Meet Sri Lankan Researcher — Rakshitha Godahewa

What are you currently working on or worked on before?

I’m a 2nd year Ph.D. student at the Faculty of IT, Monash University. The main focus of my research is improving time series forecasting accuracy using global ensemble models. I’m currently doing my experiments with Recurrent Neural Networks, Feed-Forward Neural Networks, and Pooled Regression models.

What encouraged you to pursue your research topic?

Forecasting is very beneficial for any type of business and industry. The forecasting models we develop can be used to address many real-world forecasting problems such as sales demand forecasting, energy demand forecasting, and weather forecasting. The advantages of the forecasting models encouraged me to pursue my research topic.

What is the name of your current university?

Monash University, Australia.

Where do you find your best inspiration for your work?

The findings of my research will be very beneficial for most businesses and industries. Especially, they will be very useful for the field of computer science and engineering. That feeling always inspires me to work.

Can you share with us some of your publications?

Yes, my publications are available at the ResearchGate profile.

What’s one of your biggest personal achievements so far?

My achievements include obtaining 9th position of Kalutara District from GCE Ordinary Level Examination (2007), obtaining 4th position of Kalutara District and obtaining school’s highest result in both science and maths sections from GCE Advanced Level Examination (2010), winning 2 academic excellence awards from University of Moratuwa (2015, 2016), winning the Dean’s List award for all academic semesters from University of Moratuwa (2011–2016), obtaining the 1st position (semester 3–2013) and overall 4th position (2011–2016) with over 4.0 Grade point Average in Computer Science and Engineering batch, University of Moratuwa (out of 99 students), winning three Ph.D. scholarships from Monash University (2019, 2020), winning a scholarship from Anita Borg Institute (2019), and obtaining the first position of forecasting competitions.

What lessons would you share with a budding researcher?

Always take advice from your supervisors related to your research. If you have issues, discuss with senior researchers rather than trying to solve them alone. And also, don’t panic if your solutions do not work. There is a high chance to fail things that we try first to solve a particular research problem. Try different things and definitely it will lead you for a proper solution.

What motivated you to be a researcher?

I always wanted to become an engineer. I was able to fulfill my goal in 2016 after obtaining the BSc. Engineering (Hons) degree from the University of Moratuwa. After gaining 3 years of industry experience, I thought that I can more contribute to the engineering field by being a researcher. That motivated me to become a researcher.

If there is a chance, will you help build research in Sri Lanka?

Yes, Absolutely.

According to your opinion, what are the changes that the Sri Lankan education system needs to do, in order to meet the requirement of the international industry and academia?

1. Improving teaching standards.
2. Making students more familiar with information technology, e-learning, etc.
3. Providing more opportunities for students to speak in English.