I graduated from University of Colombo in 1985 with a first class Honours in mathematics. Limited availability of postgraduate opportunities in Sri Lanka during that period, in the field of mathematics made me switch to statistics. I completed my postgraduate research studies under the supervision of Prof. Richard A. Lockhart of the Simon Fraser University, Canada. My current research interests are mainly in the areas of big data analysis, biological data modelling and testing goodness of fit of mixture models. I am also keen in research related to Open and Distance Learning.
Dr. (Ms.) W.C.W. Navaratna (on sabbatical leave)
B.Sc. (Colombo); PG Diploma in Applied Statistics (Colombo); M.Sc., Ph.D. (Simon Fraser, Canada)
Senior Lecturer G I
Dept. of Mathematics
- Room No. 332, 3rd Floor, Science & Technology Building, Central Campus, Nawala, Nugegoda
- +94112881519, +94112881443 Ext: 3402/3403
- wcper@ou.ac.lk
Statistics
Big data analysis, biological data modelling, testing goodness of fit of mixture models, Open and Distance Learning
- Senior Lecturer Gr I, The Open University of Sri Lanka (Aug 2002 to date)
- Senior Lecturer Gr II, The Open University of Sri Lanka (Aug 1996 to Aug 2002)
- Lecturer (prob)/Assistant Lecturer, The Open University of Sri Lanka (Jan 1987 to Aug 1996)
- Assistant Lecturer, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka (Oct 1985 to Dec 1986)
- Visiting Research Collaborator, Dept. of Statistics and Actuarial Science, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby BC V5A 1S6, Canada (May 2017 to November 2017)
- Visiting Fellow, School of Biological Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, UK. (January 2007 to July 2007).
- Visiting Academic Fellow, Open University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. (November 2003 to December 2003)
- Visiting Academic, Dept. of Mathematics and Statistics, Simon Fraser University, Canada. (February 2001 to May 2001)
- Teaching Assistant, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Simon Fraser University, Canada (One semester per year from 1991 to 1996)
- Research Assistant, Dept. of Mathematics and Statistics, Simon Fraser University, Canada. (August 1995 to August 1996)
ADU5301 – Regression Analysis I
ADU5318 – Biostatistics
ADU5615 – Project in Mathematics
- Hettiarachchi R.D., Sumathipala W.L., Navaratna W.C.W., Somarathne S., Premalal K.H.M.S. (2021) The Impact of PDO on South–West Monsoon Rainfall Over Sri Lanka and Monsoon-ENSO Relation. In: Amaratunga D., Haigh R., Dias N. (eds) Multi-Hazard Early Warning and Disaster Risks. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-73003-1_10
- Navaratna, C.W., Bandarage, G., Rajapaksha Appuhamilage, D.N., Pasqual, H., Rajendra, J.C.N., Ranasinghe, M.D.D. and Ratnayake, U.W. (2022), “Learner characteristics attributable to completion and duration of completion in engineering and science degree programmes of OUSL”, Asian Association of Open Universities Journal, Vol. 17 No. 1, pp. 65-83. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAOUJ-09-2021-0114
- Navaratna W. C. W., Victor J. Del Rio Vilas and Dankmar BÖhning (2008) Extending Zelterman’s Approach for Robust Estimation of Population Size to Zero-truncated Clustered Data, Biometrical Journal, Volume 50, Issue 04, 584 – 596.
- Lockhart R. A. and Perera, W. C. W. (2006) Testing normality in Designs with many parameters, Technometrics, Volume 48, No. 03, pp 436 – 444
- Jayawardene C. J. and Navaratna, W. C. W. (2019). A note on Star critical Ramsey (Cn, K6) numbers for large n, Annals of Pure and Applied Mathematics, 20 (1), 9 – 12
- Richard A. Lockhart and Chandanie W. Navaratna (2019) On comparison of estimators for proportional error nonlinear regression models in the limit of small measurement error, https://arxiv.org/pdf/1911.09680.pdf
- Richard A. Lockhart and Chandanie W. Navaratna (2019) A goodness of fit test for two parameter two component Weibull mixtures, https://arxiv.org/abs/1912.03423
- Jayawardene C. J. and Navaratna, W. C. W. (2019) On Star critical Ramsey numbers related to large cycles versus complete graphs, https://arxiv.org/abs/1903.10891
- Jayawardene C. J. and Navaratna, W. C. W. (2019) All Ramsey (Cn, K6) critical graphs for large n, https://arxiv.org/abs/1902.02646
- Jayawardene C. J. Senadheera, J. N., Fernando, K. A. S. N. and Navaratna, W. C. W. (2019). On Star-critical (K1,n,K1,m + e) Ramsey numbers, https://arxiv.org/abs/1905.11380
- Ranasinghe, D. D. M., Bandarage G., Dilsha, R. A. N., Navaratna, W.C.W, Pasqual, H., Rajendra, J.C.N., Rathnayake H. U. W. (2021). Identification of Factors Affecting Programme Completion at OUS: a case study on Engineering and Science Streams, 34th Annual Conference of the Asian Association of Open Universities.
