I often struggle to describe myself in bios and categories. By day, I lead a team of data scientists and social science researchers doing AI-for-social-good work; more on that below. I am also a recovering chemical engineer turned public-policy enthusiast. An unreasonable amount of how I think about policy comes down to two questions: does it work? and how do we know?. Tyler Cowen’s idea of raising others’ aspirations deeply resonates with me. On my more self-flattering days, I like to think I might have been a professional athlete in a different country. I still haven’t totally given up on getting into pro sports as a nerd.

Work

At LIRNEasia, our Data, Algorithms & Policy (DAP) team works with government and civil society to build data-driven systems, do policy-relevant research, and contribute to the AI ecosystem through high-quality datasets and capacity building. We also do more directly policy-facing work, including serving as the Asian hub for the Global Index on Responsible AI and contributing to policy processes around data and AI in Sri Lanka.

Expect more specificity here soon.

Outside Work

A thin strange, slice, that will be expanded..

I am a huge sports nerd. I try to keep tabs on several sports almost daily, even though watching full live events is often a challenge because of the rest of life. Athletics, the NBA, and tennis are firmly in the first tier, with cricket occupying a strange category of its own that I still do not quite know how to name. My love of sport also shapes my opinions and tastes in other parts of life, and it is one area where I happily acknowledge my own biases. For example, I think Federer as Religious Experience is a literary masterpiece, Tim Duncan should be the role model for every kid growing up with any ambition, and Aravinda de Silva’s 66 against India in the 1996 World Cup Semi Final is, by some distance, the greatest innings by a Sri Lankan ever.

Oh, and Papare Rules, Okay?

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Find my full CV here.