Pathinarage Ishari Uthpala

Pathinarage Ishari Uthpala is a Researcher at Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), collaborating with the TIDE Research Group on Interactive and Distributed Technologies for Education. She holds a Ph.D. in Information and Communication Technologies (2020, UPF) with a thesis focusing on learning analytics and collaborative learning orchestration. She also completed M.Sc. (Intelligent Interactive Systems, 2016, UPF) and B.Sc. (First Class, 2013, University of Colombo School of Computing) degrees.

Her research emphasizes applying learning analytics to enhance collaborative learning environments, bridging classroom and distance education contexts. She has conducted interdisciplinary research and teaching, with experiences at Radboud University, University of Duisburg-Essen, and EPFL. Key contributions include qualitative methods in learning analytics and script design for collaborative learning.

• Guest lecture: 'Qualitative Methods in Learning Analytics' at MIT EdTech Studio (2020)
• Research talk: 'Collaborative Learning Scripts and Learning Analytics' at SLIIT HCI Research Group (2020)

Awards: Recognized for academic excellence with a Gold Medal for undergraduate research (2013) and scholarships to attend GHC and womENcourage (2017).