PI: Nisansa de Silva
We propose to advance aspect-based sentiment analysis (ABSA) by developing enhanced models, datasets, and evaluation methods that improve the accuracy and applicability of sentiment classification across multiple domains.
PI: Nisansa de Silva
We propose to advance natural language processing for low-resource settings by leveraging data augmentation, transfer learning, and model adaptation techniques to overcome the scarcity of annotated data and linguistic resources.
PI: Nisansa de Silva
We propose to build and analyze Sinhala language resources, datasets, and models to strengthen NLP research for this low-resource language, while connecting it to English and Tamil through bilingual lexicons, embeddings, and cross-lingual methods.
PI: Nisansa de Silva
We propose to advance automatic summarization and generation techniques, with a focus on aspect-aware methods that capture fine-grained information and sentiment within concise textual representations.
Theses: MSc Minor Component Research
Kushan Hewapathirana, "Towards Multi-document Summarisation in Low-resource Settings", University of Moratuwa, 2025
Journal Papers
Dineth Jayakody, A V A Malkith, Koshila Isuranda, Vishal Thenuwara, Nisansa de Silva, Sachintha Rajith Ponnamperuma, G G N Sandamali, and K L K Sudheera, "Instruct-DeBERTa: A Hybrid Approach for Aspect-based Sentiment Analysis on Textual Reviews", ICTer, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 39-50, 2025. doi: 10.4038/icter.v18i2.7290
Conference Papers
H W K Aravinda, Rashad Sirajudeen, Samith Karunathilake, Nisansa de Silva, Surangika Ranathunga, and Rishemjit Kaur, "SinLlama-A Large Language Model for Sinhala", in Moratuwa Engineering Research Conference (MERCon), 2025. doi: 10.1109/MERCon67903.2025.11217094
Sadeep Gunathilaka and Nisansa de Silva, "Automatic Analysis of App Reviews Using LLMs", in Proceedings of the Conference on Agents and Artificial Intelligence, 2025, pp. 828-839. doi: 10.5220/0013375600003890 
Dineth Jayakody, Koshila Isuranda, A V A Malkith, Nisansa de Silva, Sachintha Rajith Ponnamperuma, G G N Sandamali, and K L K Sudheera, "Aspect-Based Sentiment Analysis Techniques: A Comparative Study", in 2024 Moratuwa Engineering Research Conference (MERCon), 2024, pp. 205--210. doi: 10.1109/MERCon63886.2024.10688631
Kushan Hewapathirana, Nisansa de Silva, and C D Athuraliya, "Multi-Document Summarization: A Comparative Evaluation", in 2023 IEEE 17th International Conference on Industrial and Information Systems (ICIIS), 2023, pp. 19--24. doi: 10.1109/ICIIS58898.2023.10253581
Workshop Papers
Dineth Jayakody, Koshila Isuranda, A V A Malkith, Nisansa de Silva, G G N Sandamali, K L K Sudheera, and Sachintha Rajith, "Instruct-DeBERTa: A Hybrid Approach for Enhanced Aspect-Based Sentiment Analysis with Category Extraction", in Eighth Widening NLP Workshop (WiNLP 2024) Phase II, 2024.
Extended Abstracts
Kushan Hewapathirana, Nisansa de Silva, and C. D. Athuraliya, "Adapter-based Fine-tuning for PRIMERA", in 1st Applied Data Science \& Artificial Intelligence Symposium, April. 2025. doi: 10.31705/ADScAI.2025.57
