The opening ceremony of the Asian Alliance Universities Youth Forum was held on 25th Nov 2019 at the UCSC auditorium. The participants were warmly welcomed by handing a beetle leaf to symbolize Sri Lankan traditions. Prof. Chandrika Wijeyaratna, the Vice chancellor of the University of Colombo addressed the gathering extending her welcome to the participants which was then followed by the opening remarks delivered by Dr. Chathuranga Ranasinghe, the chairperson of AUAYF. The keynote speech on “Introduction to health and wellbeing” was delivered by Dr. Olivia Nieveras (The acting WHO Representative to Sri Lanka).
An Ice breaker activity was conducted to enhance the interaction and bonding between the participants from different nations. After the lunch, the sessions on mental health were conducted by Prof. Priyanjali De Soyza. The participants were mixed up into 6 groups and were asked to do group presentations on different aspects of mental health.
The last session for the day was on Cyber age and for that a panel discussion was conducted by 3 eminent panelist; Prof. Priyanjali De Zoyza, Mr. Jayantha Fernando and Dr. Kasun De Zoyza.