INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH CONFERENCE ON HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES (IRCHSS) - 2014

CONFERENCE SUMMARY

Dr Shirantha Heenkenda 

Senior Lecturer

Department of Economics

University of Sri Jayeawardenepura, Sri Lanka

The third International Research Conference on Humanities and Social Sciences (IRCHSS), organized by the Faculty of the Humanities and Social Sciences (FHSS) was held on 15^th and 16^th of October 2014 at FHSS premises. The conference theme was “Innovate, Integrate and Impart: Development without Borders” which reflected not only a timely relevance to the university as a higher education institute, but also the transcendental nature of all human experience.

The inaugural ceremony and the plenary sessions were held on 15^th evening and technical sessions were held on 16^th from 10 am to 5 pm. The Chief Guest of the event was His Excellency Mr. Nobuhito Hobo, Ambassador of Japan to the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. The Guest of Honour was Professor Krishan Deheragoda, while the Keynote Speaker was Dr. Siran Deraniyagala, former Director General, Department of Archaeology, Sri Lanka, and the plenary chair was Dr. Jonathan Sweet from Deakin University, Australia. Besides, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Dr. NLA Karunaratne, Dean Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Mr. Lasantha Nawarathne, and a number of other university representatives and distinguished guests graced the occasion.

As a preliminary and very important step to this year’s conference, two workshops on academic writing were organized. The aim was to encourage the upcoming researchers of FHSS to engage in mutual critical discussion through active participation and also to enhance the quality of the extended abstracts received for presentation. Two eminent scholars of the university, Professor H.H.D.N.P. Opatha of the Faculty of Management Studies and Commerce, and Dr. Charmalie Nahallage of FHSS itself conducted these workshops to an appreciative audience. 

The conference secretariat received more than 200 extended abstracts from both local and international scholars under 12 different research themes, which made the selection process very competitive and rigorous. Out of all the abstracts received, 132 were selected for presentation in nine parallel technical sessions.

The highlight of IRCHSS – 2014 was the Faculty Awards Ceremony, first time of the kind in the history of FHSS, which coincided with the conference awards ceremony. Both were held during the cultural show on 16^th evening. The conference awards were distributed in two categories, one each for Humanities and Social Sciences, as the following.

1.      Best Research Abstract Award of Social Sciences

2.      Best Research Abstract Award of Humanities

3.      Best Paper presenter Award of Social Sciences

4.      Best Paper presenter Award of Humanities

The winners of the first two were selected by the reviewers, and the awards committee, while the last two were selected by the Chairpersons of the technical sessions. Each selection was based on consideration of a number of pre-determined set of criteria. The awards ceremony for excellence in research and publications- 2014 sought to appreciate, acknowledge, and reward the academic excellence of the FHSS scholars with respect to research and publications, besides acknowledging the best performing department. The selection panel comprised the following eminent scholars: Professor M. M. Karunanayake; Professor Tissa Kariyawasam    ‘; Professor Dhammika Tantrigoda; Professor H.H.D.N.P. Opatha and Professor Sudantha Liyanage. The conference and the awards ceremony concluded with the conference dinner attended by a distinguished crowd of scholars, guests, well-wishers, and university representatives.

Feedback from some of the participants of IRCHSS 2014

“As one of your paper presenter of the IRCHSS, I would like to congratulate the committee members for organizing such a wonderful International Conference. It wouldn't be too much to say that the Conference was a Grand Success. I am really thankful to all the members specially for your sincere and timely arrangement of technical session and other programs.

After the session, cultural show with varieties of cultural performances and local site seeing were also amazing. For me, attending international conference is not only just attending the technical session and interaction but also at the same time, expose to the new culture and tradition. Those activities would be a good memory I all the times wanted to be remembered and accepted as a life time opportunity for me.

Lastly but not the least, Airport pick-up service was also an important contribution of yours, without it, there would be lot of inconveniences in attending conference in a new country. For all your contribution and endeavor to make the conference the very pleasant and grand success, I would like to thank all of you once again.

Looking forward to invite me in future conference and wish you best of luck in your future endeavors”

Anand Singh Salam,  Xiamen University, China.

“I extend my heartiest congratulation to you and your associates for nice organization of the conference. Starting from the inauguration to conference tour, it is nicely organized. Please try to publish all the worth being articles in full.  Hope to meet you in the IRCHSS2015.”

Dr. Binodini Das, Orissa, India

“I sincerely congratulate you and your team on the success of the Conference, which was well-organized. At the conference I received very useful comments from the floor and I had such productive day”.
Tomoko Harada, Nagoya University, Japan

 “Thank you for your truly academic exercise made with tremendous effort and sacrifice. I attended the conference from the inaugural ceremony on Oct 15th to the lunch the following day (on Oct 16th). I was so much impressed by all that I witnessed and felt that you held a model international conference. This is my sincere perception of the event. To my understanding everything was prim and prop. I'm sure the remaining features, the Afternoon Session, the Cultural Show, the Dinner and the Conference Tour also went very well. While thanking you profusely for your generous hospitality, I wish you all who were engaged in the organization the best of everything to hold this great event in the future as well.  With best wishes and respect,
Prof. E.A. Gamini Fonseka, University of Ruhuna  

 
 “It was a pleasure to come to your University and attend the IRCHSS Conference on 15-16 Oct. You had organized it very well and there was a lot of interaction within and outside the conference venue.  Cultural session was fine. The music and the dance that was presented was interesting to watch and gave outsiders like myself an idea of the richness and vibrancy of your culture. The awards that were given for excellent presentations in the conference both in Humanities and in Social sciences were justified”

Dr. Ravi Bhatia,   Delhi University, India

“In a nutshell, the conference is a success. The inaugural ceremony, plenary meeting and the cultural show deserve to be highly appreciated. The food served in hotel atmosphere is delicious. Congratulations.

Dr. R.M.Rathnasiri, Nāgānanda International Buddhist University

“It was a great session and indeed a valuable knowledge sharing session for the paper presenters. We as a private institution look forward for more paper presentations for 2015 as contribution to knowledge. Thanking you for the support extended and a pleasant conference experience.

 As a step towards improvement it will be of great significance if the research conference includes a soft copy with the compilation of articles on the webpage and a journal initiated.

Thanking you for the experience and Good luck with 2015”

 Chrish Janathanan – BMS, Sri Lanka

“It was very much pleasure to attend such a gala conference held by the Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences of University of Sri Jayewardenepura. As I'm an outside academic it seemed well organized. I would like to convey my big thank for the academics and all the supporters who had done a massive job. The certificate and the proceeding booklet were up to a very good standard.  It is very much appreciated if you could publish selected papers from each category in a journal or in a E- journal”

Dr. Virajini Karunaratne

Department of Textile & Clothing Technology, University of Moratuwa