Team:ULaval/Public Engagement
Public Engagement
Vision
Learning is at the heart of our iGEM project here at Laval University. Therefore, it’s a priority for us to impact the community around us and give them the ability to grasp any concept required to understand how A.D.N can change our world. In this alignment, we engaged to communicate to the next generation of young scientists.
Our modus operandi: Educate to empower.
Pint of Science
Pint of Science is a non-profit organization that promotes science and education by bringing scientists and students to local pubs. This festival started in the United Kingdom and has now become a worldwide event. This year, our iGEM team was selected by Pint of Science Canada to present our project on the 22nd of May 2019. We decided to present our 2018 iGEM project: AdrenaYeast. The main goal of this project was to engineer a strain of yeast to have it produce adrenaline, an essential drug that is currently in shortages in many countries. We also took the opportunity to explain what is meant by synthetic biology and what iGEM is. The presentation was a success and a lot of people were very surprised to see young students tackling those kinds of issues. One of the greatest opportunities that this event brings is the chance to discuss with people after the presentation (and have a pint with them). This way people can ask any questions they may have and get to know the members of our team. We hope to have inspired people and to have educated as many as possible on the future of science.
Le club des petits Débrouillards
Le club des petits Débrouillards is a STEM summer camp for kids that take place at Laval University.
To reach our goal of educating for empowering, we gave 6 presentations to youngsters aged 6 to 12 years. Those presentations aimed to give them the ability to grasp the concept of microbiology and to raise awareness of how diseases are transmitted. With this acquired knowledge, we were able to present more extensively our iGEM projects.
We were surprised how as young adults we can impact the next generation by engaging in this channel of communication
From this experience, we improved the way we reach out to kids and how we teach a complex subject like synthetic biology by developing a game that we presented to the STEM club at Morrin Centre in Québec City.
To improve on our previous experience we decided to develop a game since we knew that we learn more efficiently. Thus Expo-SynthBio was born. A strategic game for everyone that initiates their participant to notions of synthetic biology and the scientific method The game place the players in a minimalist version of the iGEM competition. This activity of 1 hour was able to emulate the experience we experience by participating in the iGEM competition, from finding a problem to fix and coming up with a solution through synthetic biology and engineering. The game asks the players to engineer a microorganism by drawing it and acquiring mutations through the exchange of fictive currency named "collabora-coin". The goal is to complete specific objectives in quest of fixing world problems.
Morrin Centre STEM club
We then expanded our reach by engaging with a more mature audience.
TEDxQuébec
We have been selected to be part of the 2019 edition of TEDxQuébec,an independently organized TED event. Two members were chosen as the team representatives to present our work. Since June 2019, we have participated in three coaching sessions with three communication mentors and seven other speakers. We were supposed to present on October 19, 2019. However, the organizing committee was forced to postpone the date to January 11, 2020.
This year’s theme? Imagine if... In our case, imagine if young people helped solve current and global problems by modifying life. In this talk, we approach synthetic biology in a simple way by comparing it to a cake recipe and highlight the benefits of genetic manipulation. We also promote the asset of good science communication to interest the general population. We hope to put aside the fear associated with the misunderstanding of new scientific advances.
Since we present in January, we don’t receive feedback from the audience. However, we learned a lot during the preparation process with coaches and other speakers. First, they were impressed with the work done by early-career scientists. They were also surprised to learn all the applications of synthetic biology in the energy, medical, food or environmental fields. They realized the benefits of genetic manipulation. We strongly believe that the reaction from the public will be the same on January 11th. Then, we developed better communication skills. The consistency of an idea, the importance of a guideline and vulgarization are examples. We definitely put into practice these new assets during our other presentations throughout the year.
This presentation will certainly have a positive impact on Quebec public opinion regarding synthetic biology. Indeed, very few scientists broadcast this unknown domain in Quebec, especially in the French language. The presentation will also be filmed and available on the Web. Therefore, we will reach French-speaking-Quebecer teenagers and adults with different backgrounds, an audience very distinct from usual. Thanks to the broadcast of our video, we could also be viewed in all other French-speaking countries.
