Associate Professor Raj Prasanna PhD

Contact details

• Ph: +6448015799 Ext: 62167
  Location: T28, T28
  Campus: Wellington

Qualifications

• Doctor of Philosophy - Loughborough University (2010)

Research Interests

Raj's current research interests include big data analytics and deep learning applications for emergency situation awareness, Internet of Things (IoT) for Disaster Management, Human-Computer Interface supporting Emergencies and Cognitive Requirements Capturing Techniques for Emergencies.

Research Opportunities

• Early Career Research Fund  (March 2014) Research on Emergency Operation Centre Software Usability
• Massey University Research Fund  (01/01/2015) An exploratory study of information requirements for emergency operation centre personnel
• Massey University Research Fund  (01/01/2016) Defining Collaborative Working Accountability in Natural Disasters: The Case of Earthquake Disasters in Christchurch, New Zealand
• Massey University Research Fund  (01/01/2017) An exploratory study of information requirements for emergency operation centre
• Massey University Research Fund  (01/01/2018) A framework to manage data quality for disaster management information systems
• Massey University Strategic Investment Funding  (01/01/2020) Research on Building a Community of Practice Towards the Conceptualisation of Citizen-led Low-cost Early Warning Systems
• EQC Biennial Contestable Grant Programme 2020  (01/01/2020) Community-led low-cost micro-seismic (MS) sensor network applications for Earthquake Early Warning (EEW)

Thematics

Resource Development and Management, Design – for Commerce, Community and Culture, Health and Well-being

Area of Expertise

Field of research codes
Cognitive Sciences (170200): Computer Perception, Memory and Attention (170201):
Computer Software (080300): Computer System Architecture (080302): Computer-Human Interaction (080602): Decision Support and Group Support Systems (080605):
Engineering (090000):
Information And Computing Sciences (080000): Information Systems (080600):
Interdisciplinary Engineering (091500):
Psychology And Cognitive Sciences (170000):
Risk Engineering (excl. Earthquake Engineering) (091507):
Software Engineering (080309):
Technology (100000)

Keywords

IS for Emergency Response, Internet of Things, AI-driven data fusion, Decentralized Sensor Networks, Disaster/Emergency Management, IT, MIS, Situation Awareness, Cognitive Task Analysis, Interpretive Case Study Research

Languages

• English
  Last used: Daily
  Spoken ability: Excellent
  Written ability: Excellent
• Sinhalese
  Last used: Daily
  Spoken ability: Excellent
  Written ability: Excellent
• Japanese
  Last used: Not Often
  Spoken ability: Needs work
  Written ability: Needs work

Teaching Statement

Massey University Emergency Management Academic Programme Coordinator

130.201 Introduction to (Civil Defence) Emergency Management in New Zealand

130.202 Introduction to Emergency Management

130.301 Incident Command Systems

130.705 Emergency Management

Graduate Supervision Statement

PhD Supervision Success at Massey

• Usability of disaster apps: Understanding the perspectives of the public as end-users 
  
• Modelling Earthquake Hazard Preparedness in Recovery Period in Nepal 
  

Postgraduate Supervision Successes at Massey

• Community-based Disaster Response Teams for Vulnerable Groups and Developing Nations: Implementation, Training, and Sustainability 
  
• Water Supply Dependency on Other Lifelines for Function and Repair After an Earthquake in Wellington
• Is the Coordinated Incident Management System, appropriate for a para-military organisation, such as the New Zealand Police? 
• Emergo Train System (ETS) New Zealand: An analysis of the exercise tool from 2009 to 2014 
• Application of Unified Control in New Zealand 
• Managing and Maintaining Relationships between Regional and Local Emergency Coordination Centres