- Sumathipala, W.L., Hettiarachchi, R.D., Navaratna W.C.W., Somaratne, S., Premalal, K.H.M.S. (2020). The impact of PDO on Southwest Monsoon Rainfall over Sri Lanka and Monsoon-ENSO Relation, International Symposium on Multi-hazard Early Warning and Disaster Risk Reduction, pp 23.
- Dharmarathne Tillekerathne, L. K. C., Navaratna, W.C.W. (2020), A study of the variations in the rainfall of the Western Province based on representative concentration pathways scenarios, International Conference on Environmental and Medical Statistics, pp 36.
- C.J. Jayawardene, J.N. Senadheera, K.A.S.N. Fernando, W.C.W. Navaratna. (2019). On star critical Ramsey numbers related to stars versus K1,m+e for small m, Proceedings of the OUSL Annual Academic Sessions. pp 102.
- Navaratna W. C. W., Fernando, K. A. S. N., and Angammana U. (2018). A study on the relationship between age and incidence rate of thyroid cancer in Sri Lanka, Proceedings of the International Research Symposium on Pure and Applied Sciences, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, pp 47.
- Hettiarachchi, R. D., Sumathipala, W. L., Navaratna, W. C.W., Somaratne S. and Premalal, K. H. M. S. (2016). Spatial and temporal variation of rainfall during South-west Monsoon period in Sri Lanka and its relationship with some of the global teleconnections, Proceedings of the 16th Council of Asia Conference, SCA-16. 5.
- Navaratna W.C.W. and De Silva M.A.P (2013) A study of the effectiveness of continuous assessment as a learning tool. Proceedings of the 11th OUSL Annual Academic Sessions.
- R. U. Tantrigoda, G. Bandarage, C. Navaratna, N. Nilakarawasam, J. C. N. Rajendra, B. L. K. Wickramasinghe and M. N. K. de Zoysa (2012). Evaluating the success of assessment of a level 3 chemistry course in the BSc degree programme of the Open University of Sri Lanka (OUSL) as a tool of measuring the cognitive skills of students: A preliminary study, Abstracts of the International Conference on Chemical Sciences, Role of chemistry research in national development, 20 –22 June 2012, Colombo, Sri Lanka, p 77.
- Navaratna W. C. W., and Dankmar BÖhning (2007) Robust Estimation of Population Size based on Zero-truncated Clustered Data. Poster presentation for the Conference on Recent Developments in Capture Recapture Methods and their Applications, School of Biological Sciences, University of Reading, UK.
- Senaratna, L.K., Karthikeyan, N., Tantrigoda, R.U., Edirisinghe, E. A. D. N. D. and Perera, W.C.W. (2007) A study on personal counselling of students in the B.Sc. Degree Programme at the OUSL. Proceedings of the Annual OUSL Academic Sessions, Nov 2007, pp 8 – 11.
- Senaratna, L.K., Tantrigoda, R.U., Karthikeyan, N., Perera, W.C.W. and Edirisinghe, E. A. D. N. D. (2007) A study of the effectiveness of orientation sessions for students in the B.Sc. Degree Programme at the OUSL. Proceedings of the Annual OUSL Academic Sessions, Nov 2007, pp 12-15.
- Senaratna, L.K., Tantrigoda, R.U., Karthikeyan, N., Perera, W.C.W. and Edirisinghe, E. A. D. N. D. (2007) A study of the effectiveness of Academic Counselling for students in the B.Sc. Degree Programme at the OUSL. Proceedings of the Annual OUSL Academic Sessions, Nov 2007, pp 16-19.
