been a Professor since October 2017. He has been a Professional Member of the IEEE and IEEE Computer Society since 2005 and a Senior Member since 2014. He was a visiting research scholar at the UNSW – Sydney many times, QUT – Brisbane, UIUC – Illinois, and ANU – Canberra once each.

Prof Ragel has co-authored over 200 peer-reviewed articles on Internet of Things, Wearable Computing, Bioinformatics, and Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. He has won several best paper awards in conference papers, the most prolific Sri Lankan author award from Elsevier Research in 2017, and the Presidential award for scientific publication in Sri Lanka in 2018 and 2023. He was also named the top scientist in computer science in Sri Lanka by the AD Scientific Index in 2021 and 2022 and the best computer scientist in the country from 2023 to 2025. He also won the National Educator Gold Awards 2024 for Computing, given to the best in each field of the Higher Education sector.

Prof Ragel received the 2025 IEEE Computer Society Mary Kenneth Keller Computer Science & Engineering Undergraduate Teaching Award, the first academic to receive this award from the Global South. This prestigious honor recognizes his outstanding contributions to undergraduate education through innovative teaching, impactful research, and dedicated service, fostering an inclusive community of experiential mentorship for undergraduates in Sri Lanka.

Prof Ragel has been the consulting chief executive officer at the Lanka Research and Education Network (LEARN), the national NREN, since 2017. With his involvement, LEARN was able to step up for a significant milestone by launching the Asi@Connect Project in Sri Lanka in 2017, which brought many opportunities for the LEARN Research and Education (R&E) network community to get involved in utilising the project resources and funds. He has represented Sri Lanka in the Asi@Connect Governors meeting and has been a Council Member of Asia Pacific Advanced Network (APAN) since 2017. Since 2020, he is also the Vice-Chair of the Asi@Connect Steering Committee. With COVID-19 lockdowns, LEARN is helping the university community in the country connect and engage in productive research and education activities online.

At the National level, Prof Ragel was a Core Group member for Higher Education at the Presidential Task Force for Education, which was established in 2020. He is a member of the UGC Standing Committee on the Development of IT Infrastructure and Online Education and the UGC-appointed committee to develop the Concept of Virtual / Hybrid University. He also served as a member of the Presidential Committee to Formulate the AI Strategy for Sri Lanka, a committee formulated with the advancement of Generative AI. He also worked with ICTA Sri Lanka to steer the AI Sri Lanka initiative, leading the Skills and Curricula pillar. He is also a founder of the AI Forum for Academics (AIFA). This academic syndicate explores the opportunities and challenges of GenAI in Higher education based at the University of Peradeniya.

• BSc Eng Hons (Peradeniya)
• PhD Computer Science and Engineering (UNSW)

1. 2025 IEEE Computer Society Mary Kenneth Keller Computer Science & Engineering Undergraduate Teaching Award
2. The National Educator Gold Awards 2024 for Computing
3. Best Scientist in CS in the Country from 2023 to 2025 by AD Scientific Index.
4. Top Scientist in Computer Science in Sri Lanka by AD Scientific Index 2021 and 2022
5. Tier 4* awardee by the University of Peradeniya for Research Excellence under the Transparent Research Performance Scheme introduced by the University Grants Commission (UGC) Sri Lanka 2020
6. Faculty Research Excellence Award 2018 – Faculty of Engineering, University of Peradeniya
7. Presidential Awards for Scientific Publications in the Year 2018 and 2023
8. The Scopus most prolific Sri Lankan Author from 2011-16 by MOSTR, COSTi and Elsevier Research, May 2017
9. Best Paper Award – The 7th International Conference on Information and Automation for Sustainability (ICIAfS 2014), Colombo, Sri Lanka
10. e-Swabhinami 2012 award in the e-Science & Technology Category for the project titled “Open-source Framework for Lead Identification in Drug Design”
11. Best Paper Award – The 6th International Conference on Information and Automation for Sustainability (ICIAfS2012), Beijing, China
12. Won the First Franklin Pierce Center for Intellectual Property Essay Competition in Sri Lanka organized by School of Law at University of New Hampshire, 2012
13. Best student paper award for ICT & Social Transformation track – The 5th International Conference on Information and Automation for Sustainability (ICIAfS2010)

