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Research and Innovation for an Inclusive Society

Present your research at iPURSE 2021

Great ideas are even better when shared.

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11-12 November 2021 @ Peradeniya

A Unique International Conference in Sri Lanka

Welcoming quality research findings from numerous disciplines!

Submit Your Abstract

Hosted by the Faculty of Arts

Get involved. Make a Difference.

Be the change you want to see in the world!

Registration Information

iPURSE

The Signature Conference of the University of Peradeniya

The University of Peradeniya, a premier Sri Lankan academic institution, renowned for excellence in teaching and research, opens up its annual research sessions to the wider national and international research community.

iPURSE 2021 will bring together eminent scholars from numerous disciplines, providing them with a platform for sharing research-based knowledge and building partnerships and collaborations with the aim of advancing scientific research and promoting novel interventions in a range of fields.

iPURSE 2021 invites research submissions under the following broad thematic areas:


  • Language, Culture, and Thought
  • Socioeconomic Progress and Governance
  • Education for Transformation
  • Science, Technology, and Industry
  • The Environment and Natural Resources
  • Health and Society
  • Food, Nutrition, and Livestock
  • Covid-19: Issues and Solutions

The Faculty of Arts, the host of this year’s conference, warmly welcomes all participants to iPURSE 2021.



iPURSE 2021 @ Peradeniya


Important Dates
Call for Abstracts 01 December 2020
Abstract Submission Deadline 03 March 2021 (until 1800 hours - SL Time)
Notification of Tentative Acceptance to Authors 01 June 2021
Submission of Revised/Reformatted Abstracts 18 June 2021
Notification of Confirmed Acceptance to Authors 10 August 2021
Registration Opening 11 August 2021
Early Bird Registration Deadline 10 September 2021
Final Date for Registration 25 September 2021
Final Date for submitting video recordings 15 October 2021
iPURSE 2021 11, 12 November 2021






Chief Guest and Invited Presenters

You Grace iPURSE 2021




Prof. Ajantha Dharmasiri
Prof. Chandrika N. Wijeyaratne
Prof. Malik Peiris

Invited Presenter
Prof. Ajantha Dharmasiri

Ajantha Dharmasiri, B.Sc.Eng. C.Eng., MBA, Ph.D.(PIM-SJP), FCIPM (SL), CMgr, FCMI (UK), is a Professor at the Postgraduate Institute of Management, University of Sri Jayawardenepura, and an Adjunct Professor at the Price College of Business, University of Oklahoma. Introducing himself as a rare combination of being a Chartered Manager, Chartered HR Professional, and a Chartered Electrical Engineer, he serves as a conference speaker, corporate trainer, strategy consultant, and an academic. Prof. Dharmasiri was the recipient of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management Lifetime Gold Award 2014. The positions he held include the Director and Chairman of the Board of Management of Postgraduate Institute of Management, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Director of the National Institute of Business Management and Association of Management Development Institutions in South Asia (AMDISA), and an Independent Non-Executive Director of the Softlogic Holdings PLC.

Chief Guest

Prof. Chandrika N Wijeyaratne

Chandrika N Wijeyaratne, MBBS, MD, DM (Colombo), FRCP, is a Senior Professor in Reproductive Medicine and Endocrinology and the 18th Vice-Chancellor of the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. She was the first Endocrinologist in Sri Lanka to be appointed to an academic position, and has the distinction of being a pioneer Physician in Women’s Health in the South Asian region. Her contribution to the field of Endocrinology was celebrated internationally with the prestigious Laureate Award for International Excellence in 2017 by the Endocrine Society of USA, the only such award to date for South Asia. Prof. Wijeyaratne has served on many international scientific working committees and affiliated organizations as an invited expert. These include the Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists, London, International Consensus Groups on PCOS by ESHRE/ARSM, AEPCOS USA and the expert group led by the University of Monash, Australia. Engaged in a spectrum of activities related to supporting issues of national relevance that benefit society at large, she has spearheaded many social interventions at grassroot level by engaging with multiple sectors along with undergraduate participation.

