On the occasion of five-years of establishing the Joint PhD Programme between Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), Australia and University of Peradeniya (UoP), an eleven-member delegation headed by Prof. Calum Drummond, Deputy Vice-Chancellor – Research and Innovation of RMIT visited the UoP on 1st December 2023.
A discussion with the RMIT delegates to further strengthen and broaden the partnership between RMIT and UoP was held from 11.00 am to 1.00 pm in the Senate Room, organized by the Department of Civil Engineering, UoP. Prof. M.D. Lamawansa, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Peradeniya, Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of Peradeniya, Deans of Faculties, Heads of the Departments of Faculty of Engineering, Directors of URC, InRO and BLII-TTO, Overall Coordinator and Coordinators of Postgraduate Programmes in Civil Engineering, Coordinator of RMIT-UoP Joint PhD Programme, and supervisors of PhD research under RMIT-UoP Joint PhD Programme participated in the meeting.
A brief overview of the RMIT-UoP Joint PhD programme and ongoing research activities in the Department of Civil Engineering, UoP was presented by the RMIT-UoP joint PhD Programme Coordinator. Vice Chancellor/University of Peradeniya, Deputy Vice Chancellor Research and Innovation/RMIT, Dean/Faculty of Engineering, and Head/Department of Civil Engineering addressed the gathering highlighting the importance and success of the RMIT-UoP partnership and the need to further strengthen the collaboration while acknowledging the key personnel for their contributions to the joint PhD programme during the past five years. Finally, there was a fruitful discussion between RMIT delegates and UoP representatives to enhance the collaboration further and the key focal points of the discussion included ongoing research areas at different faculties/departments at both UoP and RMIT, the possibility of extending the joint PhD collaboration to other faculties of UoP, and the possibility of extending the collaboration to joint Master degree programmes between RMIT and UoP.