1. [36,300 Euro funding through Asi@Connect project from EU: 2021] National Research and Education Network Needs Assessment
2. [999,091 Euro funding through Erasmus+ from EU: 2020-2022] Improving Access to Science and Technology Higher Education in Resource-Poor Institutions through an Open Platform for Technology Enabled Active Learning Environment (TEAL2.o). The project will be carried out by a consortium of the following eleven universities and the European Center for Quality: UNIVERSITY OF PERADENIYA – Sri Lanka, UNIVERSITY OF MORATUWA – Sri Lanka, SLT CAMPUS (PVT) LTD – Sri Lanka, INDIAN INSTITUTE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ALLAHABAD – India, RK UNIVERSITY – India, VELLORE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY TRUST-VIT UNIVERSITY – India, ASIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY – Thailand, NARESUAN UNIVERSITY – Thailand, UNIVERSITATEA TRANSILVANIA DIN BRASOV – Rumania, ALMA MATER STUDIORUM – UNIVERSITA DI BOLOGNA – Italy, UNIVERSITETET I STAVANGER – Norway, and EUROPEAN CENTER FOR QUALITY OOD -Bulgaria.
3. [150,000 Euro funding through Asi@Connect project from EU: 2019-2021] Uplifting Resources to Deploy IPv6, DNS/DNSSEC, identity access management and monitoring of the network performance and its security. The activities are (1) Host Workshops in Bhutan, Laos and Sri Lanka to train NREN technical people on IPv6, DNS/DNSSEC and monitoring of the network performance and security, and (2) Collaborative effort by LEARN, Royal University Bhutan, LERNET-Laos and APNIC. Prospective target countries: Laos, Bhutan, Nepal, Cambodia, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Philippines and Vietnam.

1. Mathuranthagaa Selvaratnam [PhD Candidate] (co-supervised with Muttukrishnan Rajarajan, City, University of London)
2. Romiyal George [PhD Candidate] Plant Diseases Detection (co-supervised with Thuseethan Selvarajah, Charles Darwin University, Australia)
3. M Santhanakrishnan [PhD Candidate] (co-supervised with Thuseethan Selvarajah, Charles Darwin University, Australia and Siyamalan Manivannan, University of Jaffna)
4. Kanagasabai Thiruthanigesan [PhD Candidate] (co-supervised with Ruwan Nawarathna, CS, UoP)
5. Roshan Pushpakumara [PhD Candidate] (co-supervised with Isuru Nawinne)
6. S Nimishan [PhD Candidate] (co-supervised with Thuseethan Selvarajah, Charles Darwin University, Australia S. Vasanthapriyan (SUSL))

1. Anjana Senanayake [MPhil] (co-supervised with Hasindu Gamaarachchi (UNSW, Sydney) and Damayanthi Herath (UoP))
2. Rukshani Puvanendran [MPhil Candidate] (co-supervised with Asanka P. Sayakkara (UCSC))
3. Rasendram Muralitharan [MPhil Candidate] (co-supervised with Upul Jayasinghe (UoP))
4. Sandaruwan Herath [MPhil Candidate] (co-supervised with Prabhath Gunathilake)
5. Warunika Hippola [MPhil Candidate] (co-supervised with Isuru Nawinne)
6. Hasini Vindiya Athauda [MPhil Candidate] (co-supervised with Upul Jayasinghe)
7. H Hashan [MPhil Candidate] (co-supervised with Asitha Bandaranayake (UoP)
8. Dinusha Premasiri [MPhil Candidate] (co-supervised with Isuru Nawinne)
9. Charunika Dampalessa [MSc by Research Candidate]

• Yes (limited availability)