Collaborations
& public forums.

Prof. V. K. Samaranayake

Mentorship and institution-building

Prof. Samaranayake’s mentorship shaped much of Harsha’s public-interest computing work. Their association included election computerisation, the Commissioner of Elections intranet, the Kothmale Internet Community Radio initiative, the Virtual Village programme, Sinhala computing and the work that developed around UCSC and its Software Development Unit.

Harsha contributed the chapter Kothmale Internet Program to Virtual Village: Recollection of nine years of ICT4D in Sri Lanka to Partners in Progress, the 2007 felicitation volume honouring Prof. Samaranayake. The chapter records the evolution of two landmark rural ICT initiatives and preserves part of their shared institutional history.

Partners in Progress record →   Landmark projects →

Winnie Hettigoda

Giving Sinhala Unicode a distinctive visual form

Harsha collaborated with veteran artist and cartoonist Winnie Hettigoda during the formative work on Sinhala Unicode fonts. Winnie designed new Sinhala letterforms, while Harsha developed the shaping and rendering rules needed to make those forms work correctly with Unicode-aware rendering engines. Their collaboration connected artistic judgement with the technical behaviour required for vowels, conjuncts, rakaransaya, yansaya and touching letters.

Winnie also designed the original Sinhala Unicode logo used by fonts.lk. The design used his newly developed Sinhala font shapes and colours drawn from the Sri Lankan flag. On the early fonts.lk website, the logo appeared against a deliberately plain white background, becoming a visual signature for the effort to make standards-compliant Sinhala type freely available to the public.

Sinhala Unicode development story →   Public profile interview →

Prof. P. W. Epasinghe

National ICT and Sinhala-language initiatives

Harsha worked in the wider national ICT and local-language ecosystem in which Prof. P. W. Epasinghe played a leading role. Prof. Epasinghe, then Chairman of ICTA, participated in the 2009 launch of Harsha’s book Numerations in the Sinhala Language, a work bringing historical Sinhala number systems into contemporary technical and public discussion.

The partnership represents a shared concern with making information technology meaningful and accessible in Sri Lanka’s own languages, while connecting institutional policy, technical standards and public scholarship.

Numeration archive →   Book and publication record →

Prof. J. B. Disanayake

Language scholarship joined with digital standards

Harsha and Prof. J. B. Disanayake collaborated at the meeting point of Sinhala scholarship and computing. They were among the contributors to An Introduction to Unicode for Sinhala Characters (2003), alongside Prof. V. K. Samaranayake, S. T. Nandasara and A. R. Weerasinghe.

Prof. Disanayake also reviewed Numerations in the Sinhala Language and discussed the significance of Harsha’s evidence concerning a historical Sinhala zero. Their association helped connect linguistic expertise with the exact character, writing-system and historical questions required for Sinhala to function reliably in digital environments.

Publications →   Sinhala numeration research →

Prof. Nalin de Silva

A dialogue on the Sinhala zero

Harsha’s association with Prof. Nalin de Silva developed into a public intellectual dialogue on Sinhala numeration, zero and the history of mathematical ideas. Their Sinhala-language online lecture brought Harsha’s documentary and technical research before a wider audience.

The programme was introduced by Nalaka Jayasena and also involved Mr. Piyadasa. It gave space to examine the Sinhala zero not simply as an isolated symbol, but in relation to indigenous notation, language, knowledge traditions and the interpretation of historical evidence.

Watch the prominent Sinhala Zero lecture →

Prof. Eric Karunanayake

Building the digital foundations for molecular biology

Harsha’s close association with Prof. Eric Hamilton Karunanayake extended for roughly three decades. It began in the latter part of 1996 when Prof. Samaranayake sent Harsha to help connect the Apple Macintosh used for DNA sequencing at the Institute of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (IBMBB) to the Internet.

The collaboration expanded into the design of high-performance computing facilities for DNA sequencing, the purchase and deployment of specialist computers, and a fibre network with VLANs. Harsha helped establish a fibre link between UCSC and IBMBB, designed the institute’s first website, and his Software Development Unit team designed the IBMBB crest incorporating the DNA double helix. He also worked with Prof. Eric and Prof. Ruvan Weerasinghe on the concept of a joint MSc in Bioinformatics.

The relationship joined Harsha’s own background in biochemistry with networking and software engineering, helping create practical infrastructure for emerging computational biology in Sri Lanka.

