Capacity Building in Higher Education – nEUROcare Project – 2024

The nEUROcare project is a European initiative for capacity building to meet the challenges of caring for people with neurodegenerative disorders in Sri Lanka. This project is funded by an Erasmus+ grant. The core objective of this project is to create a master’s degree program specializing in neurodegenerative disorders. This program will be offered through a collaboration between four partner universities in Sri Lanka and European counterparts, with an anticipated commencement in 2025-2026. The initiative aims to open up new avenues for healthcare professionals in Sri Lanka, enabling them to pursue advanced education and expand their horizons in the field of neurodegenerative disease care.

General Sir John Kotelawela Defence University (KDU), University of Colombo, University of Peradeniya, and University of Ruhuna are the four Sri Lankan universities selected for the nEUROcare project. They are collaboratively working on this project with Kristianstad University, Sweden, which is the leading partner university. Moreover, delegates from other partner European universities, including the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia, Neapolis University Pafos in Cyprus, the University of Tartu in Estonia, and the Triskelion Institute in Norway, are also collaboratively working on this project.

International Conference on Dialogues in Neurodegenerative Disorders: Care, Communication, and Biomedical Challenges.

As part of the project, the International Conference on Dialogues in Neurodegenerative Disorders: Care, Communication, and Biomedical Challenges was held on 6-7 June at the Grand Hotel Union Eurostars, Ljubljana, Slovenia, Europe. The conference was hosted by the University of Ljubljana. Participants included representatives from four universities in Sri Lanka and project members from five different countries, with attendees from 50 countries.

Rear Admiral HGU Dammika Kumara, VSV, USP, psc, MMaritimePol, BSc (DS), the Vice Chancellor of KDU, Surgeon Captain Ranga Perera (Dean, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences (FAHS), KDU), Dr. Prasanna Herath (Project Manager and the ERASMUS Coordinator, KDU), Dr. Kalpani Abhayasinghe (Project Member), Dr. Dinithi Vidanage (Project Member), Dr. Maliga Wijesiri (Project Member), and Mr. Chandima Kumara (Project Member) from the Department of Nursing and Midwifery, FAHS, KDU, participated in this conference. Dr. Prasanna Herath delivered a plenary lecture, and all other members presented their research findings.

The 6th nEUROcare Project Workshop

The 6th nEUROcare Project workshop, which discussed important aspects including curriculum development, planning, and challenges of the upcoming Master’s in Neurodegenerative Disease Care, was held at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana on 8 June 2024. Vice Chancellor and the project team of KDU, Prof. M.D. Lamawansa, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Peradeniya, Prof. SSP Warnakulasuriya, the country manager of the nEUROcare project, along with all other team members from the University of Ruhuna, University of Colombo, University of Peradeniya, and team members from EU countries, participated in this program. The final conference of the project will be held in Colombo in November 2024.