Team:Edinburgh/Human Practices/Outreach

Outreach

We are all very happy to have become members of an iGEM team, but many bright people around the world and even in Edinburgh are unaware of this amazing competition or of Synthetic Biology and Genetic Engineering at all. This is why we looked for as many opportunities to present these concepts to the target audience of other well-educated students, from diverse scientific backgrounds and nationalities.

SeMPowisko: an interdisciplinary student conference in Poland

25-26 May, 2013

Held in Jagiellonian University, Krakow for the 3rd consecutive year and organized by the Wheel of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, the SeMPowisko conference attracts over 50 university students, graduates and academics and focuses on emerging interdisciplinary sciences. Jan and Aleksandra gave a presentation called “Synthetic Biology: genetic engineering on steroids or something more?” discussing the technological and ideological background of Synthetic Biology. The summary of the talk will be available in a post-conference publication for a wider audience (ISBN: 978-83-7269-372-3).

Young Researchers’ Summer Camp (LJMS 2013) in Lithuania

21-25 August, 2013

The Young Researchers’ Summer Camp is an annual, government organized, conference styled summer camp for exceptional high school pupils, where they receive presentations and workshops by guest lecturers from various fields of study. They also have to perform quirky science experiments and present their findings. But also, students are housed next to a National Park and may spend their free time swimming in lakes, picking berries or playing volleyball.

Dainius assisted in managing LJMS and also visited the summer camp for 3 days. He gave a fun presentation of Synthetic Biology, iGEM and best and most interesting past year projects. Staying for several days allowed shyer students to ask their questions as well, giving Dainius’ presentation a 100% student satisfaction rating.

Career talks at the Edinburgh University Lithuanian Society

27 September, 2013

Organized for the 3rd consecutive year, this event attracts around 30 Lithuanian students from various disciplines and is a great opportunity to share and gain experience, useful contacts and application information. The majority of career events in Edinburgh University are dominated by the business and law sectors, therefore Dainius’ presentation, introducing Synthetic Biology and iGEM to this audience, was a great way of attracting the attention of humanities students and may provide useful if they want to join EdiGEM next year or in the future, once they become lawmakers. This is particularly relevant in the EU, where government policies are very strict towards the applications of Genetic Engineering.

Freshers’ Week presentation together with the Edinburgh University Synthetic Biology Society

13 Friday, 2013

Freshers’ Week is the best opportunity to attract the wider audience while students are open to more ideas than during the rest of the academic year. We cooperated with the Synthetic Biology society to present iGEM to the fresher community, some of which will hopefully grow to become future EdiGEM members!