Team:UI Indonesia/Public Engagement

EDUCATION AND PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT

Inspiration Booklet for future iGEM Team IHP

This year, UI IGEM Team provide simple yet feasible example for other developing countries in conducting their own public engagement. Thus, we conclude in one handbook. This handbook is addressed, but not limited, to multicultural society like Indonesia and/or other countries so that in the future, other team can use this handbook as a guidance and example benchmark to conduct human practice projects they are willing to make.

We are going to extra mile by visit Cikidang Village, high risk population living in rural areas, Sukabumi, Indonesia. Poor sanitation which make them vulnerable to diphtheria, isolated from other area (the only way to reach this village only by truck). We start teach them about the right steps to wash hands in keeping their hands free from bad-bacteria, build some lavatories and any sanitary facilitation. Moreover, not only reach Cikidang Villagers we also have community Visit to Pondok Cina, community who lives near railway. We also create campus campaign, A day with Diphthy, Poster Competiton, whole this effort created because we really hope it will enhance awareness to academic society, which this segmented still could be affected, as diphtheria could attack anyone.

Here is our journey to fight towards diphtheria: Human Practice Catalogue

4-8 June 2018

Building Community: KERSOS Community Outreach Journey to Cikidang Village

Cikidang Village, Sukabumi, Indonesia

Our first day we arrive to Cikidang Village by truck, all the villagers exciting to hear the upcoming activities for 4 days in their villages

One of the activities included health check-up, we get help from the doctor from Universitas Indonesia to check up their health, giving drugs if needed, and asking if their child already get vaccine.

Our team understands that the future implementation of Finding Diphty Project will need a real implementation from any society levels. Through KERSOS (community outreach to Cikidang Village), we are aiming to reach the grass-root level. This was 4 days emotional journey to reach this village. The only transportation to go to this village is by join the truck, because the pathway was terrible broken and muddy. We have mission to going to this place not only focusing on educating the people about diphtheria outbreak and our project, moreover we want to know about their health needs. From the insights, we understand how our project would affect the society’s life. Through KERSOS we also could build some lavatories and any sanitary facilitation for the villagers. We also patched stickers of the right steps to wash hands in every house to remind the villagers in keeping their hands free from bad-bacteria. Those was aimed to prevent and minimize the risk of diphtheria outbreak to happen in that location since diphtheria can caused by the bad quality of sanitation and health habits.

April 5th 2018 and 23th September 2018

Campus Campaign

Faculty of Public Health UI

Teaching the class of chemical engineering UI 2016 about synthetic engineering. The material we present made from collaboration between UI IGEM Team and NTU IGEM team.

In this campaign, our team brings up the diphtheria outbreak case to student who already understanding the basic of genetic engineering and ask their perspective with our project: how it works, how we make it, how it would impact the outbreak and society, and also the comparison to previous diagnostic method. We purposely give a deep explanation about Finding Diphty to the students so that they—as public and a risk population—can understand the solution and criticize our project. In the end of the session, we held a mini survey by giving them a questionnaire according to our project and their opinion and advice about it. On 14th September 2018, we did the same public campaign on Faculty of Engineering, what make its special, because this time, we collaborate with NTU IGEM team, to conduct survey and collaborate teaching.

March, 10th 2018

Community Visit to High Risk Population: Visit to Pondok Cina.

Pondok Cina, Wast Java

Community Visit to Pondok Cina.

Pondok Cina is community who live near railway in West Java, Indonesia which mostly consist people who coming from grassroot society. Around 12 diphtheria cases detected on Depok from range Oktober-December 2017. Diphtheria cases mostly coming from grassroot community. Unhealthy lifestyle and poor sanitation become major factor for this outbreak. on this community. This event created to testing how aware people who live in Pondok Cina about diphtheria illness and its outbreak. Most people still not getting vaccine, even after the outbreak. From this problem we continue the activity by socialize them about how important we’re to get vaccine and see their feedback toward Diphthy project.

