Akshika Wijesundara, PhD
Research Associate in Machine Learning at King's College London
Consultant Machine Learning Engineer
I am a research associate in machine learning at King's College London and part of the biomedical informatics group. My primary research interests are applied machine learning, health informatics, ubiquitous computing, future of living, longevity and meta-learning. I previously worked as a lead data scientist in the growth hacking team of WSO2 and as a consultant data engineer at the National University of Singapore.
I completed my PhD in the school of computing and communications at the Open University, the United Kingdom where my supervisors were professor Arosha Bandara, professor Blaine Price and professor Bashar Nuseibeh. I am also part of the SEAD group and was a member of the STRETCH project group. During my PhD, I focused on adaptive user interfaces, user modelling, privacy in cyber-physical systems and applied machine learning. My PhD thesis topic was Privacy-aware Smart Home Interface Framework (PASHI-framework), where the framework was capable of developing smart home user interfaces that are capable of adapting their configuration and behaviour to preserve privacy between users in multi-user contexts.
Continuing my relationship with the Open University, UK, I became a visiting researcher of the university where I continue my research collaborations.
Prior to my PhD, I worked in the industry as a software engineer (2016/17) and I was a Google Summer of Code mentor (2021/2020/2017) for OpenMRS. I completed my B.Sc in computer science and engineering at the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. During my B.Sc I was a Google Summer of Code Intern (2016) and a Google Student Ambassador (2014/15/16). I also interned as a research engineer at Augmented Human Lab of SUTD-MIT International Design Centre (2014).
Apart from my core-research work, I have founded a not-for-profit organisation, Sustainable Education Foundation (SEF) that helps local students connect with industry experts and academics around the world.
Email: akshika [DOT] wijesundara [AT] kcl [DOT] ac [DOT] uk
Apart from my family and friends, I am grateful to Sri Lankans, whose tax money sponsored my education from grade 1 in school to my final year in the University.