Hello! I'm Senuri Wijenayake

I am a Lecturer and Researcher in Human-Computer Interaction and Design at the School of Computing Technologies at RMIT University. I hold a PhD in Human-Computer Interaction and Social Computing from the University of Melbourne.

As a researcher, I am passionate about all things HCI - and most especially Social Computing. My research speciality is in understanding how design can affect and contribute to positive and negative user behaviours on online social platforms. This stems from my doctoral research that uncovered to what extent people are influenced by "others" on online social platforms and why. Please refer to my projects and publications or reach out to me via email if you are interested to know more. Always happy to have chat!

In addition to research, I find teaching and mentoring students rewarding. I have 5+ years of teaching experience at various higher education institutes in Australia and volunteer as a motivational speaker at the Career Guidance Unit of University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. I am also looking for PhD students who are interested in exploring online user behaviours. So, if you have a cool idea in the field of Social Computing that you are passionate about, please reach out.

Contact me on : senuri [dot] wijenayake [at] rmit.edu.au

Education

Jul 2018 - Dec 2021

Human-Computer Interaction Group, School of Computing and Information Systems
 Supervisors: Dr. Jorge Goncalves and Prof. Vassilis Kostakos
Thesis: Understanding the Dynamics of Online Social Conformity
 Social conformity has both positive and negative effects on how people behave and make decisions in online group settings. My research aims to quantify contextual and personal determinants of online conformity and inform how group settings can be designed accounting for conformity influences to ensure healthy online social interactions.
Awards: Graduate Research Student of the Year 2021

May 2013 - Oct 2017

Faculty of Information Technology

Highlights:

  • Most Outstanding Student of University of Moratuwa for year 2017, in recognition of the outstanding academic performance, contribution to research, voluntary work and extra-curricular activities.
  • Gold Medal for the best academic performance in the BSc. (Hons) Information Technology exams in 2017, with a GPA of 4.15 / 4.20.
  • Main Student Representative for Batch 12 in 2015/2016.

Jan 2009 - Aug 2011

GCE Advanced Level Examinations - Visakha Vidyalaya (Sri Lanka)
Stream : Physical Science
Results :

  • Physics : A
  • Combined Mathematics : B
  • Chemistry : B
  • English Language : A

Jan 2007 - Dec 2008

GCE Ordinary Level Examinations - Musaeus College (Sri Lanka)
Results : 9 Distinctions

Experience

Lecturer in Human-Computer Interaction, RMIT UniversityJan 2024 - Present

  • Cohort lead for Programming Studio 1 : Studio-based learning that incorporates fundamental concepts in User-Centred Design (UX/UI) and Database Systems to design and develop fully functional data-driven websites.

Associate Lecturer in Design, University of SydneyJan 2022 - Jan 2024

  • Unit coordination for Design Programming and Interaction Design Studio units offered under the Bachelor of Design (Interaction Design) program and the Master of Interaction Design and Electronic Arts program.
  • Leading and mentoring teaching teams consisting both new and experienced individuals.
  • Planning and developing material for lectures, tutorials, design studios, assignments and marking guides in collaboration with a teaching team.
  • Online and in-person delivery of course material using relevant university-approved technologies.
  • Handling student-staff communications involving course content, assignments and course enrolment.
  • Certifications completed: Modular Professional Learning Framework offered by the University of Sydney.

Academic Tutor, University of MelbourneJan 2019 - Dec 2021

Software Engineer, Tracified - 99X TechnologyAug 2017 - Jun 2018

  • Designed and dveloped a traceability solution for e-commerce platforms selling premium products (e.g., organic food, gems) to provide transparency into their product’s journey from its origin to the marketplace (Watch demo video).
  • Winner of Gold Award in Retail and Supply Chain Management at the National Best Quality Software Awards (NBQSA) Sri Lanka in 2017.
  • Responsibilities :
    • Leading a 20+ team of Developers, UX Engineers and Quality Assurance Engineers and overseeing the scrum activities as the team's Scrum Master.
    • Full stack software development using AngularJs, CSS, HTML, TypeScript, Express, MongoDB.
    • Guiding the product engineering process from product designing to deployment.
    • Conducting on-site training of clients and compiling training manuals.
    • Communicating with clients for requirement gathering, customisations and troubleshooting.

Software Engineering Intern, PicaSix - 99X TechnologyMar 2016 - Sep 2016

  • Developed a web-based supply chain management system for PicaSix to combine and align processes of complex supply chains between importers, suppliers, production, wholesalers and end-consumers.
  • Responsibilities :
    • Full stack software development using AngularJs, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, Ruby on Rails.
    • Implementing automated frontend testing using Protractor and compiled technical documentation for the setup.
    • Researching and deploying the server as a Docker container.
    • Experience in Scrum activities and communicating with Product Owner and client for requirement gathering, customisations and technical walk-throughs.