February 28th– March 3th 2018

Biosafety and Biosecurity Training and Certification

Institute of Human Virology and Cancer Biology (IHVCB), Faculty of Medicine, University of Indonesia

One of biosafety lesson, Technique risk management for liquid spill in lab

Universitas Indonesia (UI) Team IGEM 2018 attend a 4 days series of Biosafety & Biosecurity training and certification at IHVCB to ensure each person on team know how they will be working safely and securely before starting the research on the lab. UI IGEM 2018 team obtained lessons on Biosafety, Biosecurity, Code of Conduct and Dual Use Research, Bio-risk management, Risk assessment, Good Laboratory Practice, Variety of techniques that could support research such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and Technique on Emergency Response. After 4-day intensive training, each participant gets a summarize test and fortunately all of UI IGEM Team passed the test, got the certificate, and ready to lab.

10-20 April 2018

Poster Competition

Theme: Increase Human Health and Well Being towards Sanitation

Engineering Center, Universitas Indonesia

Poster competition from 6 department of engineering UIinclude chemical engineering, civil eng, industry eng, machine eng, architecture, & electrical engineering

We gather a competition to raise awareness about synthetic engineering and prevent diphtheria toward good sanitation. Around multiple submission, we exhibit the poster in the poster exhibition in lobby K, Faculty of Engineering, and every student has one vote to select their favourite posters. Around 3560 voters join use their vote, then we collect the winner and gives 1st winner, 2nd Winner, and 3rd Winner to the respective participants.

February, 10th 2018

A Day with Diphty

Depok, Balairung UI

Social engagement held at Depok, Indonesia

As an initial step for our project socialization: Finding Diphthy, our team open a booth around Rotunda UI. In this social engagement we give free blood pressure check and cholesterol level check. After they get the services, our team will start take a quick survey about how aware they are about diphtheria outbreaks. 50 peoples ages from 20-60 mostly family member who lives near Depok get engagement on this booth. The goal of this event is to give awareness about diphtheria outbreak and warn the people about its symptom. Moreover, we also engage the community to know about genetic engineering through our project. “I’m very interested with this project, if UI team can really find diagnosis devices for diphtheria it would be very helpful for Indonesia” Razak, (56) one of the participants said.

Why we should be chosen as the Best Education and Public Engagement?

The idea of why their project is important and how it should be executed should be developed and answered by teams’ Human Practices activities.

• When engaging stakeholders the teams should demonstrate a two-way dialogue was established throughout the design, execution, and presentation of their project

• Teams should not “proselytize” or “market” iGEM and synthetic biology by telling the community that iGEM is great and will “save the world”.

• Teams should document their work in a way that others could build upon and reference any prior work that informed their approach.

Diphtheria outbreak was being a tragic extraordinary event in developing country, especially Indonesia. It happened comprehensively to whole places and society levels. This condition desperately needs to be tackled. Through human practice, UI IGEM Team is considering how we can educate, reach, and engage the society not for them to know about our project but more than that, to make the society knows that they have a new hope to conquer this diphtheria problem (Point 2).

We have reached from grass-root to top level of the society. Through some studies and discussions such as: biosafety study, ethic study, and health expert study, we reached the expert and the society top level perspective and attention about this issue. We also reached the public opinion and raising their awareness by some projects like A Day with Diphteria, Community Visit, and also Public Discussion Forum (in collaboration with NTU Singapore IGEM Team). Even, we reached the grass-root level by holding a social work for people of Cikidang Village that located in the top of a mountain. Here in the social work, we are not only educate the society and raise their awareness but we also asking their opinion and point of view about diphtheria and our project . In this event we also involve more people by training them to educate the villagers about health. Considering about the attitude and the culture within the society of Cikidang Village, we held this education and public engagement event by coming door to door. In addition, cooperating with the Engineering Faculty of Universitas Indonesia, we build some sanitation facilities and some other supporting features to make our intervention sustainable. (Point 1)

Although this diphtheria issue only happens lately in Indonesia, but this is such a special issue in developing countries. Thus, our human practice can be implemented or being referred for any others developing countries. (Point 3)