Dr Dharshani Chandrasekara | User Experience Researcher
Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER)

Dr Dharshani Chandrasekara is a User Experience Researcher at the Australian Council for Educational Research. Her work focuses on enhancing the digital assessment experience for students and improving test administration and evaluation processes for educators through a human‑centred design approach. She holds a PhD in Computer Science from Monash University, Australia, and has a background in digital health and technology‑driven community development. She also brings industry experience in business development across nine countries: Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, Indonesia, Singapore, the Maldives, Australia, Malaysia and Fiji, where she worked in the tourism and services sector. Following her doctorate, she served as a postdoctoral research fellow on interdisciplinary projects aimed at generating positive social impact. She is particularly passionate about adapting evidence‑based interventions to diverse sociocultural contexts. Beyond academia, she co‑founded an NGO in Sri Lanka dedicated to advancing media and information literacy. She continues to support start‑ups and not‑for‑profit organisations that use technology to empower vulnerable communities. Her work sits at the intersection of research, design and social innovation, with impact across both local and global settings.