The 6th International Conference on Multidisciplinary Approaches

The 6th International Conference on Multidisciplinary Approaches (ICMA) organised by the Faculty of Graduate Studies of the University of Sri Jayewardenapura (UoSJ) will be held on November 26-27 at Hotel Golden Rose, Boralasgamuwa.

The Conference is being held under the theme of 'Sustainability, Ethics & Governance through Multidisciplinary Research' is a forum in bringing together academics and industry professionals engaged in multidisciplinary research and development in discussing innovative ideas and diverse topics in terms of a multidisciplinary approach.

The specified conference will be based upon topics (although not limited to the following research and development areas only) which are classified into 6 disciplines namely Engineering/ Technology & Physical Sciences, Environmental Pollution & Natural Resources Management,

Health Sciences & Nutrition, Humanities & Social Sciences, Management/Commerce & Industry Development and Natural & Life Sciences respectively.

The proceedings of the conference contribute knowledge towards a vast area covering all the disciplines for example Health being a vital topic connecting human lives is being presented on the basis on how Information and Communication can be utilized the in the Healthcare sector. Also a Conversational Interface of a chatbot named ' DoctorBot' is developed to strengthen up the user-friendly conversation, while the patient can handle the website without any assistance.

Furthermore research activities covering different scientific areas i n cluding Wa t e r Q u a l i t y, Environmental Pollution, Blue Green Economy, Energy Consumption & Sustainable Development as well as innovations and research findings of relativity will be presented at the conference under the conference theme.

Keynote Speaker at the event, Prof. Tom Buchanan of Department of S o c i o l o g y & Anthropolo g y, University of Mount Royal, Canada, will be speak on ' Multidisciplinary Approaches in a Specialized World: How Active Pursuit of Difference Produces Positive Social Change'.

Guest of Honour, National Science Foundation Sri-Lanka Chairman Dr A. M. Mubarak, Chief Guest, UoSJ Vice Chancellor Senior Prof. Samapath Amaratunga and Conference Chair, Dean, Faculty of Graduate Studies, UoSJ, Senior Prof. M.M. Pathmalal Manage.

"This is actually a scientific forum covering all academic research areas of the University. What we want is to merge all these different disciplines based upon important aspects such as governance, policies, industrial, medical, social and so forth into a multidisciplinary way thus thereby work towards the development of the country. We have in fact received more than 125 abstracts this time, which we have clearly reviewed based on the reviewers comments and have accepted most abstracts on oral presentations and some of them on poster presentations and what we want is to actually share all this knowledge not only locally but also with the rest of the world", said Prof Manage.

"And we have made a big effort this time to get Elsevier publication status; one of the world's largest database's which is actually a SSRN blog where we publish only 125 selected abstracts from different disciplines based on the reviewers comments so that any individual from around the world can access through this database and find out what is happening in Sri-Lanka", Prof Manage further enlightened.