Lasara Kariyawasam
Biography
Lasara Kariyawasam is a Chartered Psychologist and Research Associate at the Centre for Criminology, University of Oxford. Her work sits at the intersection of Clinical Psychology and Criminology, with a particular focus on online harms, victimisation, and cross-cultural mental health research.
She is currently involved in two major research projects:
- Image-Based Sexual Abuse in Sri Lankan Women and Girls, funded by the Sexual Violence Research Initiative.
- Victimisation of Sextortion: Exploring Barriers to Help-Seeking and Support Needs of South Asian and British South Asian Young Adults in Britain, funded by the University of Oxford’s John Fell Fund.
Previously, she contributed to a UKRI-funded research project on Protecting Police officers and their families online. She also worked on the “BeGood Project” within the Department of Psychiatry and Neuroscience at the University of Oxford, exploring adolescents' perspectives on data sharing in the age of predictive psychiatry.
Lasara’s research interests span Clinical Psychology, Criminology, and digital safety, with a strong emphasis on protecting vulnerable populations from online exploitation and understanding psychological experiences in cross-cultural contexts. Her published work includes studies on compassion, self-harm, postnatal depression, and ethical considerations in mental health care.
Alongside her research, Lasara serves as a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Southampton.
She earned her PhD from the University of Southampton, where she explored the cross-cultural applicability of compassion-based interventions. She also holds an MSc in Clinical Psychology (Distinction) from the same institution, graduating with multiple Dean’s List Awards for academic excellence, including highest degree average, part average, and dissertation performance. During her MSc, she gained clinical experience as an Honorary Assistant Psychologist with the Learning Disability Team at Southern Health NHS Trust.