The 12th Moratuwa Engineering Research Conference (MERCon 2026) was successfully held on 13 and 14 August 2026 at the University of Moratuwa, bringing together researchers, academics, industry professionals, and students to share the latest advancements in engineering research and innovation.
MERCon 2026 marked an important milestone with the conference receiving IEEE co-sponsorship. The conference attracted more than 700 submissions, with over 200 papers selected, presented, and published across 24 research tracks. Three distinguished keynote speeches were delivered by Associate Prof. Guohong Tian (University of Surrey, UK), Prof. Kasun Hewage (University of British Columbia, Canada), and Prof. Mahinda Vilathgamuwa (Queensland University of Technology, Australia).
A notable achievement of the conference was the success of students from the Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Moratuwa, who received Best Paper Awards in two research tracks. In the Sustainable Energy and Environment track, the award-winning paper, “Real-Time ML-Driven PV Array Reconfiguration for Improved Power Output under Partial Shading,” was led by Prof. J. P. Karunadasa, with students Dulan Bandara, Gethara De Alwis, and Kahandawa Arachchi K.A.M.N. In the Robotics and Intelligent Systems track, the award was received by G.N.K. Lakshitha, Vaishnavi Shanmugam, and V. Nilesh, under the supervision of K.A.T. Lasagani and Ravindu Bandara for the paper titled on “Lightweight CNN-Based Embedded System for Li-Ion Battery Fault Diagnosis”.
The conference was chaired by Prof. Lidula N. Widanagama Arachchige, with Dr. Rasara Samarasinghe serving as Organizing Committee Chair, both from the Department of Electrical Engineering. The conference concluded with a Gala Night at the Lotus Tower, bringing together participants and organizers to celebrate the success of MERCon 2026.
The achievements of the Electrical Engineering students further highlight the department’s commitment to high-quality research, innovation, and the development of solutions to emerging engineering challenges.