TWAS memorial biography →

Prof. Gihan Dias

From LEARN and Sinhala computing to multilingual Internet infrastructure

Harsha and Prof. Gihan Dias worked within Sri Lanka’s formative Internet community and later across the Local Language Working Group, ICTA, LK Domain Registry, standards work and Internet Society activities. Together with Dr. Ruvan Weerasinghe, they led practical Sinhala Unicode implementation work spanning fonts, keyboards, rendering, storage and adoption.

Their documented technical work includes SLS 1134, the 2003 Sinhala conjunct-rendering solution based on ZWJ, Sinhala and Tamil internationalized domain names, and research on Sinhala numerals. In January 2008, Prof. Dias formally transmitted Harsha’s interim research on archaic Sinhala numerals to the Unicode Technical Committee on behalf of ICTA. They also worked through LK Domain Registry and the Sri Lanka Internet community on .lk, .ලංකා, .இலங்கை, Universal Acceptance and Internet governance.

Unicode implementation record →   Unicode L2/08-068 →

Dr. Ruvan Weerasinghe

Language engineering from Unicode implementation to AI research

Harsha and Dr. Ruvan Weerasinghe collaborated on Sinhala Unicode implementation, language tools and the Pan Localization programme. Their work connected character encoding and rendering with corpora, natural-language processing, localized applications and public deployment.

They co-authored work on implementing Internet domain names in Sinhala with Asanka Wasala and Chamila Liyanage. Harsha and Dr. Weerasinghe later co-chaired the ICANN Sinhala Generation Panel that prepared the Sinhala Root Zone Label Generation Rules. They also co-authored the 2020 ICTer paper Deep Learning Based Sinhala Optical Character Recognition with Isuri Anuradha and Chamila Liyanage, and worked together through Theekshana, Universal Acceptance programmes and the Internet Society community.

ICANN Sinhala Generation Panel →   2024 UA policy workshop →

Dr. S. T. Nandasara

Standards, Sinhala computing and rural Internet research

Harsha’s collaboration with Dr. S. T. Nandasara spans early Sinhala encoding, Internet access and public education. They were co-authors, with Prof. V. K. Samaranayake and colleagues, of rural Internet papers including Difficulties in providing Internet facilities to rural communities in the third world (1999) and Benefits of Internet to Rural Communities: a Sri Lankan initiative based on inexpensive solutions (2001).

They also co-authored An Introduction to Unicode for Sinhala Characters (2003). Harsha later adapted Dr. Nandasara’s Sarasavi glyphs into a Unicode font during the implementation period.

Joint publications →

Prof. Gihan Wickramanayake

Building eLearning platforms and international telecentre education

Harsha and Prof. Gihan Wickramanayake maintained a close collaboration in eLearning and the Telecentre.org Academy programme. Their work linked UCSC’s experience in online education with the practical requirements of an international learning platform serving telecentre practitioners and communities.

They collaborated on the Telecentre.org learning-management-system project, curriculum and capacity-building activities. Prof. Wickramanayake’s academic leadership in online learning complemented Harsha’s responsibility for implementation, hosting, workflow systems, localization and coordination through Theekshana and the UCSC technology ecosystem.

Telecentre.org project history and photographs →   Theekshana project record →

Mr. Anusha Palpita

Digital government communication and telecommunications administration

Harsha worked with Mr. Anusha Palpita while he served as Director General of the Department of Government Information, including the development and operation of news.lk and the Department’s LAN and WAN. Harsha later worked with him again when Mr. Palpita served as Director General of the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka.

As ICT Consultant to TRCSL, Harsha played a significant role in telecommunications and Internet-related technical work, connecting his earlier government-web experience with national regulatory and digital-infrastructure responsibilities.

Government web and news.lk history →   Official biography →

Mr. Lalith Weeratunga

Modernising Presidential Secretariat infrastructure

Harsha served under Mr. Lalith Weeratunga during his work as ICT Consultant to the Presidential Secretariat. From 2010 to 2015, Harsha refurbished and restructured the Secretariat’s network, including the Temple Trees office complex, introduced new firewall arrangements, trained ICT staff and helped reorganise the ICT Division.

