In this talk, we first present the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) which is the first Pan-African Network of Centre of Excellence in the domain of Mathematical Sciences, Research and Public Engagement, located in 5 African countries: South Africa, Ghana, Senegal, Cameroon and Rwanda. Then, we present its achievements in 20 years, a great contribution to the training of the next generation of leading African mathematical scientists. Finally, we provide information about the AIMS Centre in Cameroon and the areas of cooperation with partner universities including Austrian and German Universities.

International graduate schools like, e.g., the Berlin Mathematical School select their international scholars according to high quality criteria concerning not only grades but also proven experience in current mathematical research. Due to limited scientific communication and exchange between the Western world and the Global South, applications from Africa often turned out to have problems with the second point. To bring African students in touch with Western mathematical culture at an early age, the Young African Mathematicians (YAM) Program was initiated in 2021 at the Hausdorff Center for Mathematics (HIM) in Bonn by Franca Hoffmann in cooperation with the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS). In 2023 the program was extended to include the four mathematics-based clusters of excellence in Bonn, Münster, Berlin, and Heidelberg. Past, presence, and future perspectives of YAM fellowships will be discussed in this presentation.

This talk will discuss the experiences of the speaker over 15 years of mathematical adventures in Africa, and suggest some ways forward.

A round table discussion involving with panellists involving Japhet Odjoumani (Université d'Abomey-Calavi, Beni) and Rommel R. Realn (University of the Philippines, Mindanao)