January 29th and 30th, 2015
The 5th research symposium of UWU was successfully held under the theme of “Value Addition for Sustainable Development” on January 29 & 30, 2015 at the university premises. The Vice Chancellor, Symposium Coordinator and the Symposium Secretary together with the members of the symposium organizing committee wish to extend their sincere gratitude to the Chief Guest, Keynote Speakers, Panel Members, all participants to the symposium and also to the people who supported by various means to make this event a success.
At the grand opening ceremony which was held on January 29, 2015 at the university Main Lecture Theater (MLT), all attendees were privilegedand delighted to have the presence and the company of the Chancellor of UWU, the Most Venerable Bengamuwe Sri Dhammadinna Nayaka thero, as the Chief Guest. The presence of the Chancellor at the opening ceremony gave all attendees and the symposium organizing committee an enormous courage to face the challenges that were lying ahead with a great confidence. The organizing committee is delighted to say that it managed to overcome many of the hurdles intrinsically associated into the events of that scale and to hold a very successful research symposium which was full of energy and joy. Symposium attendees also had an opportunity to listen to a fabulous Keynote Speech given by Prof. Veranja Karunarathne, Associate Director Research and Strategic, Sri Lanka Institute of Nanotechnology (SLINTEC) and a Senior Professor of Chemistry, University of Peradeniya, on the topic of nanotechnology and how nano-science and nanotechnology can contribute to uplifting the economy and the quality of life of human being by developing new products and devices, hence the overall development of the country. The keynote speech was greatly in line with the theme of the symposium as well as the long term vision of the value addition, which lies at the heart of UWU.
Photo Gallery
A total of ten (10) parallel technical sessions were held on January 29, 2015 and seven (07) were on January 30, 2015. 165 research presentations were delivered by the undergraduates and the researchers from other universities and institutions during these technical sessions. Three (03) keynote speeches in the afternoon session on January 29, on the topics of “Innovation driven economic growth”, “A new dawn towards Sustainable tourism development in Sri Lanka” and “Side Channel Attacks on Embedded System” were eloquently delivered by Dr. O.G. Dayarathne, Mr. Srilal Mittapala and Dr. Roshan G. Ragel respectively. All keynote speeches were based on contemporary societal challenges. Current status and the scale of the problems and the possible remedies to overcome such problems were discussed by all the presenters.
A successful and well organized poster session was held on January 29 from 4.00 pm onward at E1 hall which was attended by a large number of people. As it was organized during the tea break after the afternoon technical session, all attendees had a plenty of time to interact and discuss science while going through the posters. The environment was further electrified by the presence of all sponsors of the symposium displaying their banners and stalls, which again provided an opportunity to the participants to be familiarize with new scientific products and developments. All posters presented were in good quality and panel members may have had a hard time to choose the best poster. Total of 31 posters were displayed during this session.
On 29th night, a magnificent symposium dinner was organized at hotel Heritage to welcome all participants to the symposium. The event was made colorful by inviting a group of professional classical musicians and singers who played and sang songs of leading classical singers of our time and entertained all the participants. Symposium dinner gathered many senior colleagues in academia and industry together which was a great occasion to exchange views on various matters.
On moving to the next day, January 30, 2015, as was mentioned earlier, total of seven (07) technical sessions were held only in the morning. Each technical session started with a keynote speech delivered by leading research/teaching/administrative personalities on the topics of “Sustaining sustainable development with livestock” by prof. Pradeepa Silva, “Marine Biodiversity and Conservation of Marine Resources” by Dr. P.B. Terney Pradeepa Kumara, “How to Cater Agricultural Research in Needs of Agricultural Industry” by Dr. Nimal Dissanayake, “Mineral industry of Sri Lanka” by Dr. A.M.K.B. Abeysinghe and finally “Academic contribution for national development” by Prof. H.M.D. Namal Priyantha. These were excellent topics and relevant to the current context of global interest. Participants to the symposium were fortunate to listen to a total of nine (09) keynote speeches during the two days.
In the afternoon on January 30, 2015, a closing ceremony together with the award presentation was held at MLT with Vice Chancellor of UWU as the Chairperson of the event. Many academic staff members and the students of UWU took part it. The event was started after listing to illustrious presentations made by three young carrier senior academic staff members from three facilities (Animal Science and Export Agriculture, Management and Science and Technology) who presented their PhD research work to the participants. An hour long session was organized primarily to give an opportunity to the staff members to display their own research work to a wider community as it could help promote possible future research collaborations within the university as well as with other research organizations which may help gauge the future research directions of the university. Developing key research priority areas in line with the vision of value addition is necessary for the university at this stage pooling the available skill matrix set of the staff members. In order to do pursue this, the first step should be the opening a common platform for them, which was that an hour long discussion. In future, these research symposia should be the focal point of the university to interact and be developed to an international level where staff members, postgraduate students, undergraduate students present their work to the world. During the closing ceremony, Vice Chancellor and Deans of the faculties awarded medals and certificates to the winners of the poster and oral competitions.
Finally, nothing would have been possible to achieve in today’s economically intractable world, had we not receive the financial support from our philanthropists, sponsors and the university who truly grasped the importance of the event, social responsibilities and commitments to the UWU. Towards this, the Chancellor Nayaka Thero contributed a generous endowment from his personal funds towards the expenses of the symposium, which is truly remarkable as it was the first such endowment made by a Chancellor of UWU towards the development of research at the university. Equally well was contributed by the Bank of Ceylon, Badulla branch and became the major sponsor of the event. Besides, Hemsons International, Analytical Instrument, Organic Trading (Pvt) Ltd, Techno Instrument (Pvt) Ltd, Rajarata Tiles, Peoples Bank Badulla, and Mobitel –Badulla all sponsored the event at their best possible capacities.
The symposium is a great success. To make this even a success, the symposium organizing committee, especially the secretary and the group leaders, worked overtime with dedication to which all honors should be poured into. The challenge is now to make the next symposium in 2016, a greater success with more sponsors and more quality research presentations.