4th International Research Conference of Uva Wellassa University (IRCUWU2020) was held on July 29 and 30, 2020 at the university.

UWU had its first Research Symposium in the year 2010 and, within a short period, IRCUWU turned out to be a significant annual event facilitating a large number of national and international researchers, scientists, economists, engineers, graduates and professionals to share their novel ideas and research findings in all aspects of Science, Engineering and Management.

With the eruption of COVID 19, the entire landscape of human activities, interactions, and priorities was changed unveiling the gaps in human knowledge, technologies, processes, and systems. Being sensible and pragmatic to the present situation, UWU was proactive to organize its IRCUWU2020 as an online conference. Coincidently, the theme set for theIRCUWU2020; “Enabling Economic Transition through Information & Knowledge Dissemination” fitted very much with the prevailing situation.

Accordingly, the IRCUWU2020 has been recorded as a historical moment for UWU and as well as to the country, as it is the first online research conference organized by a Sri Lankan State University in a big scale where a total of 356 research papers were presented in 11 thematic areas.

The inaugural ceremony of IRCUWU2020 was graced by the Vice-Chancellor of Uva Wellassa University, Professor JL Ratnasekera, guest of honour Prof. AS Karunanada, University of Moratuwa, Deans of the faculties, Registrar, Acting Bursa, Acting Librarian, Heads of the departments, Professors, directors of all centers and units, academic staff members, administrative staff members, non-academic staff members, authors, and presenters. Delivering the guest speech Prof. AS Karunanada of the University of Moratuwa reiterated the indispensability and the utmost significance of AI ( Artificial Intelligence) which is going to be the fuel for the 4th Industrial Revolution.

The President’s Awards for Scientific Research was held on 26th August 2019 at the Taj Samudra Hotel, Colombo. The ceremony was graced by his Excellency the President Maithripala Sirisena and the Hon. State Minister of Science, Technology and Research. Top 100 papers published in year 2017 in journals with the highest SCImago Journal Ranking (SJR), a database of journal citation metrics maintained by Scopus and owned by Elsevier, which has partnered the event this year were awarded. We are indeed pleased that Dr Dayani Gunathilaka from the Department of Export Agriculture at Uva Wellassa University was recognised and awarded this year. We congratulate Dr Gunathilaka for her achievement and appreciate her significant contribution to the nation.

Workshop on Research Indicators, Scholarly Publications and Research Management organized by the Library of UWU was held on February 12,2019 at the Main Computer Lab. The workshop was inaugurated by Prof.(Dr.). J.L. Ratnasekera, the Vice Chancellor with the presence of Deans of the Faculties, Registrar, Librarian and Bursar. The Main objective of the workshop was to brainstorm on how to enhance research and publication output in the era of modern technology. The workshop covered various topics related to Research Indicators, Reference Management tools, Plagiarism control, Citation Databases, Copyright, Intellectual Property Rights, Journal Selection Tools and Open Online Resources for Research. The participants were provided hands-on practice on the use of many databases and software. Workshop was conducted by 04 eminent resource personal who came from India. There were 104 participants from 07 universities of Sri Lanka, National Science Foundation and UWU. Attendees characterized the workshop as very useful, very effective and targeting the right areas to enhance quality and quantum of research and publication. They were highly satisfied with workshop resource personal and the topics discussed. The workshop was coordinated by Dr.T.Pratheepan, Senior Assistant Librarian.

The Maiden Journal of the Faculty of Management of Uva Wellasa University “Journal of Management and Tourism Research” (JMTR) was ceremonially launched today (13th December 2018) at the Senate Chamber of the University. Prof. M.S.M. Aslam making the Keynote speech highlighted the significance of knowledge dissemination in today’s information based economy. The Editor in Chief Dr. Ruwan Ranasinghe noted that this and future issues of JMTR will begin the project of opening up the new avenues of management research, facilitating the crossing of disciplinary boundaries, bringing new theoretical tools to bear on empirical problems, and enabling conversations between academics and policy arenas.

Four (04) researchers from the Faculty of Animal Science and Export Agriculture, Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka were awarded at the recently held President’s Awards for Scientific Publication for the year 2014. Dr. W.A.J.P. Wijesinghe, Dr. H.M.S.K. Herath, Dr. E.D.N.S. Abeyrathne and Dr. D.K.D.D. Jayasena received these prestigious awards at a ceremony held at the Water’s Edge on 22 November 2016, graced by His Excellency Maithripala Sirisena, the President of Sri Lanka, and the Hon. Susil Premajayantha, Minister for Science, Technology & Research. The awards ceremony was jointly organized by the National Research Council, the Ministry of Science, Technology & Research and the Presidential Secretariat with the aim of promoting and supporting scientists in Sri Lanka. A total of 231 recipients received awards at this ceremony.

Selection is done in a wider range of categories and based on a two-tier system (http://nrc.gov.lk/index.php/awards-for-scientific-publication) which includes a measure of journal quality based on Impact Factor also taking into consideration that different disciplines have widely differing Impact Factors for their journals, and the quantum of research published by a scientist.