Raj Prasanna

Dr. Raj Prasanna is an expert in an expert in combining technology and social sciences research disciplines to design and develop systems supporting emergencies. Raj is an associate professor and the deputy director (teaching) of the Joint Centre for Disaster Research, at Massey University. At the Joint Centre for Disaster Research Raj leads the CRISiSLab which conducts research on state-of-the-art technologies supporting crisis management. Since 2012 he teaches Emergency Management and Incident Command Systems and coordinates the Emergency Management Academic Programme at Massey University. Previously he served as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Management of Technology, at the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. He also served as a lecturer and a visiting academic at Loughborough University, UK. He has also served as a visiting lecturer for the Sri Lankan affiliations of Massey University, Sheffield Hallam University, UK and RMIT University Australia. He graduated from the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka in 1995 in Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering. He also obtained an MBA from the Postgraduate Institute of Management, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka in 2000 and an MSc in Information Technology from the University of Colombo in 2005. Raj is also a qualified chartered engineer in Information Technology. Raj has been a full-time academic and a researcher since 2004 and obtained his PhD from Loughborough University, UK in 2010 in Information Systems supporting Emergency Response. Raj’s current research interests include 1) disaster Management information systems 2) the application of disruptive technologies and the Internet of Things (IoT) for Disaster Management, 3) designing Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) for emergency response, and 4) situation awareness & cognitive requirements capturing techniques for emergencies. An expert in combining technology and social sciences research disciplines to design and develop systems supporting emergencies. Prior to his academic career, Raj worked in the industry for nearly nine years in different managerial and technical job roles, including a top managerial position in a Sri Lankan office of one of the fortune five hundred manufacturing companies. Raj is also a professional consultant in many IS/IT related projects in top business ventures in Sri Lanka and Europe.