Conferences and Workshops

GeSSoMI-2024: Cybersecurity Bootcamp

The IEEE WIE Student Branch Affinity Group of the University of Jaffna successfully hosted GeSSoMI-2024: Cybersecurity Bootcamp, “Empowering Diversity in Cybersecurity through Gender-Inclusive Education”. This event followed the three-day summer school program GeSSoMI (Google exploreCSR Summer School on Machine Intelligence). Held on the 17th of June 2024, from 8:30 AM to 6:00 PM at the Department of Computer Science, University of Jaffna, the bootcamp attracted around 100 attendees, from the University of Jaffna, University of Colombo School of Computing, University of Moratuwa, University of Vavuniya, and Open University of Sri Lanka.

The event commenced with registration, where attendees received their name tags and workshop kits, followed by the welcome speech of the Advisor/IEEE-WIE-SBAG-UoJ. The day featured a comprehensive program covering four key topics in cybersecurity: Zero Trust Architecture – a keynote talk and networking session, Emerging Trends in Cybersecurity Research – a keynote talk session, Security Monitoring with Wireshark – a hands-on demonstration and networking session and Tracing Digital Footprints – a panel discussion.

The day included networking opportunities, refreshment breaks, group photos, and a lunch session. The event concluded with a certificate distribution to all the participants. Throughout the day, attendees had the chance to engage with industry professionals and academics, gaining valuable insights.
This bootcamp addressed the low participation in the cybersecurity field in Sri Lanka, particularly in Jaffna, by providing a platform for education and networking. This event was funded by IEEE R10 WIE and the Google exploreCSR award 2023/2024, between the University of Jaffna and the University of Melbourne. The organizers expressed their gratitude to the speakers with memorabilia and thanked everyone for their hard work, support, and dedication in making this educational event a success.

Resource Persons: Mrs. Mithulan Renusha (Lecturer, Human Resource Management, Faculty of Management Studies and Commerce, UoJ) and Ms. Thasika Yogeshwaran (Lecturer, Human Resource Management, Faculty Of Management Studies And Commerce, UoJ)
Held: 14th August 2022 from 1.00 p.m. to 3.00 p.m. in CSL-I@DCS.
Flyer: Click here

Resource Persons: Mrs. Mithulan Renusha (Lecturer, Human Resource Management, Faculty of Management Studies and Commerce, UoJ)
Held: 27th March 2021 from 9.30 a.m. to 12.00 noon in CUL-I.
Flyer: Click here

The first student-focused national workshop in Computer Science referred to as “Sri Lanka Student Workshop on Computer Science (SL-SWCS)” was organized by the Department of Computer Science, the University of Jaffna which was held on 8th of December 2011 in the Faculty of Science, University of Jaffna. The first workshop was well attended by 100 participants including final year undergraduate and postgraduate students studying in Sri Lanka. Since then SL-SWCS is conducted as a biennial workshop. The first event was co-sponsored by 99X Technology and the University of Melbourne. The second national SL-SWCS’13 workshop was held on 14th of December 2013 which was attended by 125 participants and co-sponsored by Virtusa, 99X Technology, and the University of Melbourne. The SL-SWCS’15 and SL-SWCS’17 was held on 7th of November 2015 and 9th of December 2017, respectively and were well attended by around 150 participants. The third and fourth national workshops were co-sponsored by WSO2 and 99X Technology along with the University of Melbourne, Australia.

The Department of Computer Science at the University of Jaffna hosted the International Conference on Information and Automation for Sustainability (ICIAfS) Post Conference Workshop which was held from 21st to 22nd of December 2010 at the Faculty of Science, the University of Jaffna with the support of the University of Moratuwa. The event was the first ever international workshop held in the Faculty of Science since its inception. The event was well attended by around 100 CS and IT students from the University of Jaffna and it had 14 keynote speakers from the University of Melbourne, University of Leeds, University of Southampton, and the University of Moratuwa.

The Department of Computer Science at the University of Jaffna hosted the first “Jaffna IT Conference” held on 6th of December 2014 along with Sri Lanka Association of Software and Service Companies (SLASSCOM) and supported by the Export Development Board (EDB), Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA), Ministry of Education (MOE). The event attracted over 200 students from State universities all over the country, who were exposed to the core of Sri Lanka’s IT industry, for them to understand the skill sets and expertise required of them, and to open up avenues and opportunities that were previously hard for them to access. A line-up of some of Sri Lanka’s leading personalities in the IT/BPM sector shared insights on the latest developments in the local and global IT industry – topics discussed included a mix of technical, trending topics in the industry (Development, Internet of Things, Mobile), as well as more business-related themes, with both a local and global outlook.

