In 2023, The URC offered Lakshman Samaranayake Research Excellence Award to five eminent researches. The Award(s) is presented to academic staff who are active in research and are in the permanent cadre of the University of Peradeniya who have undertaken research at the highest international level, as evidenced by:
• Documented evidence of international recognition of research accomplishments, such as publications in high-impact factor venues, H-index, etc.
• Quality and quantity of research publications.
• Evidence in the form of research grants, taking into account the prestige of the funding bodies and the size of the grants awarded.
• High-impact applied research work, including acclaimed creative arts, productions, and innovation.
The Peradeniya University Research Excellence Showcase, PURES, is an annual event that showcases the latest research from the University of Peradeniya. It is an important opportunity for researchers to share their work with the wider community, receive feedback, and establish connections with potential collaborators.
In 2023, PURES will expand its scope to include discussions about the formation of two new research centers: one on AI Applications and the other on Social Sciences.
PURES also recognizes researchers who have collectively demonstrated excellence in their research activity.
Prof. Deepthi Yakandawala, Senior Professor at the Department of Botany has been awarded with the prestigious Most Outstanding Senior Researcher award in the Field of Life Sciences at the CVCD award ceremony 2022.
Dr Nadeesh Adassooriya from the Faculty of Engineering has been awarded with the Most Outstanding Young Researcher award in the Field of Engineering, Architecture and Technology.
CVCD Excellence Awards have been presented by the Committee of the Vice Chancellors and Directors from the 22 state universities and institutes, to recognize, appreciate, and honour the outstanding contributions, accomplishments and impact made by academic staff in Sri Lankan state universities.
The Sri Lanka Dental Association recognized the following two Peradeniya Researches on 29th June 2023 parallel to the SLDA 90th Year International Dental Conference:
1. Prof Parakrama Wijekoon received the Best article award for year 2021 for a paper entitled “The article on “Prevalence of Oronasal fistulate and velopharyngeal insufficiency following cleft plate repair at cleft care Centre, Dental Hospital (Teaching), Peradeniya” published in the Journal of Sri Lanka Dental Association, Volume 51, No 01.
2. Prof. AKS Arambawatta received the Best article award for year 2020 for a paper entitled “Dental arch morphology in normal occlusion of the Sri Lankan Population” published in the Journal of Sri Lanka Dental Association Volume 50-No 02.
Date: 29th August 2023
Chief Guest: Senior Professor Sampath Amaratunge, Chairman, University Grant Commission
Guest of Honour: Prof. Lakshman Samaranayake, University of Hongkong
Date: 20th to 21st September 2023
Venue: Postgraduate Institute of Science
Date: October (Exact date to be announced)
Venue: Senate Room, University of Peradeniya
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I am delighted to offer this message as the Director of the University Research Council. I believe that this role offers an exceptional opportunity to make a lasting difference to the University's pursuit of excellence in research; to develop and implement strategies and policies to deliver quality research outputs, outcomes, and impacts; and lead and support bidding and winning research grants. I believe that our research will support the country's economic, environmental, cultural, and social development and drive us towards one of the world leaders in research. In recent years, the University has grown significantly in achievement and continues to improve our standing in league tables, particularly in the Times Higher Education World University ranking. While recognizing research is an important component for sustaining our place in these league tables, I will work towards enhancing the multidisciplinary research, as I believe it is our strength within the University.
Traditional methods of gathering fisheries data can take as long as one or two years, costing time and money that many imperiled global fisheries don’t have. Enter FishFace, a new application under development by The Nature Conservancy in partnership with Refind Technologies. Similar to facial recognition software used to identify people, FishFace uses artificial intelligence to learn to recognize fish species in photographs. “When it comes to fisheries management,” Dr. Chris Gillies of The Nature Conservancy in Australia explains, “what sets apart the stocks that aren’t overfished is good data about the size and distribution of those fish.” FishFace will make fisheries data available in real time. The project is a finalist in the 2016 Google Impact Challenge: Australia with the potential to receive $750,000 in funding to trial FishFace in Indonesia’s snapper and grouper fisheries.
The chainsaw roars to life and the stench of gasoline fills the air. Steel meets hardwood, and dust pulses from the wound like arterial spray, raining down onto the clay soil as the blade cuts deeper into the massive dipterocarp. Then the tree groans. It falls — seemingly in slow motion as wood splinters and earth rips — tearing down vines and obliterating smaller trees beneath its bulk. And then comes the silence, punctuated by the dying sputters of the chainsaw. I’m deep in a logging concession in Indonesian Borneo, and I’ve just witnessed the routine harvesting of a dipterocarp tree bound for the plywood mill. Vast stands of selectively logged forest still remain, but many parts of Indonesia are transitioning from forestry to more intensive land uses, like oil palm and acacia plantations. And with those changes come impacts to the region’s biodiversity and ecosystem services.
Digital technology applied to farm machinery and cloud-based information is making farming seem like science fiction in some places. Drones buzz over the landscape monitoring crop conditions and spotting problems, like pest infestations or weeds. Farmers receive personalized weather information which predicts how rainfall will vary from one field to the next. Soils are mapped at a level of precision unimaginable only a few years ago, and sensors tell farmers exactly how much water is being used at thousands of different data points. The cabins of farm machinery are filled with GPS systems and drivers no longer drive. Instead, they sit in the cabin checking screens that control the appliances, which move across fields delivering precisely measured quantities of inputs in precisely the best place, at programmed times, in perfectly straight lines or contoured to the land—whatever the data determines will give the best yield.
“There are some caveats here,” said lead author Michael Levin, “and it’s important to note that there is substantial variation in how much land is likely to be converted at state levels. Some states are projected to see really high levels of development occurring on land with high value for animal movement.” Scientists note that though solar development is not projected to be a massive driver of land-cover change relative to other drivers, such as agriculture or urbanization, some land covers with higher value for animal movement (deciduous forest in particular) are projected to be converted to solar energy more than other land covers with lower value for animal movement, such as barren lands or intensive agricultural landscapes.