Team:BGIC-Global/Public Engagement
Public Engagement
We were heavily involved in public engagement throughout the entire project. We believe that public engagement is equally important as what we do in the lab. In order to generate funds for publicizing our project and covering the fees for collaborating with other teams, we participated in a crowd-funding competition, developed our own WeChat Official account, and underwent educational lectures at various schools. Also, we provided platform during Eurasian Meetup to introduce iGEM competition and synthetic biology for people over the world through live streaming.
Crowd-Funding Competition
During the Annual High School Clubs Crowd-Funding Competition, BGIC-Global raised the top among other 15 clubs and teams in China. We gained 13000 RMB total, and the organization who created this event interviewed us on WeChat Official Account. The funds we raised were used to purchase snacks and commodities, which were used at the EurAsian Meetup.
WeChat Official Account
We have published articles about our iGEM in WeChat and there are 400 views per article on average. First, we introduced our project. Formaldehyde has plagued many people so we try to use E.coli to detect and eliminate formaldehyde. Second, we talked about our partner–TU Delft. Third, We also conducted public funding through the Internet and organized a meetup with the funds raised. Forth, the Eurasian meetup is the first meetup between Asia and Europe. It was a large-scale academic exchange and we learnt a lot. Everyday after the meetup, we posted an article on the Official Account to inform others about this amazing event. We also posted an educational article about information of formaldehyde such as basic regulations in China, how to detect it and how to remove it.
Eurasian Meetup
This year, BGIC-Global and TU Delft iGEM organized the first Eurasian Meetup at Shenzhen Yantian Senior High School. We invited guests from scientific, industrial, ethical spectrums to give their speeches. Moreover, we provided live streaming globally in order to share insights and information about iGEM and synthetic biology with people who are interested in this field.
Communication with third-party organization
We put importance in the information we give to the public. When making the “formaldehyde manual”, we inquired a famous formaldehyde-detecting-and-removing institution called “DaddyLab”. We acquire information regarding the amount of households that contain formaldehyde in China, as well as the percentage of children who gets leukemia. The institution shows a strong correlation between getting leukemia and living in formaldehyde-infected households. We took the information from the institution, and put them on our manual.
Education
This year, we heavily participated in education of formaldehyde as well. By writing article on our WeChat Official Account, we gained more than 200 viewers. Creating and distributing handbooks gave teachers and students more understanding about the harm of formaldehyde. Moreover, the recording and editing bio-safety video during the Eurasian Meetup collected people's various opinions and also experts' professional insights to widen our horizon in this field.
Formaldehyde Article on WeChat Official Account
In order to raise more awareness regarding formaldehyde, we published an article on our WeChat Official Account. This article contains the basic information of formaldehyde, introduction of popular removing and detecting products, and the national control of formaldehyde. At the end of the particle, we posted our results of the survey and indicated our own project and advantages. We got some positive feedbacks from the readers, and some of them said they are excited to use our product!
Education about Formaldehyde at Various Schools
We have made a formaldehyde handbook in Chinese and English versions and distributed them in our high schools in China and the United States. The handbook is about some harm of the formaldehyde and some statistics on formaldehyde in China. The purpose for making this handbook is to educate other students and teachers about formaldehyde.