Invited Presenter
Prof. Malik Peiris

Joseph Sriyal Malik Peiris, MBBS, FRCPath, DPhil (Oxon), FHKAM (Path), FRCP, FRS, is Tam Wah-Ching Professor in Medical Science and Chair of Virology at the School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong. He co-directs the WHO H5 Reference Laboratory and the WHO SARS-CoV-2 reference laboratory at The University of Hong Kong. Currently, he serves on many Hong Kong and WHO advisory committees, including the WHO International Health Regulations Emergency Committee on COVID-19. He is a clinical and public health virologist with a particular interest in emerging viral diseases at the animal-human interface, using a “One-Health” approach. His research encompasses the pathogenesis, innate immune responses, transmission, ecology and epidemiology of human and animal influenza viruses such as avian influenza subtypes H5N1, H9N2 and H7N9, the emergence of the 2009 pandemic H1N1 from swine, and coronaviruses such as SARS-CoV-1, MERS-CoV, and SARS-CoV-2.






iPURSE 2021 Pre-Conference Webinar Series







Webinar ONE on
Education and Transformation



Webinar TWO on
Engineering Education



Webinar THREE on
Sri Lankan Capital Markets



Webinar FOUR on
Covid-19 Pandemic



Webinar FIVE on
One Health



Webinar SIX on
Precision Agriculture



Webinar SEVEN on
Animal Diseases and Public Health



Webinar EIGHT on
Vaccines and Oral Health



Webinar NINE on
Role of Healthcare Workforce







KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Prof. Wimal Dissanayake

An Internationally Acclaimed Inspiring Trendsetter

visit his profile



Prof. Wimal Dissanayake (B.A. Hons. Peradeniya, M.A. Pennsylvania, PhD Cambridge, D.Litt. Kelaniya) is one of the leading scholars of Asian cinema and Asian communication theory.

He served as Director of Cultural Studies at the University of Hawaii jointly sponsored by the University of Hawaii and the East-West Center. He has also served as an advisor to UNESCO. He is a recipient of the Fulbright, Rockefeller, and Wei Lun Fellowships.

Prof. Dissanayake is the author of over 45 scholarly books in English published by Oxford, Cambridge, Duke, SUNY University presses and Routledge. He has published an equal number of books in Sinhala.

Founding Editor of the East-West Film Journal, he serves as an Editorial Advisor to a large number of prestigious international academic journals dealing with cinema, communication and cultural theory, as well as the International Encyclopedia of Communication.

Prof. Dissanayake was invited to deliver keynote addresses at numerous conferences held in countries and territories such as Germany, Canada, the United States, India, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. He has won national awards for his books in Sinhala as well as in English and he was given the prestigious Sahitya Ratna award (Sri lanka), the Lifetime Award of the Sri Lanka Foundation, Los Angeles. Prof. Dissanayake received Deshabandhu Award from the President of Sri Lanka.

Prof. Dissanayake is also one of the leading bilingual poets. He has published eight volumes of poetry in Sinhala for which he has been honored with numerous awards. His English poetry has been published in journals such as Hawaii Review, Kaimaana, Bamboo Ridge, Cambridge Review, and Pawn. His English book of poetry ‘The Kingfisher’ was published recently.

He is currently an Affiliate Professor at the University of Hawaii. Prof. Dissanayake has had the rare distinction of serving both as Professor of Sinhala and English.

SUBMISSIONS

We're open for submissions now !

iPURSE is calling for abstracts based on original research for iPURSE 2021. Authors are expected to submit a one-page abstract of the research study that they plan to present on.


The abstracts should be submitted to the iPURSE 2021 Secretariat via the PCMS (please see below for details) on or before the 03rd of March 2021.


Each abstract received in time and in conformity with the submission guidelines will be reviewed by two expert reviewers, and the Editorial Committee will make the final decision regarding the submission on the basis of the reviewers' recommendations.

The Conference Secretariat will have communicated to all the authors the tentative decisions with regard to their submissions by the 01st of June 2021.

In the case of the accepted abstracts, the authors are expected to make the final submissions properly formatted according to the stipulated guidelines, with the suggested revisions (if any) duly incorporated, on or before the 18th of June 2021. The notifications of confirmed acceptance will be sent to the authors on or before the 31st of July 2021.

All accepted abstracts will be published in the Conference Proceedings. Further, they will be added to the Digital Library of the University of Peradeniya and indexed by Google Scholar.

