Meet Sri Lankan Researcher-Upekha Miriyagalla

What are you currently working on or worked on before?

I worked on a study investigating the prosocial morality of Sri Lankan school children and also on a project looking at the effect of stress experienced by Sri Lankan, university undergraduates. I’m currently working on exploring the stereotypes made about video game players and how it impacts close relationships at La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia

What encouraged you to pursue your research topic?

I have always been fascinated by the study of human morality and this interest was further reinforced as a result of an interesting talk I attended during the university which looked into virtual immoralities done in the gaming space.

Where do you find your best inspiration for your work?

I believe human behavior and human cognition are the best inspiration for my work. Observing what people go through every day and trying to make sense of that by relating to published work motivates me to be analytical.

Can you share with us some of your publications?

My previous studies have been published in conference proceedings as below,
“Exploring Prosocial Moral Reasoning of Sri Lankan School Children” in
Proceedings of Open University International Research Sessions 2017
Authors: U.P.Miriyagalla, B.D.D.Pathirana

“Multifactor Analysis of Variables Impacting the Academic Achievement of University Undergraduates in Sri Lanka” in
Proceedings of International Research Conference on Humanities and Social Sciences 2018, University of Sri Jayawardenapura, Sri Lanka
Authors: U.P.Miriyagalla, R.Usoof, N.D.U.Vimukthi

What lessons would you share with a budding researcher?

Try, try, and try again. I had to try a lot to get the Ph.D. opportunity, I had to then try a lot to make sense of a project and I’m still trying to polish up my research. So just know that there are ups and downs, but if you are passionate about the work, you are going to soldier on no matter what.

I have an awesome mentor/lecturer back in Sri Lanka whose dedication to research made me motivated to achieve it for myself as well. So it’s important to have the right mentor support backing you.

This motivation enabled me in getting selected for a Ph.D. with a full scholarship can be considered as one of my biggest personal achievements so far.

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?

One thing I realized after starting my Ph.D. abroad is that our local courses have to be updated constantly. Sometimes we might be still discussing a theorem or an analysis which have now been disproven or discontinued using internationally. As a researcher rather than blaming the system, we can try to carry out some professional development and updating of our knowledge on our own as well.