Registration information
The registration fee covers registration and secretarial costs, access to the scientific sessions, tea breaks and lunches, a conference bag with the official MMM3 Abstract Book and relational items, and participation in the mid-conference excursion. Student presentations participate in a Best Student Presentation Award during which outstanding student contributions will be selected by a professional jury.
International participants
| In EUR | Industrialised country | Low income country | ||
| Student(MSc) | Researcher(PhD) | Student(MSc) | Researcher(PhD) | |
| Early bird(payment before 31/08/2011) | 250 | 350 | 150 | 250 |
| Normal(payment after 31/08/2011) | 350 | 450 | 250 | 350 |
| Late(payment from 01/02/2012) | 500 |
N.B. Accompagnying participants should register as a student.
Sri Lankan participants
Special rates apply for Sri Lankan participants from universities, governmental (GOV) and non-governmental organisations (NGO), private companies, and accompagnying persons :
| In EUR* | Academic | Non-academic | ||||
| Student(MSc) | Researcher(PhD) | GOV | NGO | private | accompanying | |
| Early bird(payment before 31/08/2011) | 60 | 90 | 120 | 150 | 180 | 120 |
| Normal(payment after 31/08/2011) | 90 | 120 | 180 | 210 | 240 | 180 |
| Late(payment from 01/02/2012) | 270 | |||||
| On-site registration** | 60 per day |
* To ease calculation 60 EUR ≈ 10000 LKR. This conversion rate will be applied for on-site payments.
** Conference bags are subject to availability for on-site registered participants.
Each of the mid-conference excursions is limited by a minimum and maximum number of participants.
1. Selected mangrove communities (lagoon, riverine, basin,…) of Galle-Unawatuna, Rekawa, Kahandamodara and Kalametiya incl. the SFFL Kiralakele Mangroves Resource Centre (“Sonneratia caseolaris juice centre”);
2. Udawalawe National Park, the Udawalawe Irrigation Scheme and its downstream mangrove lagoons;
3. Yala National Park and the mangrove of Palatupana Lagoon (if road conditions permit);
4. Ancient and recent tsunami-affected sites in the South of Sri Lanka and rehabilitation projects, incl. the SFFL Fiberboat Training Centre;
5. Rainforest at the Sinharaja Forest Reserve (if road conditions permit).
* SFFL = Small Fishers Federation of Lanka
1. 
2. 
3. 
4. 
5.
Conference dinner
On Thursday evening 5 July 2012 a conference dinner will be organised in a traditional Sri Lankan restaurant. The extra cost for this dinner is 40 EUR.
Conference registration form
Please complete the registration form discontinued] and send it to mmm@ulb.be. Presenting participants should subsequently send in their abstracts discontinued]. Depending on the number of submissions and on the available time slots the Organising Committee may decide to convert oral presentations into research highlight presentations or poster presentations. Research highlight presentations are pitching oral presentations of max. 5 minutes aiming at presenting research results in a to-the-point stimulating way (no questions time foreseen during this particular session).
Conference accommodation venues
The cost for accommodation is not included in the conference registration fee. The MMM3 Conference organisation has requested promotion offers for MMM3 participants in the 15 hotels below. Since not all hotels responded, we refer to the hotels themwelves for possible discounts.
Hotels in UNAWATUNA (at ca. 5 km from the conference venue) :
Unawatuna Beach Resort
Sun N Sea : http://www.sunnsea.net
Sanmira Renaissance : http://www.unawatunasanmirahotel.com
Cormaran Beach Hotel
Hotels in GALLE FORT (at ca. 6 km from the conference venue) :
Galle Fort is rather small in surface with many small colonial guest houses and B&Bs some of which are indicated below.
Please note that for the pick-up there will be one central place within the fort from where participants will be picked.
Rampart View Guest House : http://www.gallefortrampartview.com/accomodation.html
Fort Fifty Inn : http://www.fortfiftyinn.com/
Mango House
The Frangipani Tree
Leynbaan Villa
Beach Haven Guest House : http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g297896-d735865-Reviews-Beach_Haven_Guest_House-Galle_Galle_District.html
Thenu Rest Guest House : http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g297896-d1840341-Reviews-Thenu_Rest_Guest_House-Galle_Galle_District.html
Galle Fort Hotel : http://www.galleforthotel.com/
Hotels in KOGGALA (at ca. 11 km from the conference venue) :
Koggala Beach Hotel : http://www.koggalabeachhotel.com/
South Beach Resort : http://www.southbeachresort.net/
Pambala-Chilaw Lagoon Workshop
Participation in the mid-week workshop (9-13 July 2012) is not included in the conference registration fee. More information can be found here.
Pre- or post-conference touristic tours
Upon simple request the MMM3 conference secretariat may assist you to book your touristic tour of Sri Lanka. In 1 week to 10 days you can witness the beauty of Sri Lanka and visit the natural and cultural highlights of the island, incl. Colombo, Galle, Yala National Park, Ella, Nuwara Eliya, Horton Plains National Park, Peradeniya Botanical Gardens, Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage, Kandy, Dambulla, Sigiriya, Mihintale, Pollonnaruwa, Anuradhapura, and Negombo Lagoon (touristic beaches and mangroves near airport), as well as several traditional product factories such as that of Ceylon tea, spice gardens, and batik, gemstone and wood carving workshops (see suggested itinerary).
