Coinciding with the 13th Annual International Research Conference of KDU (KDU IRC 2020), the Faculty of Built Environment and Spatial Sciences of KDU Southern Campus staged off its faculty research conference at the KDU Main University Complex, Ratmalana on 15th and 16th October 2020. The trio of departments under the faculty specialized in Architecture, Quantity Surveying and Spatial Sciences along with some external higher educational bodies collectively submitted 16 oral presentations and 17 poster presentations during the sessions on the general theme of ‘Beyond Territories: Touching the Built Space Holistically’ for the summative evaluation. Some eminent scholars including Prof. Samitha Manawadu of the University of Moratuwa, Mrs. A.L.S.C. Perera, the Surveyor General of Sri Lanka, Rear Admiral YN Jayarathne, the Chief Hydrographer of the Sri Lanka Navy and Prof. Paolo Vincenzo Genovese of Tianjin University, China joined hands in hosting the two-day conclave.

The research entitled ‘Evaluation of Urban Compactness Indicators and Solar Potential in the Urban Environment’ authored by T Mendis, KNK Pathirana and WAPS Kumara of the Faculty of Built Environment and Spatial Sciences, KDU bagged the award for the best oral presentation. HMSP Abeyrathna, MDEK Gunathilaka and AND Perera of the Department of Surveying and Geodesy, Faculty of Geomatics, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka were awarded for the best poster presentation in view of the poster under the topic of ‘A Geo-Physical Investigation into the Colombo Port Seabed using Sub Bottom Profiler’. Brigadier EADP Edirisinghe psc, the Rector of the KDU Southern Campus spearheaded the resourceful conduct of the event along with Dr AR Rupasinghe, Ms KA Dinusha, Ms NDI Vithana and Mr HDS Asoka who acted in the capacity of session coordinators.