Team:BOKU-Vienna/Engagement

Education &
Public Engagement

Science.

it's a way of life, not just for scientists!

Our whole civilization is built on the premises of science. Everywhere we go, we encounter its legacy that shaped today's society. And still, even nowadays, it is confronted with scepticism and wariness by some people. Therefore, the only solution to this problem is to promote science and engage more fully with the public. A well-informed public guarantees for a flourishing future while also preventing any misinformation to be spread. Keeping the public in the dark about scientific aspirations and progress may relieve scientists of the burden to translate their complex work into transparent information, but ultimately doesn't benefit anyone. Public engagement serves as a beneficial way to communicate with the public on scientific issues, bidirectionally. And our team did just that by giving lectures at the "Kids' University", holding interviews at the Science March as well as presenting our project at various events where questions from the audience were also answered.

Our reports regarding these matters can be found below.

Education.

Junge Uni FH Krems 2017

Nature as a box of Lego bricks: Synthetic Biology
“Did you ever think, that laboratory experiments in biology could be like building with Lego bricks? Or that you could produce medicine with bacteria and thereby heal diseases? Or that you could alter bacteria in a way that they like to eat plastic? In this lecture you can dip into the fascinating world of synthetic biology and learn how all that should work.”
This was the title and short description of our lecture for the Kids' university on 13th of July 2017 in Krems an der Donau, Austria. We were surprised and flattered that 85 smart children decided to happily participate in our lecture. Four members of our team – Isabella, Martin, Mathias and Melanie – shared their knowledge about synthetic biology with the keen lecture guests who were nine to thirteen years old. We tried our best filling one hour with basic explanations of synthetic biology and all that goes with it: We talked about different types of cells, explained that all living things share some common principles like DNA. After showing some informative videos and animations we gave a definition of synthetic biology and an overview about what can be done with its tools now and what could possibly be done in the future. We could tell that the kids were really fascinated by the topic, when they were able to ask any open questions. We realized, that those kids had a very unbiased and creative approach, as we tried to answer: “Could you modify the genes of a person in a way that they could breathe in space?” or “Could you alter somebody genetically so that they can have gills?”. As a fun closing exercise we decided to fold an origami DNA strand with the our small students. To sum up, we enjoyed passing on our knowledge to young, interested individuals. Looking into their beaming eyes when they were asking questions told us our attempt was a success.

Our Team.

Over 80 kids attended.

Folding DNA strands.

Public Engagement.

Science March

On the 22nd of April we hit the streets to protest for science as part of the ‘March for Science’! Science as one of the keystones of a modern society does not only follow us in our daily routine as scientists, it also guides mankind to a better future. In times of alternative facts and the fear of chemtrails, it is our duty to stand up for valid and verifiable research. Before the march started, there was a "Science Picnic" where we had the chance to talk to other protestants about our project ideas and iGEM.

Interview with the organisers of "Vienna March for Science"

One hour later we enthusiastically started marching together with the other science supporters!

Some teammembers marching for science.

Rare snapshot of an allosaurus.

Spritzerstand

To inform our fellow students and friends about our work, we organized a "Spritzerstand". We had a good time discussing our project and also raised some money.

Our charming team.

I'm feeding on money. #moneyauxotroph

Enjoying a cold Spritzer on the terrace.

Muthgassen Sommerfest

Summer is here, let's give a big cheer! Our Team celebrated the beginning of summer by selling home-baked cakes and coffee at the "Muthgassen Sommerfest" where we were able to raise some money for our project. Here are a few shots that captured the good atmosphere of that evening.

Presenting our project.

Selling home-baked cakes.

So many people came to our cake inauguration!
Many more than last year's cake inauguration!

Another iGEM Team?

Only two Austrian iGEM Teams are participating in the Giant Jamboree 2017? We want to change that! Therefore we are giving a lecture at the IMC University of Applied Sciences on 2nd of November, 2017. Bachelor as well as Master Students of the Life Science program in Krems have a practical training semester integrated in their curriculum. We will pass on what we have learned about the iGEM competition and also share our project idea and implementation with them. The goal is to get some students inspired so they will use their practical training semester to start their very own project and participate in the Giant Jamboree 2018!