The University of Colombo's Faculty of Management and Finance is once again organizing the Annual International Research Conference for the 4th consecutive year. This conference is expected to provide a forum for Academics, Management Practitioners, Consultants, PhD Candidates, students at undergraduate and Masters level and other stakeholders mostly from Asian countries an ideal platform to discuss timely themes in the areas of management and finance. This conference is treated to be one of the best conferences to be organized in the South Asian Region. The Sunday Times spoke to Dr. Fazeela Jameel Ahsan, the Coordinator of the Annual International Research Conference 2009, to find out more about this event.
Dr. Fazeela Jameel Ahsan |
"This can be best termed as an international academic research conference which targets academics, practitioners and any other parties interested in writing research papers within the Asian region and beyond. Compared to the previous years this year we have received a significant number of papers from foreign participants.
This conference provides a unique opportunity for academics, by providing them with a suitable platform to present their research findings. The conference will feature two keynote international speakers from the UK and India. As the leading state university in Sri Lanka it is our prime duty to conduct conferences of this nature and provide an opportunity for our local and international researchers as well as students to pool their knowledge and new findings. Also no doubt that this forum paves the way for developing sustainable networking with the colleagues of other institutions with similar interest to proceed further in their research effort in a bigger way.
This kind of forum with research and findings helps to improve the quality of our undergraduate and postgraduate teaching as a highly marketable product all over the world. I strongly believe that this brings reputation and fame to the country as a whole and having this international forum helps to build Sri Lanka as a super brand in the international arena for which all of us work hard at different levels, " says Dr. Ahsan.
The conference will take place on the 11th of December (Friday) this year at the BMICH, which will commence with an inauguration ceremony that will take place at 9.00 am. The faculty of Management and Finance is committed to pursue excellence in research, teaching, community services and consulting while making all efforts to be the center of excellence for Management and Finance education in Sri Lanka.
This event will be mainly funded by the Faculty Development Fund coming through the MBA Programme and the other sources as well as the UGC (University Grants Commission) in addition to this the event also has a few other sponsors (HNB Assurance, Toyota Lanka, GSK and some others at minimum level), but is also seeking more sponsors to contribute towards this significant event.
"We also receive funds for this event through our registrations, where foreign participants representing the SAARC countries will be charged a registration fee of $60 and a registration fee of $100 will be charged from the non SAARC foreign participants. Local participants (authors) will be charged Rs. 3500 and non-authors will be charged Rs. 1750 in this regard. I am very happy to say that this is the first time that we will be getting more foreign research papers with foreign participants and the participation of international keynote speakers from leading countries like the United Kingdom and an Asian giant India, which is a unique feature in this year's conference. Also this is the first time that we have gone out in a big way to have this conference at the BMICH which is well reputed and an ideal international research conference venue. As a premier public university in Sri Lanka we would appreciate individual as well as company funding in order to make this event a success", further stated Dr. Ahsan.
The conference comprises of 12 tracks in which research papers have to be submitted and which are based on the theoretical or empirical and methodological issues relating to the areas of Management and Finance. These tracks include Accounting, Banking and Finance including Islamic Finance, Human Resource Management, Business Economics, Management Information Systems, Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management, Organizational Studies, Marketing and Supply Chain Management and International Business etc. This year the conference received over 235 abstracts out of which 70 were from international participants, representing Japan, India, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iran, Russia, Chez Republic, France, Australia, New Zealand and the others which have been short listed to 100 full papers.
In conclusion, Dr. Ahsan said, "The Annual Research Conference is expected to see the participation of around 200 participants. The conference is also an ideal opportunity for undergraduates and postgraduates to participate and gain an experience.
We charge a very minimum registration fee of Rs. 500 from undergraduate participants and Rs.1000 for MBA and other Masters level students. Also this kind of forum encourages individual research and also helps to change people's mindsets due to the fact that Sri Lanka, when compared to its international counterparts is very poor with regards to the areas of reading, writing, research and analysis in the management field.
We will appreciate your generous contributions with regards to funding for this event which requires a huge investment in terms of money as well as effort in order for it to become a success".
You can contact Dr. Fazeela Jameel Ahsan, conference coordinator on dr.fazeela@gmail.com/ coordinator.irc@gmail.com, or 0094776098096 for further inquiry for participation as well as for funding for this worthy cause. |
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