Annista Wijayanayake is a Lecturer in the Department of Information Systems and Business Analytics within the Faculty of Business and Law at Deakin University, Australia. She brings more than 25 years of academic experience across Australia, Sri Lanka, and Japan, with a multidisciplinary background spanning Industrial Engineering, Operations Research, Information Systems, Data Analytics, Supply Chain and Logistics, and Management Science.
Prior to joining Deakin University, Annista held academic positions at the University of Melbourne and Monash University and previously served as a Professor in the Department of Industrial Management at the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. At the University of Kelaniya, she was the founding Senior Academic Advisor for the Bachelor of Science in Management and Information Technology degree program, contributing to its academic development and strategic direction. She has also served as an Honorary Research Fellow at RMIT University.
Annista holds a First-Class Honours Bachelor of Science in Industrial Management from the University of Kelaniya (1993), a Master of Engineering in Industrial Engineering (1998), and a Doctor of Engineering in Industrial Engineering (2001) from the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan. She is also a Certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, with expertise in process improvement and operational efficiency, particularly within manufacturing and supply chain environments.
Her teaching and educational leadership have been recognised through the Teaching Excellence Award at Monash University in 2019 and 2024. Her teaching philosophy emphasises connecting theoretical concepts with practical business applications through analytical modelling, real-world cases, technology-enabled learning, and problem-based approaches. Her academic work encompasses areas including decision modelling, business analytics, operations research, supply chain management, and digital transformation.
Annista has also made significant contributions to academic leadership and educational innovation. She served as the Chief Grant Coordinator for the World Bank-funded Quality and Innovation Grant; an initiative focused on enhancing the quality and innovation of undergraduate degree programs in Sri Lanka. She has contributed to numerous international academic conferences as an editor and track chair, including conferences indexed by Scopus.
Her research focuses on the development and application of quantitative, analytical, and data-driven approaches to complex decision-making problems. Her research interests include Optimisation, Operations Research, Decision Science, Decision Modelling, Predictive Analytics, Simulation, Mathematical Modelling, Management Science, Supply Chain Analytics, Risk Management, Logistics, and Transportation. A particular focus of her work is the development of sustainable, resilient, and technology-enabled supply chains, supported by analytics and emerging digital technologies.
Through her interdisciplinary research and teaching, Annista seeks to bridge theoretical knowledge with practical applications, using analytical and data-driven methods to improve organisational performance, operational efficiency, risk management, and strategic decision-making in complex business environments.