Sithara Walpita Gamage

Research Interests

Engineering education Engineering practice and education Hydrology Water Resources Engineering

APrf Sithara Walpita Gamage

Program Director: Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) (Civil)

UniSA STEM

Teaching Enterprise

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD (as Co-Supervisor) - email supervisor to discuss availability.

Sithara is the Program director for the Civil Engineering program (LHMI) and has contributed to UniSA engineering education for 14 years. She also has been the program director for the Associate Degree Engineering programs (XTEN, XTENE, LTEN) and Flexible Entry Engineering program (LHEF) (2021-2022). 
Sithara has contributed to 11 UniSA Engineering courses as a lecturer, course coordinator, content developer and student supervisor. She has engaged in curriculum development and assessment moderation, with a focus on improving course quality. She has promoted innovation in student-centred learning. She has provided leadership and support for the programs' planning, development and quality assurance by facilitating reviews, amendments, credit agreements, course mappings, moderations and promotional activities for UniSA.
Sithara has conducted workshops promoting the use of digital technologies, predominantly using Moodle Learning Management systems in teaching. She received  UniSA award for ‘Innovative contribution to digital learning’ in 2017. Over the past 14 years, She has successfully promoted digital learning practices to a broader audience through workshops, presentations and publications.
She has established a foundation in Engineering Education research and promoted high-quality teaching practices while contributing to pedagogical innovation. She has engaged in collaborative research focusing on digital teaching and learning.
She also has background in Water Engineering with a focus on surface water hydrology. She has contributed to the Australian Rainfall and Runoff (ARR) national guideline update project.
Teaching is her passion and she is committed to pass on her knowledge and experience to inspire the next generation.
2014        Ph.D. Water Engineering – University of South Australia
2009        Master of Water Resources Management – University of South Australia
2005        B.Sc. (Hons) Engineering  – University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka

Flood design, Frequency analysis and Regional modelling

Contribute to Australian Rainfall and Runoff (ARR) National Guideline Update project: Australian Rainfall and Runoff – Revision projects – project 5 – Stage 1, 2 and 3 Reports, Engineers Australia, 2009, 2012 and 2015.

Date Position Institution name
2022 - ongoing Senior Lecturer University of South Australia
2021 - ongoing Program Director University of South Australia
2016 - ongoing Lecturer University of South Australia

Date Type Title Institution Name Country Amount
2024 Award UniSA Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning University of South Australia Australia -
2017 Award Innovative Contribution to Digital Learning – University of South Australia University of South Australia Australia -

Date Institution name Country Title
2010 - 2014 University of South Australia Australia Ph.D. Water Engineering
2007 - 2009 University of South Australia Australia Master of Water Resources Management
2005 - 2001 University of Moratuwa Sri Lanka B.Sc. (Hons) Chemical and Process Engineering

Year Citation
2022 Gamage, S. H. P. W., Ayres, J. R., & Behrend, M. B. (2022). A systematic review on trends in using Moodle for teaching and learning. International Journal of STEM Education, 9(9), 1-24.
DOI
2022 Abd Elaal, E. S., Gamage, S. H. P. W., & Mills, J. E. (2022). Assisting academics to identify computer generated writing. European Journal of Engineering Education, 47(5), 725-745.
DOI
2019 Gamage, S. H. P. W., Ayres, J. R., Behrend, M. B., & Smith, E. J. (2019). Optimising Moodle quizzes for online assessments. International journal of STEM education, 6(1), 1-14.
DOI Scopus73 WoS32
2015 Gamage, S. H. P. W., Hewa, G. A., & Beecham, S. (2015). Modelling hydrological losses for varying rainfall and moisture conditions in South Australian catchments. Journal of hydrology, 4(B), 1-21.
DOI
2013 Gamage, S. H. P. W., Hewa, G. A., & Beecham, S. (2013). Probability distributions for explaining hydrological losses in South Australian catchments. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 17(11), 4541-4553.
DOI
2010 Walpita Gamage, S. H. P., Hewa, A. G., Daniell, T., Wella Hewage, C. S., & Kemp, D. (2010). Modeling 100 year ARI floods in South Australian Catchments. Journal of Hydrologic Environment, 5(1), 13-25.

