CONFERENCE ON FUNDING MECHANISMS FOR KEY OVERARCHING SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH PROJECTS IN CAMEROON

Within the framework of equipping research institutes and researchers with skills in obtaining funds for scientific research projects from International organisations, the Minister of Scientific Research and Innovation, Dr Madeleine TCHUINTE organized a conference on the theme “Funding mechanisms for key overarching scientific research projects“, on December 3 2024. The conference which took place in the conference hall of MINRESI was chaired by the Secretary General of MINRESI, Professor EBELLE ETAME Rebecca Madeleine on behalf of the Minister who was unavoidably absent. Amongst the participants were Directors of the Central Administration of MINRESI, General Managers of research institutes and researchers.

The conference started with a welcome address from the Secretary General of MINRESI, followed by a detail presentation of the keynote speaker, Professor AWONO ONANA Charles who is a finance, research & innovation consultant and has also headed several top reasearch and academic institutions in the country, notably the National Advanced School of Engineering Polytechnic, Yaounde. He has also worked with international organisations such as the World Bank and the African Development Bank. In his keynote presentation, Professor Awono demonstrated that the Ministry of Scientific Research and Innovation has a key role to play in ensuring the economic development of Cameroon. He emphasized on the reorganization of ministry in order to enable it functions at its full capacity.

Professor AWONO elaborated on the different types of funding available from International organisations and the necessary conditions for benefitting from such funds, an aspect which was highly appreciated by the General Managers of research institutes. This conference comes at a time when the morals of Cameroonian researchers have been boosted with the recent decree from the Head of State, His Excellency Paul Biya, allocating research allowances to researchers. The keynote presentation was followed by a series of questions and appreciations from the participants, which were clarified by the keynote speaker.

In her closing remarks, the Secretary General on behalf of the Minister of Scientific Research and Innovation, expressed gratitude to the keynote speaker, Professor Awono Onana Charles for his brilliant presentation. She then disclosed that the Minister has instructed that the keynote presentation be sent to all the research institutes, who will in turn work closely with Professor Awono and present a project January 2025, alongside one or two projects which involves all the research institutes.