Mode of Submission

All submissions as soft-copies (MS Word files) must be submitted through iPURSE 2021 - PCMS (Peradeniya Conference Management System). If you are new to iPURSE PCMS, you may want to take a look at the "Help" section by visiting the "Create an Account" link before setting up an account and submitting your abstract/s for iPURSE 2021.


Access iPURSE 2021 PCMS Here

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS/ GUIDELINES

  • Abstracts should be based on original research that has already been completed. Research work presented or published elsewhere in the same or a similar form should NOT be submitted for iPURSE. If plagiarism is detected in the review process, the submission will be rejected without any reviewing.

  • Abstracts should be short, clear, concise, and coherent.

  • Abstracts should be written in English using MS Word 2007 or a more advanced version. All digital files should carry the [.doc] or [.docx] file extensions. Mac users need to export their [.pages ] files to either format above. Any other file types will NOT be accepted.

  • Abbreviations should be cited in full at the first occurrence, except for standard abbreviations.

  • Non-English Terms: should be in italics.

  • Transliteration of any non-English texts should strictly follow a pertinent international standard for Romanization.

  • Scientific and Common Vernacular Names: In instances where common vernacular names are given along with the corresponding scientific names, the former should be given within parentheses. The scientific terms of organisms, botanical names, etc. should be in italics.

  • Units: International System of Units (SI) should be used, and a space must be left between the figure and the unit (eg.: 25 cm).

  • Abstracts should be carefully compiled and thoroughly checked for the content and also for typographical errors.

  • In the case of the abstracts with multiple authors, it is the responsibility of the primary authors to obtain the consent of the relevant co-authors for the abstracts before the submissions are made. (Once a submission is made, PCMS will send an automatically-generated link to the relevant co-author/s via email where they will have to give their formal consent to the submission. Those abstracts that do not receive the consent of the relevant co-authors will NOT be processed.)

  • Once an abstract is accepted, it is obligatory for the primary author or or the co-author/s to present the paper at the Research Sessions. The presentations will be in the English medium.


GUIDELINES FOR PREPARATION OF ABSTRACTS

The general formatting requirements for the One-page Abstract are as follows:

  • Page size: B5 (ISO – 176 mm x 250 mm)
  • Margins: 27 mm left; 15 mm right; 20 mm top; 20 mm bottom
  • Font: Times New Roman
  • Font size: 11
  • Spelling: British
  • Digital file format: .doc or .docx


  • Suggested Content: research background, the research area/problem, methodology, discussion/significant findings, and conclusions

  • Word-limit: 300 words maximum (not including the title, name/s of author/s, affiliations, keywords, and acknowledgement)

  • Title of Abstract: It should be short, specific, and it should reflect the study carried out. [Formatting: title-case, bold lettering, centre-aligned]

  • Name(s) of Author(s): The authors’ names will be in the form of initials followed by surnames, and should be centre-aligned. The initials of the authors must be in uppercase letters and indicated before the surname. Each initial should be followed by a full-stop without a space. A single space should be placed between the last initial and the surname. The corresponding author(s)’s name(s) should be indicated by an asterisk at the end of the name.

    NOTE: This information is NOT to be included in the first MS Word file submitted to the system. It should be included ONLY in the final version that you will submit after the review process if your submission has been accepted for iPURSE 2021. You will be required to enter this information separately in the online system (PCMS) at the time of making the first submission, but that information should NOT be included in the MS Word file.


  • Author Affiliation: Author affiliation should be in italics and center aligned. Please use superscripted numbering of authors if authors have different affiliations. Affiliations should be on a separate line and numbered with the same superscript number used for the respective authors. The superscript numbers should be positioned at the end of each author’s name and at the beginning of each affiliation.

    NOTE: This information is NOT to be included in the first MS Word file submitted to the system. It should be included ONLY in the final version that you will submit after the review process if your submission has been accepted for iPURSE 2021. You will be required to enter this information separately in the online system (PCMS) at the time of making the first submission, but that information should NOT be included in the MS Word file.


  • Corresponding Author Contact information: The email address of the corresponding author should be provided after the affiliations. There should not be a line-space between the affiliations and the email address.

