Dr. Pasan Herath
Earth Sciences New ZealandDr Pasan Herath is Lead Earthquake Analyst at Earth Sciences New Zealand, with expertise in seismology, geophysics, earthquake analysis, seismic data processing, and geophysical instrumentation. His research contributes directly to earthquake hazard and disaster-risk reduction, including earthquake monitoring, seismicity and tectonic studies, and the development of AI-enabled earthquake early-warning approaches for rapid P-wave detection on edge devices.
Dr.Inoka Withana Gamage
Jacobs New ZealandApplied research in built environment, damage assessments, infrastructure procurement and delivery, commercial & contracts, Insurance and insurance claims, water & waste water.
Dr. Surangika Ranathunga
Massey UniversityDr Surangika Ranathunga is a Senior Lecturer at Massey University with expertise in Natural Language Processing, computational linguistics, machine learning, and large language models. Her research particularly focuses on low-resource language computing and multilingual AI, including the development and application of language technologies for languages and domains where training data are limited. Her disaster-related research explores AI and language technologies to extract disaster impacts and affected locations from social media, supporting improved situational awareness and decision-making, and includes work on multimodal Generative AI for reliable disaster information extraction.
Dr. Chandana Siriwardana
School of Built Environment, Massey University Dr Chandana Siriwardana is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Built Environment at Massey University, with expertise in disaster resilience, construction management, climate adaptation, flood risk management, and critical infrastructure resilience. His disaster-related research spans multi-hazard early warning, building and infrastructure damage assessment, hospital resilience, disaster preparedness, and the application of AI and data-driven approaches to strengthen community and infrastructure resilience
Dr. Diana De Alwis
Ministry for Cities, Environment, Regions and Transport (MCERT)
Dr Diana de Alwis is a New Zealand-based applied economist with expertise in the economics of disasters, climate change, household vulnerability, and post-disaster recovery. Her research has examined the long-term economic and distributional impacts of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, as well as the health and economic costs of droughts and floods, providing important insights for disaster resilience, climate adaptation, and public policy.
Dr. Duminda Kuruppuarachchi
University of OtagoDr Duminda Kuruppuarachchi is a Senior Lecturer in Finance at the University of Otago and Co-Director of its Climate and Energy Finance Group, with expertise in climate finance, climate risk, energy markets, financial modelling, and sustainable finance. His research examines how climate change, including physical and transition risks, affects firms, financial markets, and investment decisions, providing an important financial and economic perspective on climate-related disasters, resilience, adaptation, and disaster-risk reduction.
Dr. Kasuni Weerasinghe
Auckland University of TechnologyDr Kasuni Weerasinghe is a Senior Lecturer in Information Systems at Auckland University of Technology (AUT), with expertise in emerging technology adoption, socio-technical systems, social media, big data, and health information systems. Her research on digital technologies, social-media information environments, data sharing, privacy, and technology adoption provides valuable expertise for disaster and crisis management, particularly in understanding how digital information systems can support communication, information sharing, and decision-making during emergencies.
Dr. Ravindu Kahandawa
Massey UniversityDr Ravindu Kahandawa is a Senior Lecturer in Quantity Surveying at Massey University, with expertise in construction cost estimation, Building Information Modelling, circular economy, and construction management. His disaster-related research focuses particularly on estimating the repair costs of earthquake-damaged buildings and supporting more reliable post-earthquake reconstruction, recovery planning, and financial decision-making in New Zealand.
A.Prof. Niluka Domingo
Massey UniversityAssociate Professor Niluka Domingo is a construction management and built-environment researcher at Massey University, with expertise in sustainable construction, low-carbon and net-zero buildings, circular economy, construction waste minimisation, and construction economics. Her disaster-related research includes earthquake impacts on the construction sector, post-earthquake repair and cost estimation, post-disaster temporary housing, and construction-waste management following major earthquakes, linking resilient reconstruction with longer-term climate and sustainability objectives.
Dr. Chanthujan Chandrakumar
Global Seismic Data New Zealand LimitedDr Chanthujan Chandrakumar is a New Zealand-based earthquake early warning researcher and Data Scientist at Global Seismic Data, with expertise in seismic data processing, real-time analytics, low-cost MEMS sensing, and decentralised earthquake early warning systems. His research has pioneered community-engaged, low-cost EEW approaches for New Zealand, including decentralised processing, adaptation of the PLUM algorithm, P-wave integration, and citizen-hosted sensor networks to improve warning coverage and reduce earthquake risk.
Dr. Iresh Jayawardena
University of AucklandDr Iresh Jayawardena is an urban planning academic at the University of Auckland with expertise in sustainable and climate-resilient cities, ecologically based planning, water-sensitive design, and urban resilience. His research focuses on developing integrated planning approaches that connect socio-ecological systems, catchment management, climate adaptation, and cultural ecosystem values to support more resilient and sustainable urban development in Aotearoa New Zealand and internationally.