Undergraduate Developer, E-kilder - Embla SoftwareAug 2014 - May 2015

  • Developed an interactive website to digitise handwritten information of Norwegian church books through crowdsourcing and use that information to enable users to discover and graphically illustrate their family trees.
  • Responsibilities :
    • Full stack software development using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, C#, Entity Framework and SQL Server.
    • Leading a team of four other undergraduate developers.
    • Communicating with the Product Owner and the Business Analyst for requirement gathering, customisations and technical walk-throughs.

Publications

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

Research Projects

Identifying the Impact of Contextual and Personal Determinants on Online Social Conformity

This is the first user study related to my PhD thesis investigating online social conformity. The main objective of this experiment was to investigate how popular face-to-face conformity determinants impact conformity in online settings. We looked at how contextual determinants such as majority - minority group composition, and task objectivity, as well as subjective determinants like participant gender, self-confidence and personality traits influence conformity behaviour in an online quiz. See our paper for more details.

Code on GitHub:     Quiz Application     Server


Measuring Effects of Gender on Online Social Conformity

This study investigates the impact of majority - minority group gender composition, gendered user cues (names and avatars) and gender-typed questions, in triggering gender-stereotypical conformity in an online quiz. We observe that participants conformed to a majority consisting more men than women in stereotypically masculine questions, and a majority consisting more women than men in stereotypically feminine questions. The effect was also heightened when we used gendered avatars to represent users, than their first names.
See our paper for more details.

Code on GitHub:     Quiz Application     Server


Quantifying the Effect of Social Presence on Online Social Conformity

This study investigates how the perceived social presence facilitated in an online quizzing environment impacts online conformity behaviour. We manipulate social presence via interactivity (discussion vs. no discussion), response visibility (public vs. private answers) and user representation (generic vs. user-specific avatars). We observe that conformity is highest in the presence of peer discussions and public responses, and lowest when these aspects are absent, implying that higher social presence leads to higher online conformity. The “Confederates’ App” is used to simulate group discussions between four confederates and one participant in the experiment.
See our paper for more details.

Code on GitHub:   Quiz App     Confederates' App     Server

Teaching Experience

Unit Coordination

  • Design Programming (DECO1012 & IDEA9103) in 2022, 2023.
    • This unit provides an introduction to creative coding. It teaches an understanding of the fundamentals of computational thinking as well as skills in the design and implementation of software for creative expression and prototyping.
    • There are two variations of this course - DECO1012 (for undergradaute students) and IDEA9103 (for postgraduate students).
    • As the unit coordinator, I organise lectures and hands-on tutorials for 450+ students and am also the go-to person for all student queries - content related and otherwise.
  • Interaction Design Studio (DECO2200) in 2022.
    • This unit introduces principles of interface and interaction design through design projects.
    • Students learn about methods for collecting user requirements, synthesising and visualising concepts, prototyping user interfaces, e.g. in the form of mobile apps, and evaluating prototypes.

Academic Tutoring

  • Social Computing (INFO90007) in 2020, 2021.
    • Conducting multiple online tutorials on Zoom for groups of 20 – 25 postgraduate students.
    • Developing rubrics for assessment evaluation and grading students assignments.
    • Supervising student projects.
    • Responding to student queries on discussion forums and posting subject related content in Canvas.
  • Evaluating the User Experience (INFO90004) in 2019, 2020, 2021.
    • Conducting online tutorials on Zoom for groups of 20 – 25 postgraduate students.
    • Conducting online consultation sessions for student groups to assist their group projects.
    • Assisting students conducting experiments at the HCI Lab involving Tobii eye trackers.
    • Responding to student queries on discussion forums and posting subject related content in Canvas.
  • Fundamentals of Interaction Design (INFO10003) in 2019.
    • Conducting multiple tutorials for groups of 20 – 25 undergraduate students.
    • Contributing towards marking student assignments and presentations for the subject.

Academic Mentorship

  • PhD Students:
    • Yiyuan Wang (University of Sydney; 2022 - present)
    • Hmdh Alknjr (RMIT University; 2023 - present)
  • Students supervised under the postgraduate HCI Research Project (INFO90008) at University of Melbourne.
    • Shangqian Li (2021) - Investigating the impact of social conformity on the dispersion of misinformation in social media.
    • Jo-lan Hu (2020) - Investigating social conformity in online group chatting environments.
  • Students supervised under the postgraduate Design Research Project (DESN9203) at University of Sydney.
    • Jiamu Lin (2022) - Using reminiscence exercise functions to improve cognition in elderly.
    • Victoria Way (2023) - Designing and evaluating new safety features for Instagram.
    • Pamela Gutierrez (2023) - Effects of Source, Community and Content of Facebook news articles on their perceived trustworthiness.