The collaboration also intersected with Sri Lanka’s wider Internet-development programme. Mr. Weeratunga opened INET Colombo 2011, organised while Harsha served as founding President of the Internet Society Sri Lanka Chapter.

ITU biography →   INET Colombo record →

Mr. Gamini Senarath

Early passport-office computerisation and later government service

Harsha worked with Mr. Gamini Senarath at the Department of Immigration and Emigration during the early computerisation of passport issuance. Harsha served from 1997 to 2002 as the Department’s first ICT Consultant appointed through CINTEC and joined the expert effort that resolved critical performance problems in the newly acquired automated passport-issuance system.

The professional association continued through later work connected with the President’s Office. Mr. Senarath’s own public-service record included senior responsibilities at Immigration and Emigration before his later roles at the Presidential Secretariat and Prime Minister’s Office.

Official appointment record →   Government systems portfolio →

Dr. Harsha Liyanage

Connecting rural communities through telecentres and wireless access

Prof. V. K. Samaranayake introduced Harsha to Dr. Harsha Liyanage, then responsible for Sarvodaya’s digital programme, when Sarvodaya needed specialist help with early telecentre connectivity. Harsha subsequently helped connect several Sarvodaya telecentres, supported the design of the Mobile ICT Bus and developed practical methods for dial-up connections over noisy rural telephone lines.

Dr. Liyanage and Harsha later designed the IDRC-supported Virtual Village project. Harsha led its technical work through UCSC and Theekshana, establishing wireless hotspots in Gampaha and Hatton and studying how terrain, foliage and weather affected rural Wi-Fi. Their collaboration linked Sarvodaya’s community-development practice with applied network engineering.

Kothmale–Virtual Village history →   Sarvodaya-Fusion profile →

Ms. Aruni Goonetilleke

Long-term collaboration in local-language computing

Harsha’s professional association with Aruni Goonetilleke reaches back to the CINTEC period and continued through ICTA’s local-language programme. As ICTA’s Programme Manager for Information Infrastructure, she coordinated initiatives that brought researchers, font designers, standards specialists and public institutions together to make Sinhala and Tamil usable in everyday computing.

Aruni coordinated the Unicode-font developer training at UCSC and edited Harsha’s 2009 book Numerations in the Sinhala Language. Her later book, How ICT Was Enabled in Local Languages, records the wider institutional and individual effort behind Sinhala and Tamil computing through 2014.

Sinhala Unicode history →   Local-language ICT book record →

Senior Prof. Sampath Amaratunge

A lifelong association extending into higher education and institutional development

Harsha and Sampath Amaratunge entered Ananda College together as six-year-olds in 1970. That childhood connection later became a close professional association through higher-education work, including Harsha’s work with the University Grants Commission.

Prof. Amaratunge is a former Chairman of the UGC and former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura. He now serves as Deputy President and Deputy CEO of CINEC Campus, where Harsha serves as ICT Consultant. Their collaboration also extends to CIBA, the higher-education initiative associated with Sri Dalada Maligawa.

Higher-education systems →   Official CINEC profile →

Prof. Kamal Waleboda

Nineteen years of radio presentation and the UCSC Digital Thorana

Harsha worked with Prof. Kamal Waleboda on radio programmes for almost nineteen years. Prof. Waleboda served as the compere of Internet Sampath Bhavithaya, while Harsha contributed as an ICT resource person, helping explain Internet resources and computing to Sinhala-speaking audiences through public-service broadcasting.

Their collaboration also produced the UCSC Digital Thorana based on the Chulla Setti Jathakaya. The official UCSC record states that Prof. Waleboda composed the viridu, while Harsha conceptualized and managed the project as consultant and Head of the UCSC Software Development Unit. The project joined traditional storytelling, poetry, computer graphics and large-screen digital presentation.

Radio collaboration →   Digital Thorana record →

Dr. Basheerhamad “Shaddy” Shadrach

Building the Telecentre.org Academy and its multilingual learning platform

Harsha worked closely with Dr. Basheerhamad Shadrach—widely known as “Shaddy”—through Telecentre.org and the Telecentre.org Academy. Harsha was a founding member of the steering committee of Telecentre.org Academy Sri Lanka, contributed to the drafting of curricula for the Global Telecentre.org Academy and advised on the selection of its eLearning platform.

