The 15th International Research Conference of the General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University on the theme, “Economic Revival, National Security, and Sustainability through Advancement of Science, Technology, and Innovation”, was inaugurated on 29th September 2022. The Secretary to the Ministry of Defence, General Kamal Gunaratne graced the inauguration as the Chief Guest, and Hon Prof Subramanian Swamy, former Minister of Commerce and Law in India, was the Keynote Speaker.
The event was also attended by the Chief of Defence Staff, General Shavendra Silva, Commander of the Sri Lanka Army, Lt General Vikum Liyanage, Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy, Vice Admiral Nishantha Ulugethenne and the Chief of Staff of the Sri Lanka Air Force, Air Vice Marshal Udeni Rajapakshe, and members of the diplomatic corps representing friendly nations, were among the dignitaries who participated in the event.
Vice Chancellor Major General Milinda Peiris delivering the welcome address, highlighted the significance of the event and its deep relevance for the current economic crisis of the country and for the revival from the same. He stressed the leading role played by KDU in providing a platform for enhancing much needed research in the country. He also stressed on the resilience of KDU in the face of challenges and on the need for the whole country to be a resilient nation to survive from this “seemingly unsurmountable crisis”. He further stated that this is the time in which a nation’s intellectual community must come forward to engage in serious and meaningful research to help overcome numerous issues and problems that crop up in diverse fields such as National Security and in all other disciplinary fields that are inseparably linked with economic and sustainable development.
The Vice Chancellor stressed that there is a high demand for the KDU research conference evidenced by the increasingly higher number of high quality papers submitted by researchers from all over the country and outside representing various higher educational institutions. He emphasized that KDU has achieved eminence in the Times Higher Education Impact Ranking, 2022, where KDU is ranked 2nd in Sri Lanka for Quality of Education and 4th in the overall ranking in the country, and that its Faculty of Law has reached from the 498th place in 2021 to the 83rd place in 2022, from the 189th place to the 25th place in Asia, and from the 5th place to the 2nd place in Sri Lanka.
Following the welcome address, the Chief Guest, General Kamal Gunaratne congratulated KDU for taking the initiative to influnceial in the economic and sustainable development in the country, whilst safeguarding the core values of security of the nation. He highlighted the timely relevance of the theme of this year’s conference and stressed the important leadership assumed by KDU with the Vice Chancellor Major General Milinda Peiris steering the institution to respond to challenges the country is facing, with facilitation of a seamless association of defence and security with other core areas such as Sciences, Medicine, Engineering, Built-Environment, Technology, Management, and Humanities with a pragmatic philosophy, which has enabled KDU to make remarkable achievements for the country y as a whole, contributing towards national development.
The Defence Secretary further mentioned that the annual IRC of KDU has gained a tremendous recognition all around the world as it provides the opportunity for academics, professionals, researchers, and practitioners to share their research findings. He pointed out that such kind of wider interaction with national and international scholars would be the need of the hour for supporting sustainable development through multidisciplinary research. Further, he opined that from a strategic standpoint, keeping the past and also most recent lessons learnt in mind, with the new found leadership of the present government, Sri Lanka (SL) should call for a national determination where all sectors of SL society including civil organizations, security institutions, political entities, and business associations come together to discuss fundamental issues such as national identity, national reconciliation, transitional justice, governance structure and economic revival. “This is a fundamental step towards building consensus and re-legitimizing state institutions and private organizations in the country towards a common goal”, he added.
Delivering the keynote address of the two-day international conference, Hon Professor Subramanian Swamy, the former Minister of Commerce and Law of India and Professor in Mathematics and Economics from Harvard university, highlighted the importance of Sri Lanka’s geostrategic locations and its pros and cons, and that in the 21st century, the definition of national security has a broader meaning and context and that advancement of technology and cyberspace alongside innovations in other fields such as Medicine, Engineering and Technology will be the key to achieve success. Given the current circumstances of economic downturn, he expressed the positive sentiment that Sri Lanka would emerge successful as it has done so many times in the past and stressed the uniqueness of the theme of KDU IRC2022, to provide a timely impetus for growth from the academia in and outside Sri Lanka. The Keynote Speaker highlighted that the “Size of the country is not important for national security, but it is technology today” adding that “sustainability is the keyword today in the new context of national security”.
The event also featured the launch of the National Digital Repository Centre on Defence Studies, the first of this nature in Sri Lanka, with the endowment of Professor Emerita Kusuma Cooray, former honorary Consul in Hawaii, in memory of her husband Mr George Cooray. The Vice chancellor and the Chief Guest, together with the librarian Dr Ms Wathmanel Senevirathne demonstrated the opening of the repository.
General Sir John Kotelwala Defence University has introduced the ‘Research Excellence Awards’ to recognize the academic staff and students who have excelled in research. The keynote speaker, Hon Prof Subramanian Swamy, accompanied by the Vice Chancellor and the Dean of Research and Development, Prof Charitha Gunasekara, distributed the student and staff awards for outstanding research in the year 2021, to Mr VSS Nanayakkara (student category), Eng. SU Dampage (staff category).
Concluding the proceedings of the inaugural ceremony the vote of thanks was delivered by Chair IRC-2022, Dr Kalpa Samarakoon, senior lecturer KDU, and he emphasised the tremendous efforts of all involved to make the event feasible at a challenging time. Whilst thanking the chief guest, keynote speaker and all dignitaries, he also thanked the following sponsors who all supported the event: Bank of Ceylon, Peoples Bank, George Steuarts Health, Gamma Interpharm, Allianz, Technomedics.
