Ravindi Nanayakkara
Academic/ Researcher/ Mathematician/ Statistician/ AFHEA/ Data Science Enthusiast
La Trobe University
Biography
Hello, and welcome to my personal website!
I completed my PhD in Statistics in 2022 at the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, La Trobe University, Australia. My doctoral research focused on stochastic modelling and statistical analysis of spatial and long-range dependent data. The findings were applied to analyse cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation data from the Planck mission, offering novel tools to better understand the early stages of the Universe. For the exceptionally high quality of my thesis, I was honoured with the Nancy Millis Medal, a prestigious award presented to outstanding PhD candidates. I have presented my research at several national and international seminars and conferences. My research interests include Spatial Statistics, Applied Statistics, Stochastic Analysis and Modelling, Astrostatistics, Data Science, and Mathematics/Statistics Education.
I currently serve as the Academic Skills Advisor (Maths/Coding) and the Manager and Coordinator of the Maths, Science, and Coding Hubs at La Trobe University. I lead the strategic and operational management of the Maths Hub-a multi-campus, university-wide, multidisciplinary support centre with a team of 15-20 staff. In addition to the Maths Hub, I manage the Coding Hub and Science Hub, ensuring effective and tailored academic support is provided across disciplines. I am also a Sessional Lecturer/Academic in the Department of Mathematical and Physical Sciences at La Trobe University, where I teach Mathematics and Statistics to students from both mathematical and non-mathematical backgrounds. I’m passionate about teaching Statistics and Data Science at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, finding a unique beauty in Statistics and striving to spark that same curiosity and appreciation in others.
My contributions to learning and teaching have been recognised through numerous prestigious awards at institutional, national, and international levels. In 2018, I was awarded the title of Customer Service Champion by La Trobe University for making a positive difference to students and their studies. I received four consecutive Tutors as Partners scholarships during 2019 and 2020 from the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at La Trobe University, in recognition of my exceptional teaching and tutoring skills. In 2021, I was honoured as an Associate Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy. In 2024, I received the Vice-Chancellor’s Education Award for Sessional Teaching Excellence, with the citation: “For creating welcoming, innovative, and engaging learning environments using effective teaching and learning strategies that positively influenced, encouraged, and inspired statistics students and their studies.” Also in 2024, the Maths Hub team, under my leadership, was also highly commended for the Vice-Chancellor’s Cultural Qualities Award for Care.
In 2025, I was honoured with the Australian Mathematical Society Annual Award for Teaching Excellence (Early Career). Also in 2025, the Maths Hub team, which I managed from 2024 and which was previously managed by Dr Deborah Jackson (2018-2023), received the Vice-Chancellor’s Education Award for Best Education Program. I was further highly commended in 2025 for the Vice-Chancellor’s Professional Excellence Award for Professional Rising Star, recognising my work in transforming the Maths, Science, and Coding Hubs into inclusive, blended learning models that significantly improved student engagement and achievement across multiple campuses.
In my leisure time, I enjoy capturing moments with my camera, listening to music, and baking sweet treats.
Interests
- Spatial Statistics
- Applied Statistics
- Stochastic Analysis and Modelling
- Astrostatistics
- Data Science
- Mathematics/Statistics Education
Education
PhD in Statistics, 2022
La Trobe University, Australia
Professional Graduate Diploma in IT, 2017
BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, United Kingdom
BSc (Hons.) in Statistics with Computer Science (Special), 2016
University of Colombo, Sri Lanka
Skills
R Programming
Python Programming
Maple Programming
Data Analysis using SPSS
Statistics
Mathematics
Data Science
SQL
High Performance Computing
Teaching
Research Communication
Conference Speaking and Organization
Leadership and Team Management
Strategic Planning and Coordination
Budget and Resource Management
Experience
Academic Skills Advisor (Maths/Coding) | Manager & Coordinator, Maths and Coding Hubs (Feb 2024-Feb 2026); Science Hub (Feb 2025-Feb 2026)
La Trobe University
Work carried out and impact:
- Managed and coordinated multi-campus, university-wide, multidisciplinary academic support centres: the Maths Hub (15-20 staff), Coding Hub (6 staff), and Science Hub (13 staff).
- In 2025 (as of 17 December), under my leadership, the Maths, Science, and Coding Hubs supported 135 university subjects, recorded over 2,800 student visits, and received 260+ outstanding feedback responses, with satisfaction rates above 97%, 96%, and 98%, respectively.
- In 2024, under my leadership, the Maths and Coding Hubs supported 98 subjects, recorded over 1,700 student visits, and received 80+ outstanding feedback responses, with satisfaction rates over 97% and 92%.