Year Citation
2024 Walpita Gamage, S. (2024). Exploring student perspectives on collaboration and ethical conduct in online exams: insights from a three-year survey. In E. Crossin, & M. Pour (Eds.), Proceedings of the 35th Annual Conference of the Australasian Association for Engineering Education (AAEE 2024) (pp. 481-489). New Zealand: Engineers Australia.
2019 Abd Elaal, E. S., Gamage, S. H. P. W., & Mills, J. E. (2019). Artificial intelligence is a tool for cheating academic integrity. In Proceedings of AAEE 2019 Annual Conference (pp. 1-7). Australia: Australasian Association for Engineering Education.
2019 Duff, A. H., Smith, E. J., Boase, J., Nisi, P., Hanchant Nichols, D., Bown, B., . . . Gamage, S. W. (2019). Right way, wrong way, better way a global model for engineers working with Indigenous communities. In R. Clark (Ed.), Proceedings of the 46th SEFI Annual Conference 2018: Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship for Engineering Education Excellence (pp. 756-763). Denmark: European Society for Engineering Education SEFI.
Scopus1
2014 Walpita Gamage, S. H. P., Hewa, G. A., & Beecham, S. (2014). Distribution of hydrological losses for varying rainfall and antecedent wetness conditions. In Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Hydroinformatics (HIC 2014): Informatics and the Environment: Data and Model Integration in a Heterogeneous Hydro World Vol. 2 (pp. 1057-1064). US: Curran Associates, Inc.
2011 Walpita Gamage, S. H. P., & Hewa, A. G. (2011). Statistical methods for modeling floods in South Australia. In Proceedings of the International Statistics Conference 2011. Sri Lanka: Institute of Mathematical Statistics Collection.
2009 Subhashini, W. H. C., Hewa, G. A., Walpita Gamage, S. H. P., Daniell, T. M., & Kemp, D. (2009). Regional flood studies in South Australia 2: at-site flood frequency analysis. In H2009 32nd Hydrology and Water Resources Symposium, Newcastle: adapting to change (pp. 568-578). Australia: Engineers Australia.
2009 Walpita Gamage, S. H. P., Hewa, G. A., Subhashini, W. H. C., Daniell, T. M., & Kemp, D. (2009). Regional flood frequency analysis in South Australia stage 1: quality of flow data and catchment attributes. In H2009: 32nd Hydrology and Water Resources Symposium, Newcastle: adapting to change (pp. 556-567). Australia: Engineers Australia.
2009 Walpita Gamage, S. H. P., & Hewa, G. A. (2009). Stormwater management: water quality improvement through wetlands: a case of Warriparinga Wetlands in SA. In WSUD09: Towards water sensitive cities and citizens (pp. 979-986). Australia: Engineers Australia.
2009 Walpita-Gamage, S., Hewa, G., Subhashini, W., Daniell, T., & Kemp, D. (2009). Modelling the extreme floods of South Australian catchments. In Proceedings of the 18th World IMACS and MODSIM09 International Congress (pp. 3435-3441). Australia: The Modelling & Simulation Society of Australia & NZ Inc.
Scopus2 WoS2

Courses I teach

  • ENGG 1004 Engineering Design and Innovation (2025)
  • ENGG 3006 Design Management for Engineers (2025)
  • ENGG 1004 Engineering Design and Innovation (2024)
  • ENGG 3006 Design Management for Engineers (2024)

Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
2025 Co-Supervisor - Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Chamaka Karunanayake
2024 Co-Supervisor - Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Tharindi Wijekoon

Date Role Committee Institution Country
2024 - ongoing Board Member Engineers Australia (EA) Accreditation Advisory Committee Engineers Australia Australia
2021 - ongoing Board Member TAFE SA Accreditation Advisory Board TAFE SA Australia

Date Role Membership Country
2025 - ongoing Member Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA) -
2025 - ongoing Member Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education (ASCILITE) -
2025 - ongoing Member Higher Education Research Network (HERN) -
2024 - ongoing Member Australasian Association for Engineering Education(AAEE) -
2020 - ongoing Member Hydrological Society SA -

Date Title Engagement Type Institution Country
2025 - ongoing Mentor Scientific Community Engagement Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education (ASCILITE) Australia

Date Institution Department Organisation Type Country
2024 - ongoing Aged Care Industry Association (ACIA) Training and Education Business and professional Australia

Date Role Editorial Board Name Institution Country
2025 - ongoing Associate Editor Learning Letters University of South Australia Australia

Date Title Type Institution Country
2024 - ongoing Australasian Association for Engineering Education (AAEE) Conference Review Australasian Association for Engineering Education (AAEE) Australia
2020 - ongoing Water Conservation Science and Engineering Journal Review Springer Nature (United Kingdom) -
2020 - ongoing International Journal of STEM Education Journal Review Springer Nature (United States) -
2009 - 2015 Australian Rainfall and Runoff (ARR) National Guideline Update project - Stage 1, Stage 2 and Stage 3. - Engineers Australia -

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