Balancing lab knowledge with real world industries
The totally Sri Lankan venture that is the SLINTEC Academy, approved by the University Grants Commission, is SLINTEC’s degree administration and knowledge dissemination arm. It is a private but not-for-profit degree awarding campus dedicated to creating world-class research graduates.
The MPhil in Nano and Advanced Technology, open to graduates of all branches of Science, Engineering, Agriculture and Medicine, is a full-time twoyear research programme. It is need-blind but financial assistance provided is need-based and applicants with exceptional merit are being offered full or partial scholarships. The MPhil holders can next move to a PhD Programme within the SLINTEC Academy itself; seek an opportunity in any best-ranked international university or work within the Sri Lankan industry, government agencies and organizations with a strong research culture.
“Nano and Advanced Technology is the way forward,” says Prof. Veranja Karunaratne, explaining that through the understanding of its theory and application, students will carry out research in Smart Agriculture, Apparel, Water Purification, Healthcare and Mineral Resources, Innovative Rubber Products, Advanced Synthetic Organic Chemistry, Synthetic Biology, Energy Harvesting and Storage, Advanced Engineering Materials and Advanced Surface Coatings and Packaging.
Of the internal faculty of 30, 27 are PhDs from leading universities who prepare students to read, analyze and critically understand published scientific papers (accessed through ‘Science Direct’), empowering them to learn the art of scientific writing and publish their research findings in high-impact journals.
“Here, with the academicindustry amalgam, students will learn how to balance scientific knowledge gathered in the lab with the research demands of real-world industries. How to manage scientific expectations of the industry and work with them to take the laboratory’s ‘proof of principles’ to development, leading eventually to commercialization,” he adds.