- Transformed the Maths Hub into a blended teaching and learning model by reintroducing face-to-face help sessions and establishing dedicated Maths Hub spaces at the Bendigo and Bundoora campuses.
- Organized, rostered, and promoted Summer Terms 1 & 6, Semesters 1 & 2, exam revision weeks, and winter break schedules with academics, tutors, and students in 2024 and 2025.
- Forecasted Discipline Hub expenditure for Summer Terms 1 & 6, Semesters 1 & 2, exam revision weeks, and the winter break by calculating allocated hours for face-to-face and online Zoom support.
- Implemented online Zoom Maths Hub sessions via the CareerHub platform and Maths Hub LMS, enhancing student access with an interactive view, and improved the Maths Hub LMS content.
- Offered face-to-face and online individual and group academic skill consultation sessions related to various mathematics, statistics, business statistics, and education subjects; LANTITE numeracy; R programming; data analysis using Jamovi; and research-specific consultations for honours, masters, and PhD students.
- Transformed the Coding Hub into a blended teaching and learning model by introducing face-to-face Python and R sessions, enhanced LMS content, and added ‘Cybersecurity’ and ‘Asynchronous Resources’ sections.
- Enhanced the Science Hub by updating LMS content, introducing online Biology help sessions to foster equity, expanding Chemistry support, and improving face-to-face Anatomy and Physiology Hub support at Bendigo and Bundoora campuses, ensuring spaces met standards and included virtual reality technology.
- Mentored Discipline Hub tutors in innovative teaching practices by conducting training sessions, creating instructional videos, and providing guidance to ensure high-quality teaching aligned with academic integrity.
- Maintained accurate data records, assisted tutors in completing the Discipline Hub consult records, and analyzed Discipline Hub feedback surveys to support continuous teaching improvement.
- Responded to online student queries related to accessing the Maths, Science, and Coding LMS platforms, attending help sessions, providing necessary information, and solving mathematics and statistics problems.
- Developed and implemented digital, extracurricular Maths and Coding Hub learning programs and resources targeting specific at-need student cohorts across all campuses and disciplines.
- Promoted the Discipline Hubs through weekly updates and news articles in Library Learning Services, Library Debrief, SCEMS, and School of Education newsletters, and by conducting orientation week sessions.
- Conducting a research study to evaluate the effectiveness of the university-wide, multidisciplinary mathematics support centre-Maths Hub, in a blended learning model-In progress.
- Developing a series of Statistics modules, “Statistics for Multidisciplinary Learners: Building Confidence through Study Skills Modules,” to be published as Open Educational Resources (OER) with La Trobe University eBureau, aimed at bridging the statistical learning gap for students from both mathematical and non-mathematical backgrounds.
- In 2024 and 2025, I received exceptional student feedback through Library Discipline Hub surveys for Maths Hub teaching and was recognized as a high performer in the 2024 Career Success Ratings with a 4/5 score.
Sessional Lecturer/Academic
La Trobe University
Taught and tutored undergraduate and postgraduate subjects:
- Probability and Statistics for Data Science (STM4PSD)
- Data-based Critical Thinking (STA1DCT)
- Statistics for Psychology (STA1PSY)
- Statistics for Life Sciences (STA1LS/SS)
- Introduction to Data Analysis (STA1IDA)
- Making Sense of Data (STM1001)
- Practice of Science (BIO2POS)
Work carried out and impact:
- Delivered mini-lectures and conducted lab sessions for the Master of Data Science students following the “Probability and Statistics for Data Science” module.
- Performed sessional academic duties, including conducting workshops, practice classes, lab sessions, and evaluating assignments for the undergraduate and postgraduate subjects.
- Assisted in performing the subject coordination duties of the subjects, “Probability and Statistics for Data Science” and “Statistics for Psychology”.
- Demonstrated R coding practices, debugging methods, and efficient programming techniques, using real-world examples and case studies to illustrate practical applications.
- As a Maths Hub tutor, I offered help sessions for undergraduate and postgraduate students to solve problems related to numerous Statistics, Data Science and Mathematics subjects.
- Performed Subject Support Tutor (SST) tasks for the subjects “Statistics for Psychology” and “Making Sense of Data”.
- As a Maths Skills tutor, promoted the “Math Skills Program” to students, registered them for the program, and guided them to complete it successfully.
- Conducted the “Online Maths Screening Test” for “Statistics for Psychology” students, registered those who scored low for the “Math Skills Program,” and assisted them in progressing through the program.
- Explored Perusall, a social annotation tool, and weekly answered questions raised by students in Perusall related to the practice problem classes.
- Offered research-specific consultations for undergraduate and postgraduate students, including data analysis using the statistical software SPSS and Jamovi, help with R programming and LaTeX documentation.