In June 2010, Theekshana and Telecentre.org formalized their collaboration. Harsha led the project to host and maintain the Academy’s learning management system, support its workflow-based student information system and localize its interface and course content. Theekshana conducted an international LMS workshop with participants from across Asia and helped coordinate translation of the first twelve courses; Harsha was also among the course authors.

Telecentre.org project and photographs →   2010 agreement →

Jayantha Fernando

Internet-community institution building, policy and multilingual access

Harsha and Jayantha Fernando collaborated across Sri Lanka’s Internet community, ICTA, LK Domain Registry, Internet Society and ICANN-related work. When the Sri Lanka Internet community was organizing an Internet Society chapter, Jayantha encouraged Harsha to bring the community together, guided him in drafting the chapter’s Articles of Association and helped establish the connection with the global Internet Society. Harsha became the chapter’s founding President.

Their later work connected technical implementation with law and public policy. They worked within the national ecosystem supporting Sinhala and Tamil computing, Internet governance and the .LK Domain Registry. In December 2017 they jointly participated in the launch of the Sinhala Generation Panel: Harsha as its Co-Chair and Jayantha as ICTA’s Program Director and Legal Advisor. They were also contributors to the wider story documented in How ICT Was Enabled in Local Languages.

ICT History profile →   Sinhala GP launch →   2020 event and photograph →

Prof. Sarmad Hussain

South Asian language technology and an inclusive multilingual Internet

Harsha worked with Prof. Sarmad Hussain through the regional Pan Localization initiative, which brought together South Asian teams working on scripts, fonts, keyboards, corpora, NLP and localized applications. Prof. Hussain directed the regional programme while Harsha contributed from the University of Colombo School of Computing and Sri Lanka’s local-language technical community.

Their later work converged through ICANN’s IDN and Universal Acceptance programmes. Prof. Hussain, Champika Wijayatunga and Harsha were the principal resource persons at the November 2022 ICANN workshop in Sri Lanka, linking regional script expertise with practical UA and Email Address Internationalization capacity-building.

Pan Localization record →   ICANN workshop record →

Champika Wijayatunga

Advancing a multilingual and universally accessible Internet

Harsha collaborated with Champika Wijayatunga through ICANN’s Universal Acceptance, internationalized domain name and regional capacity-building work. Together with Prof. Sarmad Hussain, they served as principal resource persons at the November 2022 ICANN workshop in Sri Lanka, connecting global technical policy with practical local-language implementation.

The collaboration complemented Harsha’s Sinhala Generation Panel, Root Zone Label Generation Rules and Universal Acceptance work by bringing ICANN’s regional technical expertise into Sri Lankan workshops and professional communities.

ICANN workshop record →   Harsha’s ICANN chronology →

Prof. Damitha D. Karunaratna

Academic and institutional collaboration across UCSC and Theekshana

Harsha’s collaboration with Prof. Damitha Karunaratna grew through the University of Colombo School of Computing and continued through Theekshana R&D, connecting university expertise with public-interest software, eLearning, research and professional capacity building.

Prof. Karunaratna’s work at UCSC includes eLearning, databases, knowledge systems and academic supervision. He now serves as Chairman of Theekshana R&D, where Harsha serves as COO/CTO, continuing a shared institutional commitment to translate university research and computing expertise into nationally useful systems.

Theekshana leadership record →   Academic profile →

Retired DIG Chandra Nimal Wakishta

Institutional leadership and nationally important Buddhist service

Harsha worked with Mr. Chandra Nimal Wakishta through the All Ceylon Buddhist Congress, where Harsha served on the Buddhist Rights Commission and later chaired the Technology Committee. Their collaboration connected administration, technology and the Congress’s national responsibilities.

Official ACBC record →   Harsha’s Congress work →

Ambassador Ravinatha Aryasinha

From debating mentor to architect of digital public diplomacy

Four years senior to Harsha at Ananda College, Ravinatha Aryasinha helped train him in debating as a senior prefect distinguished in both Sinhala and English. Years later, as Acting Director of the Foreign Ministry’s Publicity Division, Aryasinha asked Harsha to replace the Ministry’s single Lanka Internet portal page with a proper website. Their collaboration grew to include formin.gov.lk, the Ministry LAN/WAN, a searchable internal repository and document-management system, compilation of the Child Soldier book, and later diplomatic-web initiatives over more than twenty years.

Institutional biography →   Complete collaboration history →