- Perera, W. N. N. K, Perera W. C. W. and Samarakkody, R. (2002). Colombo air pollution from a statistical point of view, proceedings of the 58th Annual Sessions, Sri Lanka Association of the Advancement of Science (SLASS)
- Perera, W. C. W, Weerakoon, S., Banneheka, B. M. S. G. and Angammana, U. (2001). A mathematical model for population growth, birth and death rates of Sri Lanka, proceedings of the 56th Annual Sessions, Sri Lanka Association of the Advancement of Science (SLASS), pp 192.
M.Sc. students
- Tillekeratne, L. K. C. (2019) Projection of Precipitation Variations up to 2050 in the Western Province of Sri Lanka based on Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP), M.Sc. Thesis, Center for Environmental Studies and Sustainable Development (CESSD), The Open University of Sri Lanka.
- Koneswaran, K. (2001) National oral health status and association among related social and behavioural factors, M. Sc. Thesis, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka
- Fernando, K. A. S. N. (September, 2000) A study on the performance of statistical techniques applicable for ordinal data, M. Sc. Thesis, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka
- Angammana, U. (May, 2000) A mathematical model for population growth, birth and death rates of Sri Lanka, M. Sc. Thesis, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka
- Muniratna, W. D. K. J. (1999) A statistical tool for the lending banker, M. Sc. Thesis, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka
Undergraduate students
Supervision of B.Sc.(Special) Degree Projects
- Bandara, A. H. M. S. (2016) Modelling and forecasting retail price of selected rice varieties, Undergraduate project for B.Sc. (Special) Degree in Statistics, University of Colombo.
Co-supervision of B.Sc. (Special) degree projects
- S. Sendanayake, A statistical analysis of air pollution levels in Sri lanka, Department of Statistics, University of Colombo. (1998)
- B. D. C. Dhamarathne, On the robustness of estimation techniques for bivariate responses, Department of Statistics, University of Colombo (1999).
- D. D.Nandika, Country-specific estimates and models of HIV infections: Sri Lanka, Department of Statistics, University of Colombo.
- D. T. G.Punchihewa: A study on insurance claims of motor vehicles in Sri Lanka, Department of Statistics, University of Colombo.
- W. N. N. K.Perera: Statistical view of Colombo air pollution, Department of Statistics, University of Colombo (2000).
- O. P. J. Thilakaratne: An application of confirmatory factor model to derive, indicators for assessing livelihood assets of rubber famers in Sri Lanka, Department of Statistics, University of Colombo (2003).
- Member of the Research Advisory Committee of the team that developed Early Childhood Development Standards for Sri Lankan Children, Funded by UNICEF (2008-2011). The developed standards are published by the Children’s Secretariat, Ministry of Child Development and Women’s Affairs.
- Services as a resource person for (a selected few)
- Capacity Building in Education Research organized by the Ministry of Education (November 23rd, 2007).
- Seminar on Use of Statistics for decision making in Business, Industry and Research organized by the Section E1 of the Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science (SLAAS) (24th August 2005)
- One-Day Workshop on Biological Modelling for the International Conference held on 30th November 2016 organized by the Department of Statistics and Computer Science, Faculty of Science, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka.
- Best Paper Finalist Award, 2021 for the paper ID85 submitted to 34th Annual Conference of the Asian Association of Open Universities.
- Funding to Serve as a Visiting Researcher to the Dept. of Statistics and Actuarial Science, Simon Fraser University, Canada: May 2017 to November 2017.
- Presidential Research Award: 2007, Sri Lanka
- Commonwealth Academic Fellowship (January 2007 to July 2007), United Kingdom
- Training Award to participate in the staff training programme conducted by the Open University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong (November 24 to November 26, 2004)
- Training Award to participate in the staff training programme conducted by the Open University of Malaysia (November 29 to December 3, 2004)
- Visiting Academic Fellowship (from November 10, 2003, to December 9, 2003), Open University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
- British Government Technical Cooperation Training Award (from November 11, 1998, to December 22, 1998)
- Research Assistantship, Simon Fraser University, Canada ( from August 1995 to August 1996)
- Canadian Commonwealth Scholarship (August 1990 to August 1995)
- Simon Fraser University President’s Research Stipend (based on merit), 1994
- Simon Fraser University Graduate Fellowship (based on merit), 1993
