Dr. Tilani Gunawardena

Dr. Tilani Gunawardena is an experienced AI and Machine Learning Engineer with a strong academic and industry background, specializing in Applied AI for Telecommunications. She currently serves at SLT-Mobitel as an Engineer – Data Science & AI, where she works on and leads AI-driven initiatives including FTTH proactive fault prediction, customer sentiment analysis, computer vision–based solutions, telecom digital twins, and agentic AI systems. 

She holds a PhD in Mathematics and Computer Science from the University of Basilicata, Italy, and a BSc (Eng.) in Computer Engineering from the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. With over a decade of experience across research, engineering, and academic roles in Sri Lanka and Europe, she has also completed postdoctoral research at the MaLGa Center, University of Genova, with a research focus on Computer Vision and Natural Language Processing (NLP).

 Previously, Dr. Gunawardena served as the Program Leader for the BSc (Hons) Data Science degree offered in collaboration with the University of Hertfordshire, UK, and as a Quality Nominee for Pearson BTEC HND programs. In these roles, she focused on bridging academia and industry, developing industry-ready graduates, and translating academic research into real-world telecommunications applications. Her professional expertise spans AI and Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, Computer Vision, Big Data Analytics, Statistical Modelling, GPU Computing, Digital Twin technologies, and Agentic AI, with a strong emphasis on building scalable, explainable, and production-ready AI systems for telecom environments.