As declared by the UN in 2001, November 10th of every year is celebrated as the world science day for peace and development. This year the theme of the World science day, “Open Science, leaving no one behind” aims at increasing the awareness on “Open Science” concept among the general public.
According to the UNESCO website, open Science has been a burning issue in the scientific community, which is gaining increasing attention by the non-scientific community as well. Innovators, engineers, tech developers, both from private and public sectors are embracing the open science and open innovation concepts. And policy makers and citizens are increasingly embracing the concept of open science as a tool for making science more accessible, the scientific process more inclusive and the outputs of science more readily available.
Thus, Open Science can be a game changer for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly in Africa, least developed countries, landlocked developing countries, and Small Island Developing States.
World Science Day Celebrations in Sri Lanka
National Science Foundation of Sri Lanka had organized a special World Science Day Event on 1st of November at the BMICH auditorium to celebrate this years World Science Day for Peace and Development. This year the celebration was held with the theme “Sustainable use of earth resources”.
Mr. Chinthaka Lokuhetti, secretary of the ministry of science technology and innovation participated the event as the chief guest while Dr. P.B. Dharmasena, a leading soil scientist from the Ministry of Mahaweli Development and Environment delivered the key note speech. In his speech he discussed about the current status of the Earth Resources and how the scientific knowledge can be used in sustainable management of those resources.
The winners of various school level competitions including Short Science Drama, Role Play, Science Essay, Viridu, Songs, Bridge Designing Contest and Digital Story Telling Competitions and Science Research Project Competition 2018 and Sri Lanka Science and Engineering Fair 2019 were felicitated at this event.
Some of the award winners from the school level competitions
Further, Star Ratings for best performing Science Societies were also awarded for the year 2019.
This year the NSF award for the best science teacher who contributed towards the popularization of science was awarded to Mrs. B.K.U.B Abeysekara from Ananda Vidyalaya Colombo. NSF Media Award for media personnel who contributed to popularization of science were awarded to Dr. R.S. S. Samarakoon from university of Colombo and Dr. Manoj Prasanna from Upali Newspapers.
This year the main award of the world science day celebrations; Prof. M.T.M Jiffrey Life time Award for promoting science among general public was awarded to Prof. Rangika Halwathura from University of Moratuwa for his immense contributions in popularizing science within the Sri Lankan society.
School children representing School Science societies, their teachers, Scientists, and other invited guests participated this celebration.
