Competition/Team Requirements

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1. Team Requirements

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Below are the 2017 team requirements for participating in the iGEM Competition. If you have any questions about these requirements, please email us at hq AT igem DOT org.

    1.1 Composition

    iGEM teams consist primarily of undergraduate students at an accredited college or university. Teams may also be composed of high school students or community lab members.

    Important: The Team Roster on your Team Profile page should be filled out as early as possible. This can be an ongoing process as some team members and advisors are added or removed, but it should be filled in to the best of your ability on the same day that you register your team. This gives iGEM HQ information about number of participants for the 2017 season and also gives HQ the contact information for the entire team. Team rosters should be finalized by the Team Roster Freeze, as only approved team members will receive a participation certificate.


    1.2 Team Kind

    In iGEM 2017, teams will register as one of three team "kinds", and each kind will have different team role requirements for the "Primary and Secondary PI" role. The rest of the roles are the same throughout the team kinds. The three team kinds are:

      1. Collegiate: Teams consist primarily of collegiate students. You may also have postgraduate students and/or high school students on the team.
      2. High School: Teams consist of only high school students and students who will graduate high school in 2017. High School teams compete with other High School teams in the High School Track and Section.
        • Please see 1.3 below for the definition of the Primary and Secondary PI for High School Requirements.
      3. Community Lab: Teams consist of members of a community lab. This can include anyone. Community Lab teams compete with Collegiate teams in the Traditional and Special Tracks and in the Undergraduate and Overgraduate Sections based on the team members' ages.
        • Please see 1.3 below for the definition of the Primary and Secondary PI for Community Lab Requirements

    1.3 Roles

    Similar to sports teams, team members have different roles and responsibilities on a team:

    • Students = Team player brainstorm, choose, and execute project idea; students are also responsible for documenting their work

    • Primary and Secondary PI = General manager individuals in a position of authority (ex: in a university setting, he/she is authorized to have lab space, grants, and hiring privileges) who are responsible for team registration, team roster, safety forms, and team fees.
      • Collegiate teams must have at least one professor serve as a PI, with the other PI a post-doc or above.
      • High School teams must have the principal or teacher as one of the PIs, and this individual must have signing authority at the high school.
      • Community Labs must have the director of the community lab as one PIs.

    • Instructor = Head coach provides day-to-day support

    • Student team leader = Team captain point of contact between team, PI, and iGEM HQ

    • Advisor = Assistant coach provides supplementary support

      • Role Details

      Below are more details for each Team Role. Please read through each role carefully and email us at hq AT igem DOT org with any questions.

        Student role and requirements

        Student team members brainstorm project ideas, choose a project idea, and build and test their chosen biological system. Students are also responsible for documenting their work.

        • Every student team member must do the following by the Team Roster Freeze:
          • have an iGEM user account
          • enter their age information
          • join the online team roster
        • Undergraduate and Overgraduate teams have age restrictions for the student team members.


        Primary and secondary principal investigator (PI) role and requirements

        Principal investigators (PIs) are individuals in a position of authority (ex: in a university setting, he/she is authorized to have lab space, grants, and hiring privileges) who are responsible for the team. This includes the official team registration, the team roster, certifying the safety form, payment of the team’s fees, and any other official aspect of the team. Team PIs provide guidance and support throughout the season, including assistance with fundraising, lab support, and help with school bureaucracy and regulations. PIs should plan on accompanying the team to the Giant Jamboree in November. The team PIs serve as the official points of contact for iGEM Headquarters; both PIs must be able to receive emails / phone calls from iGEM HQ, and respond promptly. Each team must have at least two PIs (primary and secondary).

        • Both the primary and secondary PIs must:
          For High School teams, one of the team PIs must be either a principal or teacher.

          • For Community Lab teams, one of the team PIs must be the director of the community lab.
          • High School teams and Community Lab teams are not required to have a professor as one of their team PIs, but can if they want to.


        Instructor role and requirements

        Team instructors provide day-to-day support for the team, and are aware of team activities and experimental plans.

        • Instructors must:


        Advisor role and requirements

        Team advisors include graduate students, post-graduate students, post-docs, and/or technicians who support the team.

        • Advisors must:


        Student team leader role and requirements

        Student team leaders serve as the team's point of contact between the team and iGEM Headquarters. You may nominate up to two student team leaders per team, but we do require at least one person to be listed.

        • Student team leaders must:


    1.4 Sections

    There are three team sections in iGEM 2017:

    1. Undergraduate: all student team members are age 23 or younger on March 31, 2017
    2. Overgraduate: one or more student team members are older than 23 on March 31, 2017
    3. High School: all student team members are high school students on March 31, 2017; includes students who graduate from high school spring 2017
      Constraints
      • If your team has student members who are university students, age 23 or younger on March 31, 2017, your team is in the Undergraduate section.
      • If your team has one or more student members who are university students over the age of 23 on March 31, 2017, your team is in the Overgraduate section.
      • If your team has student members who are high school students on March 31, 2017, your team is in the High School section. This includes students who graduate from high school in spring 2017.

      All teams, regardless of their section, have the opportunity to participate in the 2017 Giant Jamboree - it will be the same event for all 3 sections.

      Note: Your team's section will be calculated automatically by the iGEM software based on the ages of the student members on your team roster. Be sure to include ages for all student team members, otherwise the system will default to placing your team in the Overgraduate section even if you are an Undergraduate team.


    1.5 Recommendations

    Based on previous competitions, we also strongly recommend the following:

    • Teams should have between 8 and 15 student team members.
    • Teams with more than 15 student team members should consider splitting into two teams and taking advantage of the multiple team discount. This also gives a larger team adequate wiki space and presentation time to cover the work generated by more team members.
    • Teams should be a gender-balanced team, and having approximately as many women as men on a team.