Our senior lecturer, Mr. P. Dias, recently participated in the live television program “Mihithalaya”, where he discussed the fascinating connection between mathematics and the environment. During the session, he explained how mathematical concepts are deeply intertwined with natural processes and how they help us understand and address environmental challenges more effectively.
Mr. Dias also illustrated how mathematics influences everyday activities—from optimizing resource use to predicting environmental changes—emphasizing its vital role in creating a more sustainable world. His discussion shed light on the power of mathematical thinking in fostering environmental awareness and practical solutions for the future.
The Department of Statistics, University of Sri Jayewardenepura (USJ), Sri Lanka, together with the Postgraduate Institute of Science, University of Peradeniya (PGIS), Sri Lanka, are proud to jointly organize the 3rd International Conference on Data Science & Artificial Intelligence (DSAI 2025).
Dates: 19th – 21st November, 2025 Venue: Joint Research and Demonstration Centre, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka
This prestigious global conference brings together researchers, academics, and practitioners to share cutting-edge research and applications in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, with a strong focus on supporting growth and innovation in developing countries. Participants will have the opportunity to engage in knowledge sharing, collaboration, and networking with leading experts and emerging innovators in the field.
Tracks of Interest (include, but not limited to):
Affective computing, Applications of DS & AI, Bayesian networks, Constraint satisfaction, Evolutionary computation, Data mining and knowledge discovery, DS & AI in education systems, Explainable, trustable, and moral AI, Foundation of DS & AI, Image analysis, Information retrieval and extraction, Intelligent agents. Knowledge acquisition and ontology, Knowledge representation, Markov networks, Natural language processing, Neural networks and deep learning, Planning and scheduling, Probabilistic inference, Reasoning and argumentation, Semantic web, Uncertainty, Vision and perception.
Important Dates:
Call for Papers: January 15, 2025
Deadline for Paper Submission: June 29, 2025 (Extended)
Notification of Acceptance: August 26, 2025
Camera-ready Submission: September 6, 2025
Early-Bird Registration: September 1st – 15th, 2025
Regular Registration: November 1, 2025
Conference Dates: November 19th– 21st, 2025
We warmly invite the academic community, industry professionals, and students to participate in this transformative event.
For further details and submission guidelines, please visit the official conference website: https://icdsai.pdn.ac.lk/
The Department of Statistics of University of Sri Jayewardenepura organized an enriching educational field visit to the Regional Rice Research & Development Centre (RRDC) in Bombuwala. This immersive experience highlighted the department’s dedication to delivering practical education that strengthens students’ understanding of statistical principles in authentic environments.
The purpose of this visit was to illustrate how experimental designs are used in real-world scenarios, supplementing the curriculum in STA 3172/ASP 4522 Advanced Design of Experiments. The trip took place on August 12, 2024, with the help of Dr. Pradeepa De Silva, Additional Director and Principal Agriculture Scientist (Rice Breeding), who thoughtfully planned the program from the very beginning. Mrs. Deepika Weerasinghe, the Deputy Director (Research), was an instrumental figure in coordinating the activities on-site, making sure that everything went smoothly. Dr. Wasana Wijesuriya, a retired Principal Research Officer at the Rubber Research Institute of Sri Lanka, was the key figure that helped the department make the first connection with the institute. She was the first point of contact and played a key role in building the collaboration.
Both Dr. Manjula Withnawasam and Dr. Geethika Rupasinghe, Assistant Directors of Agriculture (Research), took responsibility for leading the sessions. This visit became an amazing learning experience for the third-year undergraduates who took part, as it clearly showed how different experimental designs are utilized in real life. Some of the designs that were witnessed by the students included a Completely Randomized Design (CRD), a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD), a Split-Plot Design, and even an Augmented RCBD. These ideas went beyond what was taught in the standard lectures and offered fresh insights. As the students saw these designs being used in rice cultivation trials, the abstract ideas and methods they learned in class were converted into real, practical things in the field.
The facilitators encouraged active engagement through intriguing discussions on experiment layout, treatment allocation, and block management, elevating the experience far beyond passive viewing. Thanks to this enriching experience, engaging discussions and questions arose among the students, and the answers to said questions resulted in a deeper understanding of experimental designs that highlighted the broad applications of statistics in agriculture and beyond. With these practical insights, students can now approach their academic work with a more applied perspective.
