Keynote: The Sustainability of Complexity: Engineering Software for an Intelligent and Sustainable Future 

Prof. Dilshan De Silva is a professor in the Department of IT, Faculty of Computing, at the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT). There he coordinates the M.Sc. in IT programme and chairs the Faculty By-Law Committee. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Peradeniya and B.Sc. (Hons.) and M.Sc. degrees in IT from SLIIT.

He has written more than 180 research papers, three books and over 15 book chapters. His research focuses on software quality, AI-driven multilingual software systems and machine learning. His work has won national and international awards, including the 2023 Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition, the 2016 South Asia mBillionth Award and several Best Paper Awards.

He is a Research Fellow at INTI International University, Malaysia. He also serves on national research and commercialisation review panels for Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and the Sri Lanka Inventors Commission. He is an Associate Editor for Frontiers in Communication and a member of IEEE, IET, BCS and CSSL.

Keynote: From AI Innovation to Sustainable Impact: Building Inclusive and Responsible Digital Futures

Professor Roshan G. Ragel is a Professor in the Department of Computer Engineering at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, and Consultant CEO of the Lanka Education and Research Network (LEARN), the country’s national research and education network. He holds a BSc in Engineering (Hons) from the University of Peradeniya and a PhD in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia.

He has more than 25 years of experience in teaching, research and academic leadership. His work covers artificial intelligence, embedded systems and the Internet of Things, wearable computing, bioinformatics acceleration, digital infrastructure and technology-enhanced education. He has co-authored over 200 peer-reviewed papers and mentored more than 300 undergraduate researchers. The AD Scientific Index has ranked him Sri Lanka’s top computer scientist in several recent years.

In 2025 he received the IEEE Computer Society Mary Kenneth Keller Undergraduate Teaching Award, the first academic from the Global South to win it. He also received Sri Lanka’s National Educator Gold Award for Computing in 2024.

He helps shape national policy as a member of the Presidential Committee that drafted Sri Lanka’s AI strategy. He led the Skills and Curricula pillar of the AI Sri Lanka initiative and co-founded the AI Forum for Academics (AIFA). In the region, he serves on the Asia Pacific Advanced Network (APAN) Council and in a leadership role on the Asi@Connect Steering Committee. He has given more than 200 invited talks, keynotes and workshops on AI, education, digital transformation and responsible technology adoption. He is a Senior Member of IEEE.