MoU signed between J’pura University and Japan’s University of the Ryukyus

The University of Sri Jayewardenepura’s Faculty of Technology, the first fully fledged technology faculty in Sri Lanka, further widened its horizons by signing a MoU with the Tropical Biosphere Research Centre (TBRC) at the University of the Ryukyus at Okinawa in Japan, a university official said.

TBRC is a research institute of the University of the Ryukyus located in a subtropical climate zone.Faculty members of TBRC are conducting biological research on the tropical and subtropical environment.

Research is mainly focused on the mechanism of establishment and maintenance of biological diversity, the survival strategies of living organisms, and the dynamic interactions of symbiotic or infectious microbes with hosts.

Applied research on food and health in subtropical areas is also carried out in TBRC. These research activities cover all four key words of the University of the Ryukyus: Islands, Marine, Subtropical Climate, and Health and Longevity.

The four departments of TBRC; Department of Coral Reef Biological Science, Department of Biodiversity and Evolutional Biology, Department of Infectious Diseases and Department of Applied Biological Information will reinforce their collaborations with the University of Sri Jayewardenepura’s Faculty of Technology.

This collaboration was executed by Dr. N. N. R. N. Nugara and came into fruition on June 7. Apart from the development of inter-institutional research collaborations, this MoU supports student and staff exchange programmes between the two countries’ institutions.