The Strengthening Research Skills Workshop, organized by the Research Council of the University of Kelaniya, was successfully held as a full-day workshop on the 19th of November 2024 at the Staff Development Auditorium.

The workshop was conducted to improve the research skills of the newly recruited academic staff and executive staff of the university.

The workshop was organized by the staff of the Research Council under the guidance Professor Sachith Mettananda, Chairman of the Research Council. The workshop was attended by over 70 participants from academic, executive, and research staff of various departments and units of the university. The workshop included a comprehensive program on conducting research with resource persons from the University of Kelaniya.

The first session, titled “Basic Steps in Conducting Research,” was done by Prof. Sachith Mettananda. It was followed by a session on “Literature Review” by Ms. Chithra Abeygunasekara, Senior Assistant Librarian. Prof. Anuradhini Kasthuriratne from the Department of Public Health conducted an interesting session on “Essential Steps in Writing a Research Proposal,” which was followed by an interactive session on “How to Use Mendeley” by Dr. Chathuranga Kumarage and Dr. Hasitha Weerasinghe from the Department of Physics.

The session on “Basics for Conducting Research with Explanations on Methodology and Analysis” included presentations on “Laboratory Research” by Prof. Anupama Daranagama from the Department of Plant and Molecular Biology, “Workplace-based Research” by Prof. Madurika Nanayakkara from the Department of Commerce and Financial Management, and “Surveys and Descriptive Research” by Prof. Miyuru Chandradasa from the Department of Psychiatry.

During the final session on “Publishing and Beyond,” Mr. Arjun de Silva, Webmaster of the University of Kelaniya, described how to improve the online presence using Google Scholar, Research Gate, and ORCID, and Prof. Sachith Mettananda explained how to disseminate the research findings. The final session on “Desk and Secondary Research” was conducted by Dr. C. C. Jayasundara, Librarian of the University of Kelaniya.