Open University Research Sessions 2021 (OURS 2021) is an annual event conducted by OUSL. This year made this event even more special as it was hosted as a fully online conference.
Originally, OURS 2021 was planned as a face-to-face conference to be held at the OUSL main campus in Nawala. However, due to the current health situation and the health guidelines issued by the state for Covid 19, the conference was moved to a fully online platform. For OURS 2021 the online platform was Zoom.
Over 150 participants participated in the inauguration ceremony and there were five parallel sessions on both days of OURS 2021, which were conducted via the zoom platform.
Out of the 209 submitted Abstracts/Extended abstracts, 137 were selected for presentation following a rigorous blind peer review process. These abstracts covered a wide range of academic and scientific disciplines. Among them are Open and Distance Learning, Biological Sciences, English Language Teaching, Education, Engineering and Technology, Health Sciences, Humanities and Social Sciences, Law, Management and Physical Sciences.
The Chief Guest at the inauguration of OURS 2021 was Prof. H. D. Karunarathne, Senior Professor and Chair Professor of Business Economics, University of Colombo.
The invited keynote speakers for the sessions included Prof. Nalin de Silva, Senior Professor and Chair of Chemistry, University of Colombo and Prof Mario López-Gopar, Professor of Language Education and Applied Linguistics, Universidad Autónoma Benito Juárez de Oaxaca, (UABJO), Mexico.
A Panel Discussion on “Post pandemic higher educational experience and Gender (in)equality” was held on the second day of OURS 2021. The resource persons were Professor Kalinga Tudor Silva, Emeritus Professor from the University of Peradeniya, Professor Victoria Showunmi from University College London Institute of Education, University of London, UK and and Prof. Anastasia Zabaniotou from Chemical Engineering Dept., Engineering Faculty, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. Moderator of the event was Dr Tara de Mel.
Youtube Links:
- INAUGURATION PROGRAMME OURS 2021 & ONLINE SESSION 1
- Keynote 2 -“ Decolonizing English language teaching in COVID times ”
- 2021-09-16, Station 01
- 2021-09-16, Station 02
- 2021-09-16, Station 03
- 2021-09-16, Station 04
- OURS 2021 Sep 17 – Management / Agriculture2021-09-17, Station 01
- 2021-09-17, Station 02
- OURS 2021 Sep 17 – Station 03, Biological Science
- OURS 2021 Sep 17 – Station 03, Biological Science 02
- OURS 2021 Sep 17 – Station 03, Engineering and Technology
- 2021-09-17, Station 04
- 2021-09-17, Station 05