Exam Supervision

Certifications

Academic Services

Oragnising Committee Member

Student Volunteer

  • ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW’20).
  • CIS Doctoral Colloquium 2018 organised by the University of Melbourne.

Conference & Journal Paper Reviewer

  • ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI)
  • ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW)
  • The Web Conference (WWW)
  • International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (INTERACT)
  • Australian Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (OzCHI)
  • Computers in Human Behaviour (CHB)
  • Social Sciences & Humanities Open (SSHO)
  • ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI)

Conference Participation

  • Presented a research paper at the 18th IFIP TC13 International Conference on Human–Computer Interaction (INTERACT'21) in August 2021.  [talk]
  • Presented a research paper at the 23rd Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW) in November 2020.  [talk]
  • Attended the Doctoral Consortium at the 23rd Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW) in November 2020.  [talk]
  • Presented a position paper at the Workshop on Detection and Design for Cognitive Biases in People and Computing Systems at ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems in April 2020.  [talk]
  • Presented two research papers at the 22nd Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW) in October 2019.
  • Participated in the ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing (UbiComp) in September 2018.
  • Presented a research paper at the 25th Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems (PACIS) in June 2018.
  • Presented a research paper at the 17th International Conference on Advances in ICT for Emerging Regions (ICTer) in September 2017.

Honors & Awards

Best Paper Award

18th IFIP TC13 International Conference on Human–Computer Interaction (INTERACT'21)

Paper: Quantifying the Effects of Age-related Stereotypes on Online Social Conformity

Graduate Research Student of the Year 2021

Faculty of Engineering & IT, University of Melbourne

For the inspiration, innovation and support provided to FEIT community.

Excellence in Tutoring Award 2019

School of Computing and Information Systems, University of Melbourne

In recognition of an excellent contribution to tutoring at CIS.

Best Paper Award

Pacific-Asia Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (PAKDD'18)

Paper: A Decision Tree Approach to Predicting Recidivism in Domestic Violence

Culture and Tourism Award

e-Swabhimani 2017

For the undergraduate research project TravelSL, a Facebook-based travel recommendation system.

Gold Award - Retail and Supply Chain Management

National Best Quality Software Awards 2017

For Tracified, a blockchain based traceability solution for premium products.

Gold Medal

Faculty of IT, University of Moratuwa

For achieving the Best Academic Performance in the Faculty of Information Technology to date, with a Grade Point Average of 4.15

Most Outstanding Student of Year 2017

University of Moratuwa

For the outstanding academic & research performance, voluntary work and extra-curricular activities.

Scholarships

Grants

  • Developing design strategies and policies to protect women and gender-diverse people from technology-facilitated abuse on social media (78,045 AUD)
    Funded by The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN). This project investigates how women and gender-diverse users engage with safety features on social media to identify strengths and limitations, aiming to produce consumer-centric recommendations for effective online safety mechanisms (August 2024). Project Link
  • Mitigating cyberbullying experiences of younger users on Instagram (75,000 AUD)
    Funded by Instagram Research Awards. This project aims to understand and address the cyberbullying experiences of younger users, focusing on enhancing community health and safety on the platform (December 2021).

Voluntary Work

Motivational Speaker & Mentor
May 2015 - Present

I have had the pleasure of conducting offline and online motivational sessions to high school and undergraduate students in Sri Lanka, to create awareness of the importance of higher education and opportunities available.

Secretary
Sri Lankan Graduates’ Society at University of MelbourneDec 2020 - Dec 2021

Committee Member (Media & Communication)
Sri Lankan Graduates’ Society at University of MelbourneMay 2019 - Dec 2020

  • The Sri Lankan Graduates’ Society (SLGS) is a postgraduate society affiliated to the Graduate Student Association (GSA) at University of Melbourne, Australia.
  • We are devoted to advocating the welfare of Sri Lankan Graduates students of the University of Melbourne. The SLGS also organises a plethora of cultural activities with the intention of introducing the Sri Lankan identity and heritage to the multicultural community of the university.

Editor in Chief - FIT Chronicle
Faculty of Information Technology, University of MoratuwaJan 2015 - Aug 2017

  • FIT Chronicle - the academic magazine of the Faculty of IT, University of Moratuwa - is the outcome of combined effort from the faculty and students, where I had the privilege of working together with an extremely committed editorial team, to revamp the magazine with a dash of life and pride.
  • Under my leadership, the FIT Chronicle brought the spotlight onto faculty events, academic programs, student achievements, student extracurricular activities with a new addition of a “students’ corner” to exhibit composing talents and artistic insight of FIT students.

    • See FIT Chronicle:   2015 Edition   2016 Edition
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