Team:Bonn/Public Engagement
Restriction
Modules tested
Team Members
Meetings
Human Practices
Human practices or social outreach should be one of the primary pillars of each iGEM team, since without it an idea cannot spread. Without it you cannot motivate or inspire others to do bigger and greater things in science. Having a great idea without communicating it and learning from each other is not condusive towards innovation and therefore we took Human Practices into a special focus this year.
iGEM Bonn deliberated long on a plan to create social events to inspire and motivate and also educate. From science slams to school visits, continue reading to find out what we did to further understanding of science and synthetic biology for the general public.
School Visit
Tolerance comes from knowledge…
An important thing to know about science is that science is not only about working in a lab or creating of new concepts. Science means also discussion and education.
We at iGEM Bonn think that it is always important to involve all people in science and show them the various opportunities of science!
For that we had visited a German high-school-class and talked with students about synthetic biology and iGEM in general. Our goal was to arouse interest for our field of study as well to answer questions of the students.
We answered a lot of “classic” questions like “will designer-Babies exist soon?” “what is about genetically modified food?” but also talked with them about our own project.
We were surprised by the good but also critical questions and thoughts of the students. Most of them seemed to be very interested in the topic.
City Booth
It followed the setting up of our City Booth that occurred on the 8th of June in Bonn and lasted for seven hours. In this time frame, our team members were able to learn more about public perception of Synthetic Biology. Whether the view on this scientific topic was affirmative or dismissed, passengers were willing to fill out a survey which we designed and provided in order to keep a written record of different perspectives. Enjoyable and topic-related mini games were also a part of the booth. The decision for this substance was made due to the conviction that the thrilling characterization of scientific topics can also be a way to show that Synthetic Biology rather concludes information and logic than danger. The group of people who we reached out to would be made up of persons of different gender varying in age, education and occupation. Both a poster about Synthetic Biology and about our Optoplant project were shown for visual declaration.
Science Slam
To show the humorous side of science and to connect different fields of it, we once again hosted our annual Science Slam together with the CAESAR Institute of Bonn. We were very lucky to have seven slammers on stage, who showed us science from a different perspective with their talks and at the same time informed us about current research topics. The topics were broadly based, from oncology to plant physiology to even archaeology, we were enriched with profound insights. As much as we laughed, we were animated to rethink our positions on the addressed topics and issues. At the same, the event gave an opportunity to introduce our project to the public to gain opinions on it.
Survey
In order to improve our project, we worked close with society. Our team created a diverse survey in order to find out about the people´s hopes and dreams but also about concerns and fears when it comes to genetically modified organisms. Our survey addressed various people of all ages and from different institutions. For us it was especially, interesting to see what people think about OptoPlant. At every occasion we got even more people to fill out our survey. It was particularly interesting to see how young people at the school visit react to our project. We found out that especially young people are very open-minded when it comes to synthetic biology. We also found out that there are still some myths about synthetic biology in the people´s head. And that is why iGEM is that important! We want to learn more about synthetic biology ourselves but also we want to teach other people about the advantages of synthetic biology.
Future Visions
When the night falls, lighting stands among the most basic human needs. Lighting is a rapidly growing source of energy demand and is one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. Many rural areas of developing countries suffer from a lack of efficient lighting energy. Only a small percent of the population in developing countries has access to electric lighting and the rest use fuel-based lighting for basic light need such as kerosene, diesel, propane, candles, grass and wood, flashlights with disposable batteries, and even discarded tire rubber. People living in developing countries, rural areas and areas with difficult access to electricity can benefit from our project: bioluminescent plants. The glowing plants can be a cheap alternative to a flashlight and fuel-powered lanterns. The glowing plants can substitute streetlights so that it will conserve electricity and create a safer environment for people to travel at night. It can empower education by offering lighting for students to study at night which in turn will liberate people from poverty and be a source of economic development for developing countries. For areas where there is no sufficient water source to water the plants, we envisioned to engineer plants like succulents to glow. Our goal is to lay the groundwork so that in the future, bigger and brighter plants can be engineered to glow. This could be an incentive for people to plants more trees. With bioluminescent plants, we wish to familiarize people with synthetic biology. We hope our project can provide eco-sustainable lighting that requires no electricity and consume carbon dioxide rather than consume it.