On Mar. 9th, the 6th China-Sri Lanka Joint Workshop on Monsoon Climate and Marine Environmental Resource was synchronously convened online and on-site. The joint workshop was organized by the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology (SCSIO), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and executed by the China-Sri Lanka Joint Center for Education ＆Research (CSL-CER), CAS. More than 100 scientists from China, Sri Lanka, Australia, Malaysia and international organizations, attended the workshop.
Mr. Zhenyu Wang, Deputy Director-General of the Bureau of International Cooperation, CAS, Prof. Lijuan Long, Deputy Director of SCSIO, and Mrs. Priyangika Dharmasena, Consul General of Sri Lanka in Guangzhou, attended the workshop in Guangzhou, China. Prof. Sampath Amaratunge, Chairman of University Grants Commission and Prof. Sujeewa Amarasena, Vice Chancellor of University of Ruhuna attended the workshop in Matara, Sri Lanka.
Prof. Lijuan Long, chairman of the organization commission, highly appreciated the efforts and supports from colleagues of CSL-CER in China and Sri Lanka to overcome difficulty under severe COVID-19 pandemic, to continue collaborations on marine science and technology. She wishes that CSL-CER will expand collaborations from monsoon climate to other research fields to also marine biology and marine geology. Mr. Zhenyu Wang hopes that scientists from China and Sri Lanka will continuously take CSL-CER as an important platform to perform cooperative researches on the Indian Ocean, climate change and disaster prevention and mitigation.
During the meeting, scientists conducted academic exchanges on the Indian Ocean monsoon, ocean dynamics and marine resources. Keynote speakers include Prof. Jian Lin from the SCSIO, Dr. K. Arulananthan from the National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency (NARA), Prof. Charith Pattiyarachchi from the University of Western Australia, Prof. Changsheng Zhang from the SCSIO, and Prof. Pauzi Zakaria from the University of Malaya. Oral presentations were also delivered by experts from Sri Lanka Department of Meteorology, and the Alliance of International Science Organizations (ANSO), SCSIO, the Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, the South China Botanical Garden. Prof. Changsheng Zhang, Director of the CSL-CER and Prof. Tilak Gamage, Co-Director of the CSL-CER from the University of Ruhuna, conclude that the joint workshop will promote collaborative researches on the Indian Ocean monsoon, and hope that scientists of the two countries will take cooperation in wider fields. Scientists from both countries have shown great interest in establishing connections to carry out future cooperation, taking the CSL-CER as a bridging platform.