- Initiated a ‘Data Science’ section in the La Trobe University Maths Hub and created a series of worksheets, answer sheets, and R code explaining the answers.
- Initiated and successfully organized an online Statistics Kahoot Quiz Competition, which was hosted semester-wise via Zoom in the year 2020.
- Created 100+ online quizzes for various undergraduate Mathematics, Statistics, and Data Science subjects.
- Consistently received high Student Feedback on Teaching (SFT) scores, exceeding 4/5 in 2019, 2020, 2022, and 2023.
Lecturer/Consultant
National Institute of Business Management (NIBM - Sri Lanka)
Taught subjects:
- Business Statistics for Information Technology
- Business Statistics for Human Resource Management
- Python Programming
- Programming Fundamentals (C Language)
- Computer Networks
- Computer Technology
- Number Systems
- Database Systems
Work carried out and impact:
- Prepared and delivered lectures and conducted lab sessions of the above teaching modules.
- Demonstrated Python and C language coding techniques, their best practices, and guided problem-solving and debugging.
- Set mid-year and final-year examination papers.
- Prepared in-class assignments and take-home assignments.
- Evaluated in-class assignments, take-home assignments, and mid-year and final-year examination papers.
- Proposed and designed a new course titled “Advanced Diploma in Data Science”, which has been currently established by NIBM.
- Represented NIBM as an academic at the National IT Conference (NITC) of Sri Lanka, which was held in partnership with the SEARCC Conference 2017.
- Mentored, guided, and trained the students for the “NIBM Software Competition 2017”.
- Achieved a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) band score of 99.5/100 for the third quarter of 2017.
- Achieved an average score of 95/100 on the Student Satisfaction Index.
Graduate Teaching Assistant
Department of Statistics,University of Colombo
Tutored undergraduate and postgraduate subjects:
- Business Statistics
- Applications in Statistical Inference
- Basic Statistical Computing
- R lab sessions
Work carried out:
- Delivered lectures and conducted lab sessions and tutorials for undergraduate Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science students.
- Conducted R lab sessions and tutorials for Master of Applied Statistics students.
- Prepared in-class assignments, take-home assignments, and case studies of various undergraduate Statistics subjects.
- Evaluated assignments and final-year examination papers.
- Offered research-specific consultations for Master of Applied Statistics students.
- Guided and supported fourth-year honours Statistics students by offering research-related help and help for statistical modelling, data analysis using SPSS, Minitab, R and R programming.
- Performed final exam invigilation duties for various undergraduate and postgraduate subjects.
Research Intern/Trainee Data Analyst
Corporate Planning Division, Mobitel (Pvt) Ltd
Work carried out:
- Conducted the internship research study on “Factors Influencing Customer Churn”.
- Prepared the consultancy proposal and the research proposal.
- Designed the questionnaire for telephone interviews and prepared the data coding sheet.
- Performed data validation, data visualization and predictive analytics.
- Made a SWOT analysis for the five main mobile service providers in Sri Lanka.
Awards and Achievements
Australian Mathematical Society Annual Award for Teaching Excellence (Early Career)
Received the 2025 Australian Mathematical Society (AustMS) Annual Award for Teaching Excellence (Early Career) for creating welcoming, innovative and engaging learning environments using effective teaching and learning strategies that positively influenced, encouraged and inspired mathematics and statistics students and their studies. Ravindi fosters curiosity, confidence, and persistence in mathematics and statistics through innovative teaching practices such as active learning, gamification, and integration of real-world applications. She demonstrates her commitment to equity in mathematics education by providing personalised support to students with learning or language challenges and creating resources to improve accessibility for diverse cohorts. Beyond the classroom, she actively contributes to outreach initiatives that inspire communities and promote diverse participation in mathematics and statistics.
Vice-Chancellor’s Education Award for Best Education Program
The Vice-Chancellor’s Education Awards are the highest level of recognition at the university level and celebrate a wide range of contributions to student learning. The awards recognize educators renowned for the excellence of their teaching, as well as non-teaching staff who have made significant contributions to enhancing the quality of learning and teaching at La Trobe. The Maths Hub team, managed by me since 2024 and previously by Dr Deborah Jackson (2018-2023), received the Vice-Chancellor’s Education Award for Best Education Program, with the citation: ‘The Maths Hub team fostered inclusive academic excellence, supporting diverse students through blended individual and group consultations, achieving thousands of visits and consistently outstanding feedback.’
Vice-Chancellor’s Professional Excellence-Professional Rising Star: Highly Commended
This award recognises the accomplishments and contributions of an early career Professional staff member who has made a significant impact, relative to their position, team/division and/or the broader University. I was highly commended for the Vice-Chancellor’s Professional Excellence: Professional Rising Star with the citation: ‘Ravindi transformed the Maths, Science, and Coding Hubs into inclusive, blended learning models, significantly improving student engagement and achievement across multiple campuses.’
