This year, as part of the 5th World Congress of Latvian Scientists, eight PhD students and scientific degree applicants, who had passed a preliminary selection, took part in the "Science Slam" or science research presentation understandable to a non-expert audience. During a two-minute presentation, participants explained their research in simple language.
The young scientists’ presentation was judged on three criteria: the scientific quality and novelty of the research, the significance and impact of the research, and the originality of the presentation. Doctoral students were judged both by a five-member jury and by the audience, whose vote was equated to one jury vote.
Doctoral students and scientific degree applicants presented the audience with research in areas such as energy communities; nanosensors for biomedicine; narrator credibility and persuasiveness in the context of climate change; plant fingerprints; prostate cancer as a painless future; studying spiders in swamps; the impact of diversity on Latvia’s economy and, finally, healthy ageing.
The Science Slam winners were awarded at the end of the Congress. There were four winners, and one of them was a research assistant from ISSP UL’s Laboratory of Spectroscopy. All laureates were awarded a paid trip to an international conference, congress, or symposium.
The World Congress of Latvian Scientists has been held in Latvia since 1991, and four congresses have been held so far, which have gathered many participants from Latvia and abroad. The main goals of the congress are to provide an opportunity to exchange opinions on current scientific problems, to build and strengthen contacts of Latvian scientists with Latvian scientists from various countries, and to draw the attention of the public, media and politicians to the importance of Latvian science and the work of scientists.
