Forecasting Impact
Forecasting Impact is a monthly podcast that aims to disseminate the science and practice of forecasting alongside prominent academics and practitioners in the field. Our vision is to grow the forecasting community, foster collaboration between academia and industry, and promote scientific forecasting and good practice. We’ll discuss a variety of topics in economics, supply chain, energy, AI, data analytics, healthcare, and more.
Podcast Team: Dr. Mahdi Abolghasemi, Dr. Sevvandi Kandanaarachchi, Michał Chojnowski, Dr Laila Akhlaghi, George Boretos, Mariana Menchero, Dr. Faranak Golestaneh, Arian Sultan Khan.
Future guests: if you have something interesting on forecasting to share with our audiences, please send an email to forecastingimpact@gmail.com
Forecasting Impact
Priyanga Dilini Talagala and Thiyanga Talagala
In this episode, we delve into the inspiring academic journey of two sisters from the heart of Sri Lanka. Dr Priyanga Dilini Talagala and Dr Thiyanga Talagala. Dr Priyanga is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Moratuwa, specialising in statistical machine learning and data mining, with a fervent commitment to open-source software for reproducible research. Dr Thiyanga is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, focusing on large-scale time series forecasting, data visualization, and machine learning interpretability methods.
We had a delightful discussion and learned about their backgrounds, their transition to and from Australia, and their perspectives on the evolving landscape of forecasting in Sri Lanka. We also discuss the status of academic collaboration with industry, the unique facets of Sri Lanka's higher education system, and the role of cultural and societal dynamics in academic communities. They shared their mentoring work and availability for forecasting opportunities in Sri Lanka.