Practical Information
Financial support
We will have only limited funds available for financial support of participants from developping countries. Therefore, it is necessary that participants apply for financial support in their own country first. Invitation letters can be obtained for that purpose. Those who need funding may apply for a reimbursement of the registration fee and/or for part of the accommodation costs and/or for part of the travel costs. Delegates who wish to apply for financial support should send a letter to the MMM3 Conference Secretariat (mmm@ulb.be) explaining what kind of support is needed, and they should do so together with their registration form and abstract or at the very latest by the deadlines indicated below. The organizing committee will assign the available funds during two evaluations rounds (submissions by 31 August 2011 and submissions by 31 October 2011) and will inform the applicants as soon as possible. Note that there is no particular division key for the funds over both evaluation rounds and therefore the earlier you submit, the more chance you have to get funded. Funds will be payed at the conference.
Payment
Invoices/Receipts or their copies will be provided at the on-site registration desk during the conference at the latest. Please refer to the registration form discontinued] for more information about fees and please do not forget to send us the registration form.
International participants
On the following link international participants can select whether they will pay using credit card or international bank transfer. International participants are responible for selecting the corrrect fee according to their country of origin and status (student or researcher). Payments online can only be made on an individual basis using one of the two methods below (before 30 April 2012).
 | PAYMENT Please click here |
 By credit card (secured website) | By international bank transfer  |
Payments by international bank transfer must first be online registered through the above link. The receiver information you will need is :
MMM3 – Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Pleinlaan 2
B-1050 Brussels
Belgium
Bank : FORTIS Bank nv, Warandeberg 3B, B – 1000 Brussel
SWIFT-code (= BIC) : GE BA BE BB
Account : 001-3409575-04
IBAN : BE10 0013 4095 7504
with mentioning of the structured message of 12 digits indicated on the invoice you will receive shortly after registering(see also online procedure through the link above). Invocies are payable within 30 days.
Sri Lankan participants
Sri Lankan participants can choose to pay by bank transfer or on-site (cash).
Payments by bank transfer by Sri Lankan participants needs to be done before 30 April 2012. The Sri Lankan participants are required to contact the MMM3 secretariat to obtain an invoice and a structured message of 12 digits.
On-site payments are for Sri Lankan citizens only and can only be made cash. Please note that conference bags are subject to availability for on-site registering or paying participants. Therefore we recommend paying by bank transfer.
Invitation letters
After registration and payment of the fees (or before on request by students or researchers seeking financial support in their own country) the conference secretariat will send an invitation letter to the participant.
Passport and visa
Most foreign nationals need a visa to enter Sri Lanka. Please contact the nearest Sri Lankan Embassy or Consulate or check the website of the Sri Lankan Department of Immigration and Emigration.
How to go from Colombo airport to Galle ?
Bandaranayake International Airport (“Colombo Airport”) is located next to Negombo, 40 kms North of Colombo. Galle is located 120 kms South of Colombo. So the total distance between the airport and Galle is about 120 kms (not close !).
Travel options from Bandaranayake International Airport to Galle are as follows (indicative prices are mentioned Sri Lankan Rupees):
1. There is a bus service from Bandaranayake International Airport to Colombo Central Bus Station. From the Colombo Central Bus Station one has to take a bus to reach Galle. A bus from Bandaranayake International Airport to Colombo Central Bus Station would charge for baggage, the same as for a person. One ticket would cost about 50 LKR (taxi from the Bandaranayake International Airport to Colombo Central Bus Station is around 3000 LKR).
2. From Colombo Central Bus Station to Galle there are three types of buses – normal, semi luxury and Air Conditioned. Charges (from Colombo to Galle) are around 100 LKR for a normal bus (add 50% for semi luxury, though you may not see much difference with normal, and add 100% for Air Conditioned. The public transport from Colombo Central Bus Station to Galle will take about 2.30 to 3.00 hrs.
3. A taxi service is also available at the Bandaranayake International Airport. The charges are fixed and you have to enquire at the airport. Except for a tip to the driver (about 500 LKR but not fixed), it costs approximately 12000 LKR to reach Galle (about 60 LKR/km).
4. From Galle bus station to hotels in the Fort should not cost more than 100 LKR, whereas to Unawatuna should not be more than 300 LKR.
How to go from Galle to the Conference venue ?
The conference venue is Koggala Beach Hotel. Any tuc-tuc (three-wheeler) driver can take you there. It is about 8 km south of Unawatuna and 15 km south of Galle Fort.
Currency and exchange
The Sri Lankan national currency is the Sri Lankan Rupee (LKR). The exchange rate on 1 June 2012 was :
| 1 EUR = | 163.56 LKR |
| 1 GBP = | 204.30 LKR |
| 1 USD = | 132.09 LKR |
| 1 AUD = | 128.43 LKR |
For other and more recent currency rates see www.oanda.com.