Team:NAWI Graz/Public Engagement
Public Engagement
Beer and Mead Stand
Summertime is the perfect season for drinking beer and wine in Graz - but true to our slogan there was mead and of course, we offered beer for all friends of an after-work beer. The honey wine from South Tyrol was enjoyed until the last drop. It was one of the first really warm summer evenings of 2019 and it was a great experience for our team to organize such an event.
Thanks to all who came and made this evening so special.
Day of Sustainability - TU Graz Day of Sustainability - TU Graz
On 5th June 2019, a celebration was held on the Day of Sustainability at the University of Technology of Graz. For this purpose,
numerous topic stands were set up on the university campus for lectures and podium discussions, but there were also stands for food and drinks.
The iGEM NAWI Graz team prepared for all the guests a huge cooking pot full of Chili sin Carne and as a side Lepinje breads. It was a big success and also a great insight into the sustainability movement and research in Graz.
Visit at the high school HAK Wolfsberg
One week before the summer holidays for the students in Austria start, our iGEM team visited a high school and presented our project to the students.
The students could dive a little bit into the world of science, especially molecular biology by isolating DNA from tomatoes. We also tried to clarify some of the negative prejudices about GMOs and explained to the students that GMOs are not only used in food but also in other areas like medicine. We had a great time standing on the other side of the classroom and getting into the teacher role.
The whole iGEM Team NAWI Graz would like to thank HAK-Wolfsberg for their warm welcome and for hosting us!
Upper Austrian Achievement Award 2019
One of our team members, Alexander Fürlinger, applied for the Upper Austrian "OÖ Leistungspreis 2019" award in the category Science and Education and our project won the 3rd price. He was awarded the prize for being part of our iGEM team and our striking work on protecting bees.
The Upper Austrian "OÖ Leistungspreis 2019" award focuses on young talents who are highly motivated and will have an impact on the future of our society. The price was initiated by the Upper Austrian Secretary of Economics Markus Achleitner and tax accountant Mag. Markus Raml, to show society that there are engaged and motivated people who want to change the world for the better. This year’s award was run under the motto “Starke Leistung. Unsere Zukunft. - Going Europe“ which translates to “Big Achievements. Our Future”. Under this motto, the emphasis of the event was to consolidate the position of Upper Austria as one of Europe’s top economic regions and to promote young people who are a part of this economic growth. http://www.ooe-leistungspreis.at/bildung-wissenschaft/ !!LInk
Presentation of our Project at the School of Beekeeping in Graz
Felix Schweigkofler and Sebastian Modl presented our project at the School of Beekeeping in Graz on September 25th. We were overwhelmed with the number of beekeepers that came from all over Styria to our presentation at the School of Beekeeping in Graz. That already showed us how urgent the need of such a biosensor in fact is. The people were deeply interested in our project and at the end of the presentation the discussion was very interactive and we can definitely say it was worth doing the presentation. This evening we had the opportunity to not only talk to one but numerous beekeepers of which some, unfortunately, have already been affected by the American foulbrood. These beekeepers are very important for our project because they already have a lot of practical knowledge which is crucial for the biosensor.
Presentation of our Project and Introduction in Beekeeping at the University of Graz
On October 10th we had an event at the University of Graz called “Introduction in Beekeeping”. Our guest lecturer Mrs. Mag. Birgit Esterl from School of Beekeeping in Graz taught us about the most common diseases that bees could get and how to start with beekeeping. She also explained the financial situation for beekeepers and that professional beekeepers see a problem in doing beekeeping as a hobby because that decreases the price of honey drastically.
Mr. Werner Schuster, a beekeeper from Lower Austria came all the way to Graz to share his passion for beekeeping with us.
He gave us an insight into the life of a professional beekeeper and that beekeeping is not only harvesting honey but also processing the wax. After our two guest lecturers, we explained iGEM and we also talked about our project. At the end of the presentation, we had an open discussion with the students.
We would like to thank the University of Graz for providing the classroom and also the guest lecturers Mag. Birgit Esterl and Werner Schuster for your interesting presentations.
Newspaper Articles about our Project
To make the public aware of the colony collapse disorder but also of our project we contacted some newspaper agencies. Articles were published in some local newspapers like “Meine Woche Graz-Umgebung Nord“ (16.10.2019), “Der Weststeirer” (16.10.2019), “Unterkärntner Nachrichten” (16.10.2019) and “Der Kärtner Bauer” (16.10.2019) but even in the “Kleinen Zeitung” (22.06.2019) which is distributed throughout Austria. Besides Austria the newspaper “Südtiroler Landwirt” (13.09.2019) in South Tyrol wrote an article about us. Moreover, we had an article published in the “Biene aktuell” (09.09.2019) which is a newspaper for beekeepers. The article in “Biene aktuell” was very important for the project because it included a survey for beekeepers which was filled out by 76 people.
- Biene aktuell 09.09.2019
- Südtiroler Landwirt 13.09.2019
- Kleine Zeitung 22.06.2019
- Meine Woche Graz-Umgebung Nord 16.10.2019
- Der Weststeirer 16.10.2019
- Unterkärntner Nachrichten 16.10.2019
- Der Kärtner Bauer 16.10.2019