In December 2020, the Cameroon Academy of Young Scientists (CAYS) and the Institute of Medical Research and Medicinal Plants Studies (IMPM) organised the first edition of a scientific eloquence competition called “Three minutes to convince CAYS”. This competition was held under the patronage of the Ministry of Scientific Research and Innovation (MINRESI) in Cameroon and with the guidance of the Cameroon Academy of Sciences (CAS). This platform therefore offered to young researchers an opportunity to: i) participate in a capacity-building workshop in scientific communication, ii) popularize research results, and iii) convince or evoke the interest of potential collaborators, funders, decision-makers to contribute towards the valorisation of research results.
The competition consisted of a 3-minutes presentation in the English or French language using one PowerPoint slide which best reflects the results of the research of the candidate. The aim was for the candidates to convince the audience on the results, the impact, the popularisation as well as the innovativeness of their research which have to be in direct concordance with the national priorities as written in Projet de Stratégie Nationale de Développement 2020 of Cameroon. This was an opportunity to convince non-scientific audiences from politics, funding organisations and the public that scientists are contributing with their research to the development according to national priorities.
About 80 participants from different research Institutes under the MINRESI were present, and 25 candidates were pre-selected from the listed institutes for the final session.
