Moratuwa Engineering Research Conference abbreviated as MERCon is the international conference organized by the Engineering Research Unit (ERU) of the University of Moratuwa. MERCon is an international multidisciplinary engineering research conference, which solicits research papers describing significant and innovative research contributions to all aspects of engineering. MERCon 2018 was the fourth edition of the international conference organized by the ERU. ERU Symposium, the predecessor of MERCon, has 20 years of history as the Annual Symposium on Research for Industry. Till 17th symposium, presentations were based on a review of the abstracts only. 18th and 19th symposia were advanced as the National Engineering Research symposium with full paper submissions. With lessons learned, the 20th ERU symposium was transformed as the MERCon 2015 to publish peer-reviewed research papers from international authors.
MERCon 2018 was jointly organized by the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka; ERU; and IEEE student branch of University of Moratuwa. It is co-sponsored by the IEEE, IEEE Sri Lanka Section, and Sri Lanka Section chapters of IEEE Power and Energy Society (PES) and IEEE Robotics and Automation (RA) Society. Faculty of Engineering and Faculty of Graduate Studies of the University of Moratuwa, National Science Foundation, and Würth Elektronik, India provided financial assistance to MERCon 2018.
Keynote speeches were delivered by Prof. Kazuo Kiguchi, Kyushu University, Japan; Prof. Sudharman K. Jayaweera, University of New Mexico, USA; Dr. Priyantha Wijayatunga, Asian Development Bank, Philippines; and Dr. Sandun Perera, University of Michigan, USA. Moreover, eight workshops are hosted by both local and international researchers and industry experts.
MERCon 2018 received 196 submissions, and after the peer-review process, 108 papers were accepted for the presentation with an acceptance rate of about 55%. All accepted and presented papers of MERCon 2018 were submitted for publication to the IEEE Xplore. The conference included 18 technical tracks on Big Data, Machine Learning, and Cloud Computing; Biomedical Engineering and Instumentation; Chemical and Process Engineering; Civil and Environmental Engineering; Electronics, Control, and Instrumentation; Energy and Environmental Engineering; Engineering Mathematics & Statistics; Image, Vision, and Signal Processing; Materials Science and Engineering; Mechanical Engineering Systems; Micro/Nano Electro Mechanical Systems, Mechatronics, and Micromechatronics; Mining and Earth Resources Engineering; Power Systems, Electrical Machines, and High Voltage Engineering; Robotics and Control; Software Engineering; Technology Management; Textile and Apparel; and Transport and Logistics.
In addition to the main conference, MERCon also co-hosted the “ERU Symposium” – MERCon’s predecessor aimed at stimulating and fostering student research through the publication of peer-reviewed extended abstracts.
5th Edition of MERCon will in June 2019. See MERCon website for details.