National Research Conference on Applied Social Statistics- NRCASS 2018 organized for the 04th consecutive by Social Statistics Students’ Association of the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kelaniya was held on the 30th of November 2018 at the Auditorium of the Faculty of Social Sciences. The conference was organized with the objective of promoting academic writing and academic presenting among young researchers in all the universities in Sri Lanka, providing experience of a conference & a national level platform to researchers to present their research work and enhancing their soft skills.

The keynote address of this conference which was held under the theme “Quantitative Research in Social Sciences Perspectives”, was delivered by Dr. A.J. Satharasinghe, Former Director General of Department of Census and Statistics.

More than 160 research on the themes: Biodiversity & Sustainable Development, Demography & Population, Economic & Economic Development, International Affairs & Strategic Studies, Management & Business Studies, Mass Communication & Information Technology, Statistics & Social Sciences, Tourism & Trade were present at the conference. An Abstract Volume which contains abstracts of the research studies was also launched at the event.

Moreover, the Volume 5 Issue 1 of Journal of Social Statistics- 2018 and its e- journal published by the Social Statistics Students’ Association was launched at the event.

The inauguration of the conference was held under the patronage of the Vice- Chancellor, Prof. D.M. Semasinghe. Present at the occasion were Senior Prof. Lakshman Senevirathne, Deputy Vice- Chancellor, Prof. A.H.M.H. Abayarathne, Dean- Faculty of Social Sciences, Cadre Chair & Senior Prof. N.P. Sunil- Chandra, Chairman- Research Council, Senior Lecturer Dr. M.G. Kularathne, Director- Research Centre (Faculty of Social Sciences), Senior Lecturer Dr. Manjula Gunarathne, Head- Department of Social Statistics, academic staff members and undergraduates of the Department of Social Statistics.