Dr. Sandeeka Mannakkara
University of AucklandPrevious research projects looking at 2016-2017 flood recovery in SL, Post-Disaster Reconstruction and Recovery, Building Back Better, Community Resilience, Risk Perception, Flood resilience barriers and facilitators, Local and Indigenous Knowledge
Dr. Channa Rajanayaka
Earth Sciences New ZealandHydrology; Hydrology modelling; Flood forecasting; Surface water – groundwater interactions Groundwater recharge mechanisms; Groundwater flow and contaminant transport modelling; Uncertainty analysis; Artificial neural networks; Land use impact on water bodies; Sustainable water management; Hydrology risk assessment
A. Prof. Ramilan Thiagarajah
Massey UniversityAssociate Professor Ramilan Thiagarajah is an Associate Professor in Agribusiness at Massey University and a former President of the New Zealand Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, with a career spanning South Asia, East Asia, Africa and Australia. An expert in bioeconomic modelling, his research covers greenhouse gas mitigation, water economics and climate-market scenarios.
Dr. Chinthaka Atapattu
School of Built Environment, Massey UniversityDr Chinthaka Atapattu is a New Zealand-based construction management academic with expertise in quantity surveying, construction economics, life-cycle costing, cost management, and contract administration. His research also focuses on sustainable and low-carbon construction, circular economy, and cost-estimation approaches for infrastructure projects, supported by extensive professional experience in quantity surveying across New Zealand and internationally.
Dr. Amal Punchihewa
Amal Punchihewa is an ITU Expert and Chartered Professional Engineer with over 40 years in broadcasting and ICT across academia, research and industry, including senior technology roles at SLRC-Rupavahini and the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union. He holds a PhD from Massey University, has published more than 130 peer-reviewed articles, and now works on resilient and affordable early warning communications through EW4All and ITU disaster communications.
Dr . Induka Werellagama
Open Polytechnic of New ZealandLow cost Drinking water treatment, wastewater treatment, sanitation including toilets for water logged areas, pumping, ground water (wells), EIA. Solar Cookers, desilting irrigation tanks so that they can hold more water.
A. Prof. Raj Prasanna
Joint Centre for Disaster Research, Massey UniversityA.Prof. Raj Prasanna is a disaster and crisis management researcher with expertise in emerging technologies for disaster risk reduction, emergency management, and crisis decision-making. He leads CRISiSLab at Massey University, where his research focuses on earthquake early warning, low-cost sensing, IoT, wireless communication, Edge AI, and resilient technologies for disaster environments.
Ms Sonali Chandratilake
University of Canterbury / Selwyn Civil Defence & Emergency ManagmentNZ emergency management practitioner (local, regional, national), EOC/ECC/NCC operational response experience (Chch mosque event, floods, Cant EQs, Fires, Tsunamis) CIMS practitioner, trainer, emergency mgmt public education, Interagency exercise design, Incident Controller – crisis leadership, Certified business continuity practitioner.
Dr . Nishika Jayasinghe
Otago Polytechnic / Auckland International Campus / FutureSkillsDr Nishika Jayasinghe is a Lecturer at Otago Polytechnic Auckland International Campus with expertise in Information Systems, digital transformation, digital platforms, and organisational resilience. Her disaster- and crisis-related research examines how organisations use digital technologies to maintain adaptability, reliability, and continuity during major external shocks, including natural disasters and other disruptive events, providing valuable expertise in technology-enabled organisational resilience and crisis preparedness.
Dr. Rasika Nandana
National Geohazards Monitoring Centre, Earth Science New Zealand
Dr Rasika Nandana is a Geohazard Analyst with the National Geohazard Monitoring Centre at Earth Sciences New Zealand, specialising in IoT sensor networks, early warning systems and geospatial analysis. He completed his PhD at Victoria University of Wellington on the feasibility of a national earthquake early warning system for New Zealand.
Mr. Sajeewa Ranmadugala
Disaster response and recovery, industrial groundwater contamination, groundwater monitoring & management., Geophysics
Mr Sajeewa Ranmadugala is a Groundwater Scientist at Bay of Plenty Regional Council, with expertise in hydrogeology, geophysics, groundwater monitoring and assessment, allocation, and regulatory compliance. His work supports groundwater-resource protection and water-supply resilience, with a focus on groundwater quality, industrial contamination, saline intrusion, climate change impacts, and disaster response and recovery.
Mr. Krishan Ambawatte
Taumata Arowai – Water Services AuthorityA civil and environmental engineering professional currently developing National Engineering Design Standards (NEDS) for stormwater and contributing to the National Engineering Curriculum Review project. Brings technical and practical experience across hydrology, stormwater management, flood resilience, land development, regulatory engineering and whole-of-life asset planning and delivery, including flood response operations during Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 and the May 2025 Canterbury flooding. Currently preparing funded research for publication on legal and regulatory frameworks in promoting flood resilience. Connects research and engineering practice to support resilient infrastructure and our communities.
Dr. Nilani Algiriyage
Planning policy and Risk management, Community Resilience
Gamini Sirilal Mallawa Arachchi
Sirilal has 46 years of experience in the telecommunications industry and possesses a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Telecommunications. He has worked on a variety of Telecommunications projects in Sri Lanka, State of Qatar, and New Zealand. Before retirement in March 2024, He worked as Principal Technical Advisor-Mission Critical Communication contributing towards next generation critical communication network for PPDR agencies in New Zealand. He is now serving as an independent consultant for Public Safety Mission Critical communication programmes advising the Centre for Disaster Management and Public Safety at the University of Melbourne and Sri Lanka Ministry of Digital Economy as an Honorary Fellow.