The Student Research Forum-2023 of Faculty of the Defence and Strategic Studies was held on 15th August 2023 at the main auditorium of the Faculty of Graduate Studies, KDU. Major General MP Peiris RWP RSP VSV USP ndc psc MPhil, the Vice Chancellor of General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University, graced the ceremony as the Chief Guest along with many distinguished guests including the Keynote speaker and Guest of Honour Her Excellency Lalita Kapur, the Deputy High Commissioner of Australia to Sri Lanka; Rector Metropolitan Campus -KDU, Major General ALDM Gunasekera RSP USP psc, Rector Southern Campus – KDU, Major General LCR Jayasuriya RSP ndc psc, Deputy Vice Chancellor (Defence and Administration) Brigadier DCA Wickramasinghe USP USACGSC, Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic) Prof. KAS Dhammika, Deans of all faculties, Director of International Relations and Director of Center for Strategic Assessment, Head of all Departments, Senior Administrative staff, Officer Cadets and Day Scholars participated the occasion.
In the speech of the Vice Chancellor, he emphasized the importance of strategically design theme to vacant curiosity of the International Relations student community towards the concept of the emerging world order. In addition, the Vice Chancellor suggest that conventionally and traditionally excepted world order is passing away and a new and modern world order is emerging. Furthermore, the keynote speaker highlighted the fact that Australia has the longest sea route in the region. They are responsible for maritime search and rescue zone and the Indian Ocean shipping route through Sri Lanka.
The theme of the Student Research Forum-2023 of FDSS was ‘Strategic futures of an emerging world order, under which a total of six sessions were conducted. Some noteworthy discussions included presentations focusing on the emerging strategic competition in the Indian Ocean, competition between China and the USA in the realm of UCAV technology, economic and political strategies used by King Parakaramabahu, challenges of strategic intelligence, challenges of cyber security in an interconnected world, the rise of drones in the modern warfare and the importance of civil military cooperation for security.
All the sessions were moderated by Major General Udaya Herath RWP RSP USP Hdmc psc (Retd), Professor Maneesha Wanasinghe Pasquel, Professor of International Relations University of Colombo; Colonel Pradeep Rathnayake, Dean, Faculty of Defence and Strategic Studies, KDU; Mr. Trivan Annakkarage, Policy Research and Information Officer of Australian High Commission in Sri Lanka; Colonel Aruna Karunaratne, Director Studies SLMA and Dr. George Cook, Senior Lecturer, Department of IR University of Colombo.
A total of 24 research papers were showcased by the students of the Faculty of Defence and Strategic Studies during this forum. All the students who presented research papers were awarded with certificates appreciating their participation. In addition, the best poster was awarded to Day scholar Kaveesha Pathirana and the Best Research was awarded to Day scholar Bhawangi Jayawardhana.
