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Dr. Manjula Devananda

Associate Professor
  • Teaching

About

Dr. Manjula Devananda is an interdisciplinary AI researcher and academician with expertise in health informatics, machine learning, and explainable AI. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Otago, New Zealand, where her research focused on predictive workload modelling in primary healthcare. With a strong background in both academia and industry, she has served as Senior Manager – AI Research at Fusemachines (USA), Health Data Scientist in New Zealand, and Principal/Academic Director at KVM Institutions, India. Her teaching experience spans institutions in India, New Zealand, and Canada. Dr. Manjula has delivered numerous keynote talks, served on technical committees, and received several prestigious fellowships including the Otago Doctoral Scholarship and Callaghan Innovation Grant. Her research contributions are published in reputed international journals and conferences. She is passionate about AI education, research mentorship, and developing impactful, ethical AI systems across disciplines.

Education

  • PhD, University of Otago, 2018

  • M E CSE, Karunya University, Coimbatore, 2009

  • B Tech CSE, CUSAT, Kerala, 2006

Experience

  • Senior Manager, AI Research Scientist, Fusemachines, USA, 2023 - 2025

  • Academic Director & Principal, KVM Group of Institutions, Kerala, 2020 - 2023

  • Assistant Professor, Muthoot Institute of Technology and Science, Kerala, 2020 - 2020

  • Health Data Scientist, Airmed, Ltd, Dunedin, New Zealand, 2019 - 2020

  • Tutor/Demonstrator/Technical Support Specialist, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand, 2015 - 2018

  • Assistant Professor, HOD i/c CSE, KVM College of Engineering & IT, Kerala, 2012 - 2014

  • Project Engineer, Wipro Technologies Pvt. Ltd., 2010 - 2012

  • Lecturer, MET’S School of Engineering, Kerala, 2009 - 2010

  • Graduate Research Fellow, University of Saskatchewan, Canada, 2009 - 2009

  • Lecturer, Adi Shankara Institute of Engineering and Technology, Kerala, 2006 - 2007

Additional Information

  • Other Achievements: 1. Recipient of Callaghan Innovation early career research grant 2019. [New Zealand National level]; 2. Runner-up at Otago Institute Travel award competition second round 2017; [University level]; 3. Runner-up at 3-Minute Thesis competition BARC Otago 2015; [University level]; 4. Recipient (one among 17 around the globe) of GSEP Fellowship by the Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE) on behalf of the DFAIT Canada 2008 [international level]; 5. Recipient of Doctoral Scholarship at University of Otago [University level]; 6. Gold Medalist and First Rank Holder for M.E at Karunya University[University level]; 7. First Rank Holder for M.E CSE SEM 1 Examination; 8. Second Rank Holder for M E CSE Sem2 Examination;

Teaching

  • Introduction to Artificial Intelligence

  • Theory of Computation

  • Data Science and Machine Learning

  • Advanced Data Structures

  • Data Structures using JAVA

Research Guidance

  • An XAI Approach to Veterinary Prescription Analysis

  • A Bloom’s Taxonomy Based Question Classification System Using Doc2Vec

  • A Reinforcement Learning Approach to Student Self-improvement for Placement Assessment and Learning

Research Interest

  • Explainable AI

  • Predictive Analytics

  • Federated Learning

  • Health Informatics

  • NLP

Research Projects

  • An Adaptable Long-term Condition Workload Prediction Model for Primary Health Care: Funded by University of Otago Doctoral Scholarship;

  • Design and Develop predictive machine learning models to help reducing polypharmacy rates in New Zealand: Funded by Callaghan Innovation Early Career Researcher Grant (NZ MBIE)

  • Design of an Online Community for Sharing Oral Stories: Funded by CBIE on behalf of DFAIT, Canada

Books

  • Translated "​​​Python Programming" Book by Dr. Rupesh Nasre into Malayalam and is published by AICTE e-Kumbh portal.

Others

  • ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7007-1603

 Staff Contacts
 Staff Campus Location
 RR Campus

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