It’s time to push forward our call to politicians, says top scientist at RISTCON 2015

Wednesday, 28 January 2015 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Text and pix by P.D. De Silva “As scientists we look at things in a different perspective. We are no politicians but with the changes that have taken place lately this may be the right time for Sri Lanka and it might be the right time that we should push forward our call to politicians for funds for integrated research and bring in the right people who could provide the scientific knowledge for the benefit of politicians,” said Professor Dilantha Fernando making the keynote address a

t the second Ruhuna International Science and Technology Conference which commenced on 22 January. Professor Fernando is Senior Research Scientist and Professor – Plant Pathology and Biotechnology at the University of Manitoba, Canada. Professor Monte Cassim who was of the same view as Professor Fernando presented a plenary lecture on the ‘Role of high technology and citizen sciences in conservation biology of tropical ecosystems’. He is Professor of Health, Environment and Life Science at the Ritsumeikan Centre for Sustainability Science, Japan. Professor Naoki Hirotsu from the Toyo University Japan, Professor Upul Wijewantha from the Laughborough University UK, Professor Sarath Kotagama from the University of Colombo, Dr. Saman Senaweera from University of Melbourne Australia and Dr. Wimal Ubhhayasekera from Uppsala University Sweden made plenary lectures while 89 research papers on Agriculture, Botany, Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Biochemistry and Biophysics, Chemistry, Ecology, Environmental Sciences, Oceanography, Fisheries and Aquaculture, Medical and Health Sciences, Veterinary Science, Zoology, Computer Science and ICT, Engineering, Mathematics and Statistics, Nano Technology, Physics and Geophysical Sciences were presented by local and international scientists at the two day conference called for by the Faculty of Science of the University of Ruhuna.