A platform for emerging scholars J ’pura holds the 7th International Conference on Humanities and Social Sciences  on Thursday, March 18

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences- USJP

The University of Sri Jayewardenepura’s (USJ) Humanities and Social Sciences Faculty (FHSS) will hold its 7th International Research Conference on Humanities and Social Sciences(IRCHSS-2021) from March 18-19. As a hybrid event, the presentation of research papers will be on an online platform while the inauguration ceremony will be held on the university premises with the participation of university academics and other scholars. Identifying the value of research in the fields of humanities and social sciences, it intends to provide a platform for renowned intellectual key profiles and emerging scholars to disseminate their knowledge while inspiring novel ideas and building an academic network internationally. 

This year’s theme is “Collaborate and Discover: Break the Barriers.” The theme signifies the necessity of overcoming diverse challenges and barriers confronted by researches in the fields of humanities and social sciences. 

Despite the pandemic situation, IRCHSS 2021 has received more than 205 abstract submissions from scholars around the world. From them, 100 studies have been selected for oral and poster presentations. 
These selected researches are expected to be presented on March 18 and 19 under eight conference tracks, including Buddhist Studies, Religion, and Philosophy; Communication, Media and Society; Environment, Governance and Development; History, Culture and Heritage; Language and Literature; and Technology, Innovation, and Education. Besides, the international conference is featured by three plenary speeches, organised to generate an interactive discourse on some key topics in contemporary humanities and social sciences. 
Professor Praneeth Abhayasundere of the Department of Anthropology, the USJ will deliver the first plenary “Anthropomorphism and Zoomorphism: Resolving the Praxis.” The second plenary will be delivered by Dr Oshan Wedage, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of History and Archaeology of the USJ along with Dr Siran Deraniyagala, Professor M.M. Pathmalal and a team of researchers from Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Germany. 

Their topic will be “Fruits Of The Forest: Sri Lanka and Its Global Prehistory.” The third plenary is to be delivered by Professor Daniel Seely of the Eastern Michigan University in the United States. His topic will be “Toward Explaining Language: The Minimalist Perspective.”

The inaugural session will be held on March 18, 2021, from 8.30 am onwards at the New Senate Board Room of USJ. The chief guest will be the US ambassador Alaina B. Teplitz. Meanwhile, the University Grants Commission Chairman Sampath Amaratunge will be the guest of honour. The USJ Vice-Chancellor Sudantha Liyanage the Faculty’s Dean Shirantha Heenkenda will also attend the event.