Vice-Chancellor’s Cultural Qualities Award for Care: Highly Commended
The Vice-Chancellor’s Cultural Qualities Awards are given to recognize staff who demonstrate the university’s values and contribute to its culture. The Maths Hub team, managed by me, was highly commended for the Vice-Chancellor’s Cultural Qualities Award for Care, with the citation: ‘Through one-on-one tutoring and collaborative study sessions, the Maths Hub team helped over 300 students achieve success and improve their academic performance through more than 1,000 visits.’
Vice-Chancellor’s Education Award for Sessional Teaching Excellence
The Vice-Chancellor’s Education Awards are the highest level of recognition at the university level and celebrate a wide range of contributions to student learning. The awards recognize educators renowned for the excellence of their teaching, as well as non-teaching staff who have made significant contributions to enhancing the quality of learning and teaching at La Trobe. Received the Vice-Chancellor’s Education Award for Sessional Teaching Excellence for the citation: ‘For creating welcoming, innovative and engaging learning environments using effective teaching and learning strategies that positively influenced, encouraged and inspired statistics students and their studies.’
WIMSIG Conference 2024 ECR Travel Award
Received a WIMSIG Conference 2024 Early Career Researcher Travel Award from the WIMSIG Conference Committee to attend the WIMSIG Conference 2024, which was held at the Sydney Mathematical Research Institute (SMRI), University of Sydney, on October 1st and 2nd, 2024. At the conference, I presented the results of my research project related to Mathematics and Statistics Education.
The Nancy Millis Medal
Received the Nancy Millis Medal which is a prestigious award presented to outstanding PhD candidates for the exceptionally high quality of their theses. The Nancy Millis Medal is awarded to the authors of outstanding doctoral theses. Examiners are asked if they consider the thesis to be in the top five per cent of theses they have examined. Nominated theses are then assessed following the examination process and are considered for award through a selection process that involves the School’s Director of Graduate Research. Final recommendations are approved by the Board of Graduate Research.
Early Career & Student Statisticians Conference Scholarship
Received a scholarship from the Statistical Society of Australia Victorian Branch to attend and present the results at the Early Career & Student Statisticians Conference 2021, which was held virtually via Zoom from July 26 to August 1, 2021. During the conference, I gave a talk titled “Probing Multifractionality of Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation,” based on the results of my third PhD project.
Associate Fellow
Achieved the status of Associate Fellow (AFHEA) in recognition of attainment against the UK Professional Standards Framework for teaching and learning support in higher education.
See certificate‘Tutors as Partners’ Scholarship
A scholarship which is awarded to one Statistics tutor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, La Trobe University in recognition of excellent teaching and tutoring skills.
3MT Thesis Competition - School of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences - Second Runner-up
The Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition is an annual, nationwide event aimed at fostering excellence in research presentation and communication. Second Runner-up of the SEMS heat of the 3MT Thesis Competition and got qualified to the SHE College heat and represented SEMS as a contestant.
Virtual Poster Pitch Competition - First Runner-up
‘Tutors as Partners’ Scholarship
A scholarship which is awarded to one Statistics tutor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, La Trobe University in recognition of excellent teaching and tutoring skills.
‘Tutors as Partners’ Scholarship
A scholarship which is awarded to one Statistics tutor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, La Trobe University in recognition of excellent teaching and tutoring skills.
Travel Grant to attend Young Statisticians Conference 2019
Received a travel grant from the Statistical Society of Australia Victorian Branch to attend the Young Statisticians Conference, which was held at Manuka Oval, Canberra, on October 1st and 2nd, 2019. During the conference, I delivered a talk titled ‘Stochastic Modelling and Statistical Analysis of Cosmic Microwave Background Data’, based on the results of my first PhD project.
‘Tutors as Partners’ Scholarship
A scholarship which is awarded to one Statistics tutor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, La Trobe University in recognition of excellent teaching and tutoring skills.
Customer Service Champion
Awarded as a ‘Customer Service Champion’ by the La Trobe University Customer Service Champions Executive Staff. This award is given to the wonderful ‘Customer Service Champions’ that have been nominated by the staff and students for making such a positive difference in students and their studies.
La Trobe University Full Fee Research Scholarship (LTUFFRS)
Awarded a La Trobe University Full Fee Research Scholarship (LTUFFRS) to undertake my PhD studies.
La Trobe University Postgraduate Research Scholarship (LTUPS)
Awarded a La Trobe University Postgraduate Research Scholarship (LTUPS) to pursue my PhD studies.
