Dr. Amal PunchihewaAdvisor and Consultant at Asia Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD)Speaker
Profile
Dr Amal Punchihewa is a researcher, educator, advisor and consultant in ICT, Media, and Broadcasting with close to four decades of experience in the industry, academia, and research. Amal graduated from the University of Moratuwa specialising in Electronics and Telecommunications, Master of Electronics Engineering from the Technical University of Eindhoven, the Netherlands and PhD from Massey University in New Zealand. He was a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Institution of Engineering Sri Lanka. He was a member of the Computer Society of Sri Lanka. Currently, he is a life member of the Sri Lanka Association for Advancement of Science, a Chartered Professional Engineer and Fellow of IET (UK), a Fellow of Engineering New Zealand and a senior member of IEEE (USA). He is also a distinguished lecturer of the IEEE-Broadcast Technology Society.
Amal has served academia, research and the industry. During his four-year secondment to Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation, he spearheaded the introduction of NICAM stereo and multi-lingual sound broadcasting and the second programme channel. He was a recipient of the IESL Wimalsurendra Award for on-the-job Research. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers in reputed journals and conference proceedings in addition to three books, five book chapters and many books edited.
Amal facilitates and advocates technical guidelines and standards, and provides expertise related to the convergence of media, and evolving technology needs. He advises professional communities and explains the trends that shape the media, to empower media & ICT stakeholders to continue to make good strategic decisions. Currently, he volunteers as the Chair of the Engineering New Zealand Manawatu Branch, STEM Ambassador and a Mentor of emerging engineers and the Deputy Chair of IET Wellington and South Island. He is an IPRA, PR examiner, CPD Advisor, CC-AP member and New Zealand Lead. He is also the Technical Advisor of the Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development, AIBD.