The panel of speakers included ICTA CEO Reshan Dewapura, WSO2 Founder, Chairman and CEO Dr. Sanjiva Weerawarana, CodeGen CEO and Chief System Architect Dr. Harsha Subasinghe, Motorola Solutions Sri Lanka Country Manager Anuradha Tennakoon, Microsoft Sri Lanka Country Manager Imran Vilcassim, Zone24x7 Vice President – Engineering and General Manager Dr. Sankalpa Gamwarige, Microimage Founder/CEO Harsha Purasinghe, Calcey Technologies Founder and CEO Mangala Karunaratne, 99X Technology Co-Founder and CEO Mano Sekaram and IFS General Manager/Director Sales and Consulting South Asia, IFS Pakistan Country Director and IFS Global Academy Project Consultant Poorna Bandara. Additionally, the Jaffna undergraduates hosted their counterparts from other parts of the country in their own homes, giving the visiting students a real feel of life in the North, forging lasting friendships between the youth – a small yet sure step forward in the process of reconciliation in Sri Lanka.

The UoJ-Hack was initiated by the Department of Computer Science at the University of Jaffna and the first competition was held in 1st of December 2014 which is a premier mobile technology competition open to all Universities. The intent of the competition is to nurturer skills, innovation, and creativity, fostering a spirit of studentship among the entrants. The best and the brightest young minds are given a chance to join hands to utilize technology, taking on some of the world’s toughest problems. While competing with their peers, participants had an opportunity to work alongside to make new friends, expose their abilities to the global IT industry and transform their ideas into reality. After a elapse, the second UoJ-Hack was amalgamated with HackaDev that is conducted by the UNDP with a partnership with Dialog and Ideamart, together with supporting partners Ministry of Disaster Management and UNV Sri Lanka. The event was held on 28th of October 2017 at the Faculty of Science, University of Jaffna.

  • [09 December 2017] Sri Lanka Student Workshop on Computer Science (SL-SWCS’17)
  • [07 November 2015] Sri Lanka Student Workshop on Computer Science (SL-SWCS’15)
  • [14 December 2013] Sri Lanka Student Workshop on Computer Science (SL-SWCS’13)
  • [11 March 2013] Seminar on Computational Biology, Resource persons: Prof. M. Niranjan, Ms. M.W.A.C. Rupika Wijesinghe, Ms. Mayuri, S., and Mr. L. Nitish Kumar. 85 staff and students of the Departments of Botany, Fisheries, Zoology, Computer Science, Computer Unit, Mathematics & Statistics, Medicine, and Physical Science at the University have attended the talk.
  • [18 December 2012] Guest Lecture on “Understanding Cancer Genome through Next Generation Sequencing – from a Bioinformatics perspective”, presented by:
    Ms. Kaushalya Christmalee Amarasinghe, B.Sc. (Eng) [Moratuwa], Ph.D. candidate at Melbourne School of Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Australia. Around 50 staff and students of the Departments of Computer Science, Botany, and Zoology at the University attended the talk.
  • [19 July 2012] A talk on “The Case for Usable Mobile Security” was delivered by:
    Dr. N. Asokan, BTech (Hons.)(Kharagpur), MS (Syracuse), PhD (Waterloo), Distinguished Researcher, Nokia Research Centre, Helsinki, Finland. Around 40 staff and students of the Department of Computer Science and Computer Unit have attended the talk.
  • [07 January 2012] Google Summer of Code introductory session, conducted by WSO2.
    Around 80 Computer Science students attended the session.
  • [Sep – Oct 2012] Guidance to prepare CV and mock Interviews were conducted by 99x Technologies to the final year students of the Department of Computer Science.
  • [08 December 2011] Sri Lanka Student Workshop on Computer Science (SL-SWCS’11)
    Faculty of Science, University of Jaffna.
  • [21-22 December 2010] ICIAfS 2010 Post Conference Workshop on ICT for Sustainability
    Faculty of Science, University of Jaffna.
  • [02 February 2010] Conference on Free and Open Source Software
    Faculty of Science, University of Jaffna.