Eng. (Mrs.) Chathurika Shiranthi Weliwita is a Senior Lecturer Grade I in Computer Science at the Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Natural Sciences, The Open University of Sri Lanka. She has more than 16 years of experience in teaching, academic administration, curriculum development, course material development, student counselling, assessment, research and project supervision in higher education.
She holds a Master of Philosophy in Engineering from the University of Peradeniya and a Bachelor of Science Honours degree in Engineering, specialising in Computer Engineering, from the same university. Prior to joining academia, she worked as a Software Engineer in the industry, gaining professional experience in enterprise software development, technology evaluation and software testing.
Her academic work focuses particularly on Computer Science education in Open and Distance Learning environments. She has extensive experience in teaching undergraduate students, designing and developing online courses, authoring and editing course materials, coordinating courses and degree programmes, setting and moderating examinations, and supervising undergraduate and research projects.
She has served in several academic and administrative capacities, including Programme Coordinator of the BSc in Information Technology and BSc Honours in Information Technology degree programmes, Course Coordinator and Chief Examiner, and Faculty Coordinator at the Kandy Regional Centre. She has also contributed to curriculum development, academic programme design, faculty and university committees, industry engagement and the development of new computing degree programmes.
Her research interests include information security and cryptography, mobile communication, Open and Distance Learning technologies, computer music, positive psychology, image processing and emerging applications of computing in education and wellbeing