My name is Nishal. I was born and raised in Colombo, Sri Lanka. I'm currently living in Northern Italy - in a beautiful little town called Trento. I work as a Postdoctoral researcher at the University of Trento, attached to the EU-funded project - Musical Metaverse.

My Background
Ever since I was a child, I have been interested in engineering. I loved to take things apart, and put them back together. Or dissecting things to create completely new things. I was also interested in space travel and science fiction, the books by Sir Arthur C. Clarke, and TV shows and movies such as Star Wars, Star Trek, and Knight Rider being my biggest inspirations. I've been building circuits and doing other crazy things with electronics since I was old enough to not burn myself with a soldering iron, around the same time I started playing the guitar. My love for breaking things and building other things led me to study engineering in university. During my bachelors, I dicsovered Computer Vision, which I worked in professionally for a while. Somewhere along the way, my love for music and programming merged and led me towards Music Technology, which is my current focus.

My Education
I recieved my bachelors degree in Electronic Engineering from the Sheffield Hallam University. Then I completed my masters in Telecommunications and Electronic Engineering from Sheffield Hallam University. I recieved my PhD in Information Engineering and Computer Science from the University of Trento.

My Experience
I worked as a research engineer in the apparel sector, using my expertise in computer vision to develop solutions to automate or optimize the production flow of garments. Automated measurements, automated quality checking and computer vision based archiving were some of the solutions I developed. I was also involved in the alogorithm design and prototyping of a innovative technique to enable seamless printing on finished garments. I also worked in the Fintech industry as a research engineer, to incorporate AI-based methods to detect anomaliies and patterns in large financial systems. Moreover, during my career as a research enginner, I contributed my artistic skills to the companies to create promotional material.

My Research
I have been actively researhing in Music Technology since 2018, and it was the specialization for my PhD. My research is focussed on real-time musical pattern detection and smart musical instruments; where I apply my expertise in computer vision, digital signal processing, and machine learning in a musical context.

My Music
I've been playing the guitar since I was 14 years old. I have a Grade 8 certification for Rock and Pop guitar from Trinity College London. I have been playing in bands, and working as a studio and session musician for well over a decade. I was involved in a several award winning musical acts, and also highly successful commercial acts.

This is my little space on the internet, which acts as a portfolio of my scientific and artistic work. Feel free to browse and get inspired :)