Research  Supervision Successes Overseas

• Fostering knowledge transfer through closure and brokerage: A case study of flood resilience in Sri Lanka - PhD 
• Integrating Information Strategies with the Business Strategy under changing business Conditions: A contingency model  - PhD
• Study on end-user acceptance of ERP systems in manufacturing organizations in Sri Lanka.
• The impact of effective decision making on project success in virtual software development projects in Sri Lanka.
• Study on the influence of Enterprise 2.0 tools on knowledge sharing practices in Sri Lankan software firms
• Virtual collaboration and application support teams - A study of productivity and job satisfaction
• Gender equivalency in resource allocation for ERP implementations in Sri Lanka.
• Analysis of the impact of IT helpdesks on labor productivity of diversified holding companies in Sri Lanka.
• Virtual collaboration and application support teams: A study of productivity, effectiveness and satisfaction.
• Managing IT based ISs in Sri Lankan small & medium manufacturing organizations.
• The impact of ERP in an apparel manufacturing company.
• Adaptability of CRM in Sri Lankan commercial banking industry.
• Implementation of data warehouse based enterprise decision support system.
• Assessment of controls of information system function in auditing perspective in organizations of Sri Lanka.
• Learning organizations: Research on its application to Sri Lankan apparel industry.
• The readiness of Sri Lankan banks towards a shared ATM network.
• IT disaster recovery readiness of Sri Lankan banks.
• Use of B2B eBusiness tools in export-oriented manufacturing industries of Sri Lanka.
• The role of CAD/CAM products to be competitive in the global apparel market.
• Barriers to use IT for medium and small-scale apparel firms in Sri Lanka.

Current Doctoral Supervision

Main Supervisor of:

• Malintha Mahinda Kumarage - Doctor of Philosophy
  Artificial Intelligence Driven Impact-based Warning Applications for Natural Hazards - A Case of Severe Floods
• Danuka Ravishan Dissanayaka Mudiyanselag - Doctor of Philosophy
  Design and Optimization of Machine Learning Models for Resource-Constrained Devices in On-site Earthquake Early Warning Systems
• Alfredo Jaramillo Velez - Doctor of Philosophy
  Using citizen science data as an approach to make low-cost and safe monitoring programmes in landslide zones: Cape Kidnappers and Taranaki North Cliffs case studies
• Chanthujan Chandrakumar - Doctor of Philosophy
  An eco-system of low-cost ground motion sensors toward Earthquake Early Warning System using P-waves

Co-supervisor of:

• Kianoush Rostami - Doctor of Philosophy
  Differences in Earthquake Early Warning (EEW) in countries with earthquake-resilient buildings versus more vulnerable building stock
• Aneesha Weerawarnakurukulasooriya Boosab - Doctor of Philosophy
  Developing Methods to Georeference New Zealand’s Biota from Text
• Indeewari Galagama - Doctor of Philosophy
  Role of Religious and Ethnic Tensions in the Emergence of Terrorism in Sri Lanka.
• Sajan Neupane - Doctor of Philosophy
  Understanding human behaviour following a damaging earthquake in New Zealand: Using citizen science information to inform earthquake engineering
• Sameeah Hameed - Doctor of Philosophy
  Geo-spatial Situational Awareness of Disasters Through Social Media Text and Authoritative Data
• view more...
• Annal Dhungana - Doctor of Philosophy
  Communicating uncertanities of scientifc models
• view less...

Completed Doctoral Supervision

Main Supervisor of:

• 2023 - Rangika Hewa Algiriyage - Doctor of Philosophy
  Multi-source Multimodal Deep Learning to Improve Situation Awareness: An Application of Emergency Traffic Management
• 2022 - Sara Harrison - Doctor of Philosophy
  Exploring the Data Needs and Sources for Severe Weather Impact Forecasts and Warnings
• 2021 - Yasir Imtiaz Syed - Doctor of Philosophy
  Development of a Decision Support System through Modelling of Critical Infrastructure Interdependencies
• 2020 - Marion Lara Tan - Doctor of Philosophy
  Usability of disaster apps: Understanding the perspectives of the public as end-users

Co-supervisor of:

• 2021 - Hayley Squance - Doctor of Philosophy
  Enhancing Multiagency Collaboration in Animal Welfare Emergency Management
• 2018 - Mina Adhikari - Doctor of Philosophy
  Modelling Earthquake Hazard Preparedness in Recovery Period in Nepal

Other Links

• Google Scholar - Research Contributions
• linkedin profile
• Discussion on Earthquake Early Warning on RNZ Nights Show
• Inaugural ISCRAM Asia Pacific 2018 Conference in Wellington
• Affordable, community engaged earthquake warning system subject of research project
• view more...
• Sri Lankan Delegation from Colombo Municipal Council to Massey
• Massey Research Team Award 2019
• QuakeCoRE Webinar
• Your mobile phone could soon warn you of earthquakes. How does it work?
• New Kiwi research uncovers important gap in knowledge about early earthquake warning
• Low-cost earthquake warning project gains significant momentum
• Kiwi earthquake tech goes global
• view less...