The High Commissioner of Sri Lanka to Australia, Yasoja Gunasekera, visited the University of Canberra (UC) on 8 October 2026 to explore opportunities for expanding academic, technological and research partnerships between Sri Lanka and Australia.

During the visit, the High Commissioner met with the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Canberra, Bill Shorten, and discussed strengthening institutional links, collaborative research and student exchange opportunities between Sri Lankan universities and the University of Canberra.

The High Commission delegation also visited the Collaborative Robotics Lab at the University, founded and led by the Sri Lankan Australian academic, Professor Damith Herath.

A major highlight of the visit was the delegation’s interaction with four Sri Lankan doctoral researchers undertaking projects at the laboratory. Buddhi Gamage’s research focuses on embodied artificial intelligence, cognitive robotics and robot learning, while Kalana Ratnayake is engaged in large language model (LLM)-based generative behaviour planning for social robots. Moniesha Thilakarathna is developing a multimodal robotic grasping technique to classify inorganic materials found in organic waste, while Nipuni Wijesinghe’s research focuses on enhancing human-robot interaction, particularly in healthcare settings.

The research undertaken by the Sri Lankan doctoral students in artificial intelligence, sustainability and robotics highlights the contribution of Sri Lankan researchers to technological innovation and scientific research in Australia. 

The High Commission of Sri Lanka to Australia

Canberra

12 October 2026