Rate My Professor Oshadhi Manathungage

Oshadhi Manathungage is a PhD student in the Department of Psychological Medicine at the University of Otago, part of the Division of Health Sciences. Her doctoral research is supervised by Dr. Che-Wei Jerry Hsu. Manathungage's academic interests center on cognitive bias modification (CBM), a form of digital self-administered intervention designed to target unhelpful interpretation biases in mental health contexts. Her work explores enhancements to CBM protocols, including the integration of visual character-based elements to improve efficacy in treating depression and the application of generative artificial intelligence to automate the development of intervention materials. This research aligns with broader efforts in psychological medicine to develop accessible, technology-driven solutions for mental health challenges such as depression and implicit biases in clinical settings.

Manathungage has co-authored several scholarly publications demonstrating her contributions to the field. In 2024, she collaborated on 'Material Development for Cognitive Bias Modification for Stereotypes: Implicit Bias Training for New Zealand Medical Students using Cognitive Bias Modification: An Outline of Material Development,' which provides an outline for creating CBM-based training to reduce stereotypes and implicit biases among medical students at the University of Otago. A 2026 publication, 'Generative artificial intelligence in mental health: A preliminary study on automating materials development for cognitive bias modification,' examines the potential of AI tools to streamline the production of CBM resources for mental health applications. She also contributed to 'Evaluating the effects of visual character-based enhancements in cognitive bias modification for depression: A proof-of-concept randomized controlled trial,' assessing the impact of visual modifications on depression-focused interventions. Earlier, prior to her PhD, she co-authored research on public health topics, including the prevalence of overweight and obesity among employed and unemployed women in the Moratuwa divisional secretariat area in Sri Lanka. Her publications are associated with the Dunedin School of Medicine.