ER Pitch

And that's a wrap!

The “Nurdle Clean Up”, beach cleanup programme was successfully conducted on the 17th of June 2022 at the Mount Lavania beach with the collaborative effort of the ER Pitch of University of Colombo, MAS Active, the Pearl Protectors and the Rotaract Club of Royal Institute, Colombo.

More than a year has passed since the MV X-press Pearl contaminated our ocean and beaches.
Yet within a short span of time, our collective efforts yielded in 4.15 kg of nurdles and 26 kg of polythene, glass and plastic waste.

Small efforts, therefore, sum up to enormous results!
Catch a glimpse of how the clean up went!

According to The Guardian, nurdles are the worst toxic pollutant one can possibly hear about. Billions of nurdles pollute the ocean every day. As a responsible organization which is highly focused on environmental protection, ER pitch of University of Colombo joins hands with MAS Active, Pearl Protectors and Rotaract club of Royal Institute, Colombo for a Nurdle Clean Up in the Mount Lavinia Beach on 17th June 2022 from 1pm to 4pm.

All the environmental enthusiasts are invited and please confirm your participation by filling out the below form:

https://forms.gle/zLj51U2uRxoz1foN6

Join us on Friday 2pm!

Prof. Luís Mário Ribeiro, a Senior Researcher at the Forest Fire Research Centre, Univ. of Coimbra, Portugal (www.adai.pt/ceif) will be the speaker at the next edition of the Ministry of Nerds Seminar this Friday (8th April) at 2.00 pm.

Prof. Ribeiro has a degree in Forestry from the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (1998) in Vila Real (Portugal), where he finished a post-graduation in Forest Resources Engineering in 2002. His areas of expertise include fires at the wildland urban interface, fuel management, decision support systems and safety standards and rules in the firefighting. He has a vast experience in National and International research projects and published extensively in Portugal and abroad.

Here’s the title of the seminar:
“Forest fires and the Wildland Urban Interface: fire behaviour, safety and lessons learned in Portugal”

Short abstract:
One of the major motivations behind the vast activity of the Forest Fire Research is the possibility of contributing to the safety of everyone that could face a forest fire. That includes firefighters, but also common citizens, that are often exposed to this threat. The knowledge about fire behaviour is crucial to fire management, in all its stages, as well as to promote fire safety, and that is one of the strong key points of our team. In more recent years, wildfire threat has been increasing in the so-called wildland urban interface, and we have been strengthening this area of research, so that our contribute to society can help mitigate the losses in human lives and structural assets. This lecture will present some of the main concepts concerning fire behaviour, fire safety and fire at the wildland urban interface.

Date / Time: Friday 8th April at 2.00pm
Zoom Link: https://learn.zoom.us/j/64852063223?pwd=K2hud0JCdDAzMDE4elh0S2FvcWJYQT09
Meeting ID: 648 5206 3223
Passcode: Y.sNd60p

See you on Friday at 2pm!

Disasters have become a common term we hear these days and they seem to be increasing at an alarming rate ⛈️. Understanding the severity of these disaster events, ER Pitch , the official research initiative of Prof Deepthi Wickramasinghe, is organizing the Pre-conference webinar, Building Resilience Together for ICMAS 2021 which will be held on 23rd November 2021 from 11.30 am to 2.00pm (IST) via ZOOM.

Join us in this worthy cause of spreading awareness on disaster preparedness and resilence building ✊🏻. Please register today itself via the following link:

https://forms.gle/4aWro9mgEJeJtpYg9

It will be an event which you definitely do not want to miss!! 🌿🌷

Today marks the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction!

It is a day dedicated to celebrate the disaster risk reduction initiatives taken by developing countries as well as to promote a disaster risk reduction culture in the global context.

This year's International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction celebrations will be based on Target F of the "Sendai Seven Campaign'' on the theme of "Only together can we save our planet".

The celebrations hope to be a platform for advocating international cooperation in disaster risk reduction in developing countries with a special focus on challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

ER Pitch proudly invites you to join the Women Sustainability Forum 2021 which is held virtually on 10th November 2021 at 6pm AEST. Here, two of our members will be presenting:

1) Prof Deepthi Wickramasinghe - SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation
2) Ms. Vihanga Amarakoon- SDG 15: Life on Land

Register today at: https://events.humanitix.com/women-sustainability-forum-2021
Registration is free for students!

For more details visit: https://www.womensustainability.forum/

Women Sustainability Forum Ewisely Sri Lanka

Thambapanni or the Land of coppery sands are synonyms for our island Sri Lanka. 💛
As the name suggests, sand is a natural resource that has a deep connection with the history of our country.

Professor Deepthi Wickramasinghe was a speaker at the ‘Equity, Ecosystems and Scarcity- The Global Sand crisis and Infrastructure (Infrastructure and Nature Coalition)’ event organized by the IUCN World Conservation Congress and provided an elaborate insight on managing the demand and the sustainable use of sand natural resource in infrastructure. 🏘️

As members of Professor Wickramasinghe’s lab, the ER Pitch, we extend our congratulations to Professor Deepthi Wickramasinghe for representing the Faculty of Science, University of Colombo and for the successful and insightful talk! 👏