Awanthika Senarath wins UNSW 2020 Dean’s Award for Outstanding PhD Thesis

Can you tell us what the UNSW Dean’s Award for Outstanding PhD Thesis recognises?

“The Dean’s Award is given to PhD graduates who have produced a thesis that requires only minimal corrections, received outstanding and/or excellent levels of achievement for all examination criteria, and in the opinion of both examiners is in the top 10% of PhD theses they have examined.”

What does it mean to you to receive this award?

“It gives me confidence as a researcher in my academic capability. My ability to convey my ideas to an audience in writing, and the quality of my research compared to that in the field were recognised by this award.

The thesis was examined by experienced researchers and the award shows that they considered my work to be in the top 10% of the work they have examined, which gives me immense pleasure and endorses my work among other research work.”

What advice would you offer to current or future Data61 PhD scholarship students?

“Publish your work from the beginning. Even if it gets rejected the reviews and comments will guide you.

Peer-reviewed journals help you become a good researcher and to gain confidence in your work so that by the time you complete, you have your mark in your field. It would also help you when you finally compile your thesis as you already have your work in writing.”

Reflecting on your time with Data61 and SCS, what was your highlight? What are you most proud of?

“I worked with my Data61 supervisor—Dr. Marthie Grobler—and was able to run my research experiments with Data61 research students. Also my research survey was hosted in Data61 servers which was a huge support.

I am proud of being able to publish my work in well recognised journals and conferences during my candidature, such as computers and security and TOPS. This gave me confidence in my work and also made thesis compilation relatively easy.”

Are there any other awards or accolades you’d like to mention?

“I’m one of the top three finalists in the three-minute thesis competition at UNSW Canberra. I also received the best short paper award at The Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering (EASE) 2019.”

Awanthika would like to acknowledge the contribution of her supervisors, Dr. Nalin Asanka Gamagedara Arachchilage (La Trobe University) and Dr. Marthie Grobler (CSIRO’s Data61).

Learn more about Awanthika.