    NOTE: This information is NOT to be included in the first MS Word file submitted to the system. It should be included ONLY in the final version that you will submit after the review process if your submission has been accepted for iPURSE 2021. You will be required to enter this information separately in the online system (PCMS) at the time of making the first submission, but that information should NOT be included in the MS Word file.


  • Keywords: Please provide 4-6 keywords.

  • Acknowledgement: Acknowledgement should be in italics and left-justified. If necessary, please include the grant or other support information for your research in a single sentence (grant number should be in parentheses) at the end of the abstract.

The abstract should not include figures, tables, and references. Please check the spelling and grammar of the abstract very carefully.

Abstracts that do not comply with this format, specifically the word-limit or formatting of the authors’ names and affiliations, will not be reviewed; they will be returned to the corresponding author for rewriting. The authors may simply paste the text of the abstract from their word processor to this template.

Please refer to the Sample Abstract Template for the One-page Abstract for more specific information.

REGISTRATION

Early Registration is Strongly Encouraged

Every participant of iPURSE 2021 must register ONLINE before the stipulated dates: 10 September 2021 (Early Bird Registration Deadline) or 25 September 2021 (Final Date for Registration).


Please note that in the case of each submission, ONLY one author is permitted to make the presentation and that it is mandatory for the presenting author to register for iPURSE 2021. In the case of those submissions where there are multiple authors, ONLY the presenting author is required to register for the Conference. Please also kindly note that those abstracts whose presenting authors have not registered for iPURSE 2021 by the final registration deadline will be expunged from the Proceedings/Book of Abstracts. The authors of such submissions will also lose the opportunity to have their studies presented at the Conference.


Although the authors other than the presenting authors are not required to register for iPURSE 2021, they will have full access to the technical sessions. They are specifically invited to join the sessions where their papers are presented and where they will have an opportunity to contribute to the discussions.



iPURSE 2021 Registration Portal

IMPORTANT: Before proceeding to the Online Registration, please plan your payment mode.


Payments can be made using one of the two modes below.

  • Card payment via iPURSE 2021 Payment Gateway (recommended). This option will be available during and as part of the Online Registration Process.

  • Payment by Bank Transfers / Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT):

    Account Name : Arts Faculty Research and Funds
    Account Number : 0001274686
    BIC / Swift / Bank Code : BCEYLKLX
    Bank : Bank of Ceylon (BOC)
    Branch : Peradeniya

When using the Bank Transfer/ EFT method, the registrants must indicate their name and "Registration for iPURSE 2021" as the reason for payment. A proof of their payment in the form of an electronic image (.jpg) or a PDF must be kept ready in the device using which they complete the Online Registration process.


Please note that NO Onsite Registration will be available on the days of iPURSE 2021.



Registration Fees  
Category Early Bird Regular
Staff and Postgraduate Students of the UOP (LKR) 750 1000
Other Local Participants (LKR) 1000 1500
Overseas Participants (USD)* 125 150


* Sri Lankan authors with foreign affiliations may register for iPURSE 2021 as local participants.

PROGRAMME

Information on Technical Sessions of iPURSE 2021

Since iPURSE 2021 will operate as a virtual event the presenting authors are required to submit their presentations in the form of video recordings ahead of the conference. Please note that the final date for submitting paper presentations and poster presentations as video recordings is 15 October 2021.


Please follow the specific Guidelines for Presenting Authors of iPURSE 2021.

iPURSE 2021 Programme


The detailed programme of iPURSE 2021 is now available. Please click HERE to see it fullscreen.





TRAVEL

Sri Lanka invites you !

For foreign delegates, transportation facilities between the Bandaranayake International Airport (Airport Code - CMB) and their accommodations in Kandy/ University of Peradeniya, on the day before and the day after the conference, can be arranged for an additional charge. If you wish to use this service, please contact the Conference Secretariat as soon as you become aware of your flight information.


Travel between the conference venue and selected accommodation sites in Kandy will be provided for both local and foreign participants. Please contact the Conference Secretariat before the conference day to register for this service.


Overseas conference participants who need to obtain visa to enter Sri Lanka may contact the Conference Secretariat if they wish to receive a hard copy of their confirmation of conference registration and/or acceptance letter by post.


For information about Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) Visa to Sri Lanka visit HERE.




WE'RE HERE IN SRI LANKA