About IRCHSS
Initiated in 2012 by Prof. P. Athukorala, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences from 2007 to 2013, the International Research Conference in Humanities and Social Sciences (IRCHSS) was established with the aim of promoting research and scholarship within the Faculty. Since its inception, IRCHSS has become a regular and significant event in the Faculty’s academic calendar.
The conference has attracted scholars from Sri Lanka and abroad, providing a dynamic forum for engaging with current trends, emerging perspectives, and contemporary issues in the fields of Humanities and Social Sciences. It has also served as an important platform for the dissemination and exchange of knowledge, fostering academic dialogue and collaboration among researchers.
Over the years, IRCHSS has featured numerous eminent scholars from different parts of the world as keynote and plenary speakers, further enhancing the academic significance and international reach of the conference.
Initially organized as an annual event, IRCHSS was subsequently transformed into a biennial conference in 2018, in response to the growing volume of research activities within the Faculty and the increasing demands associated with organizing the conference.
9th IRCHSS 2025
Advancing Sustainable Development Research in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
Conference Chair: Prof. Asha Fernando
Conference Secretary: Dr. Kaushalya Hewawasam
Keynote Speaker: ……. Dr. Walter Leal,
Plenary Speakers: ………. Dr. K. Sashikumar
8th IRCHSS 2023
Seeing through Testing Times and the Future
Conference Chair: Dr. Tharanga Weerasooriya
Conference Secretary: Dr. Tharaka Ananda
Keynote Speaker: ………. Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha, Professor (Emeritus), Sabagamuwa University)
Plenary Speakers:
………. Prof. Charmalie Nahallage, Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Sri Jayewardenepura
………. Prof. Rajesh Bhatt, Professor, Department of Linguistics, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, USA
………. Prof. Andrew Lian, Professor (Emeritus), University of Canberra, Australia
7th IRCHSS 2021
Conference Chair: Dr. Sujeewa Hettiarachchi
Conference Secretary: Mr. Ajantha Kalyanaratne
Keynote Speaker: Anthropomorphism and Zoomorphism:
Resolving The Praxis – Prof. Praneeth Abhayasundere, University of Sri Jayewardenepura
Plenary Speakers: (Check the proceedings online to add this correctly)
Fruits of the Forest: Sri Lanka and its Global Prehistory – Oshan Wedaga, Michael Petragliac (, Siran Deraniyagala (Department of
Archaeology, Sri Lanka), (University of Queensland, Queensland, Australia), Noel Amanod (National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, USA), Michelle C. Langleye, Patrick Robert, M.M. Pathmalalg
. c,f, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Germany)
c
, Griffith
University, Queensland, Australiae
, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lankaa,g
Toward Explaining Language: The Minimalist Perspective – Prof. T. Daniel Seely,
Eastern Michigan University, USA
6th IRCHSS 2018
Transformation For Empowerment : Moving Beyond Buzzwords
Conference Chair: Dr. Damayanthi Bamunusinghe
Conference Secretary: Dr. Nelum Kanthilatha
Keynote Speaker: Narrative as a Research Methodology in the Arts and Humanities –
Mike Baynham, Professor of TESOL, University of Leeds, UK
Plenary Speakers:
Integration of ASEAN Banking Sector Stocks – Jones Odei Mensah, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
Why Depend on Others? Why Not Thinking of Ours? A Methodological Approach
to Conceptualization in Social Science Research – Dr. M. A. Shantha Wijesinghe, Department of Geography, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka
5th IRCHSS 2016
Transformation For Empowerment : Moving Beyond Buzzwords
Conference Chair: Dr. Chitra Jayathilake
Conference Secretary: Mr. Senani Harishchandra
Keynote Speaker: Urban Transformation and Universities for Regional and Emotional
Empowerment: Patrick Geddes as a Global Victorian – Professor David Amigoni
Pro Vice-Chancellor, Research and Enterprise, Keele University, UK
Plenary Speaker: Transformation for Disempowerment? Culture and Small Nations in
the Age of Globalisation – Scott McCracken, Professor of Twentieth-Century Literature
Department of English, Queen Mary, University of London, UK
4th IRCHSS 2015
Today’s Vision Tomorrow’s Reality: Success Through Synergy
Conference Chair: Prof. Charmalie Nahallage
Conference Secretary: Ven. Dr. Madagampitiye Wijithadhamma Thero
Keynote Speaker: Compuphilia: Educational Reflections on Anthropomorphising our
Computers, While Dehumanising Ourselves – Ronald S. Laura, Professor in Education, The University of Newcastle, Australia
3rd IRCHSS 2014
Innovate, Integrate, and Impart: Development Without Borders
Conference Chair: Prof. Shirantha Heenkenda
Conference Secretary: Dr. Lalith Ananda
Keynote Speaker: Innovation on the Tracks of Heritage and Environment in Sri Lanka – Dr. Siran Upendra Deraniyagala, Former Director General of Archaeology, Sri Lanka
2nd IRCHSS 2013
Conference Chair: Ms. Vishaka Suriyabandara
Conference Secretary: Dr. Shantha Wijesinghe
Keynote Speaker –
Plenary Speaker –
1st IRCHSS 2012
Honouring the Past, Treasuring the Present, Navigating the Future: Making Knowledge to Deliver
Conference Chair: Prof. Sunethra Tennakoon
Conference Secretary: Prof. Charmalie Nahallage
Keynote Speaker: The Magic Art of Human Action – Emeritus Professor Gunnar Olsson,
Department of Human Geography, Uppsala University, Sweden