Stop by for a brief introduction to programs and opportunities available to you through After iGEM. This will be an open session to grab a coffee, speak to the After iGEM Ambassadors, learn more out about After iGEM, and then head out to the various activities planned for the rest of the day.

We are planning to host two expert panels to enable After iGEMers to start learning immediately about the special moment in time we’re living at the moment. Synthetic Biology, as a field, is booming and changing so rapidly that even veterans of the field are having trouble keeping up with all the new and wonderful news and changes. To keep you best informed on the latest and greatest in the field, we have assembled two expert panels to discuss the most impressive accomplishments in the field, and how you should position your career to best capitalize and expect these big changes. We want you to know exactly how to take more leadership roles within your communities to better spread our collective Synthetic Biology revolution!

SynBio Without Borders - The Revolution is Here Every year, astonishing disruptive technologies are developed using the tools of Synthetic Biology, tackling the main challenges of our time. This global revolution is quickly reshaping our future. However, this worldwide movement assumes a unique identity and form in every region that it is in. In this panel, you will meet leaders from the four corners of the world discussing the latest updates in their respective regions and their vision for the next years. This is a unique opportunity to learn more about what is happening in your backyard and the successful strategies of other countries. Join us to learn more about how local people are solving local problems and be a part of engineering our future.

A World Of Opportunities: Choose Your Own Adventure What would you like to do After iGEM? What career pathways do you think are available to you? In the quickly-expanding field of Synthetic Biology, untraveled roads proliferate. Soon, After iGEMers will fulfill major roles such as at art exhibitions curators in science museums, speakers and experts at the United Nations tribune, leaders in renowned academic institutions and industries dominating the supermarket shelves. Where should you aim to be during this revolution? Our panelists will share their own experiences in designing their unique career roadmaps, discussing success and failures and will provide advice for your own personal journey.

After iGEM is not just an opportunity to hear from various leaders all over the world, but it provides you an opportunity to be part of the same discussions and workspaces as those leaders to help you achieve your personal goals. During the afternoon breakout groups you will meet After iGEMers in more intimate focus groups to learn from leaders that are undertaking a journey similar to yours, learn from their experience and ask your questions face to face to receive personalized advice and direction.

Entrepreneurship Breakout: Next steps from iGEM project to early stage venture! The session will focus on the unique journey that you as iGEMers have embarked on and to provide some of the tools, advice and networks to help take your project out of the lab and to the next level, as you start your very own science based venture to help solve both the local & global challenges. The workshop requires no preparation and you can attend either with or independently of your iGEM project but you should be willing to work in teams of 2-3.

Education and Teaching: From Classroom Zero to Lab Hero Hectic Wiki Freezes, endless failed clonings and Biobricks not working (or even going into plasmids backwards!) - we all had our fair share of less-than-ideal experiences which turned into life-long lessons. Minds and hands on project-based learning models like the iGEM Competition are outpacing lecture-based learning, resulting in a paradigm shift in education. During this discussion group we will put our heads together and leverage on what we’ve learned during our iGEM tenure and use it to teach others - whether it be about synthetic biology, teamwork, or learning itself. We will touch on important topics, including what makes for a good teacher, how to understand the process of learning better, how to account for diversity of experience and use it as a strength in your teaching curriculum, and possibly even how to build a repertoire of practical jokes to play on students who sleep in your class.

Stay in School, Kids! - A Conversation About Academia and Graduate Studies This group will aim to give you advice on how to pursue an academic career or snowball your iGEM success into your graduate studies. Come armed with your most pressing questions on how to pick a research topic, how to find an academic supervisor, how to know if you’re ready for graduate school, and how to advertise yourself for conferences, grant organizations, and the future job market.

iGEMers Take the Lead! SynBio Associations Around the Globe iGEMers from all corners of the world are organizing regional associations to support their peers and spread the synbio revolution locally. They are connecting the enthusiasts of the field, sharing the state-of-art advances with the general public and mobilizing their local stakeholders to implement national strategies, inspiring and transforming their communities. Would you like to connect with the leaders spearheading this worldwide movement in their regions, and you would like to learn some shortcuts to organize your own local association and push SynBio to the next level in your own country or region? Join us to learn about the inspiring success and the enlightening failures of pioneers all over the world.

Expect the Unexpected - Career Paths Less Traveled What would you do if your local university asks you to start an open-research lab for the public? What do you do when a collaborator injects CRISPR into his own body on YouTube Live? Did you know the big three journals each have dedicated teams of scientific illustrators? With the synthetic biology field growing every year, there will be dozens of new career trajectories available to scientists and researchers in the field. The experts in this group will share with you their experiences, knowledge and hard-earned lessons from their mistakes and failures, in order to best guide you on how to go off the beaten path to find a calling that’s truly yours. What’s the selfie protocol when visiting the United Nations? Participate in this group and find out!

CV Speed Review Table At this round-the-clock table during the day you can drop by and receive help with the formatting and content of your CV. What is the difference between a CV and a resume? How long should your CV or resume be? How or should one write a cover letter? What do recruiters and HR personnel look for? How do you catch someone’s eye with on their first glance at your CV? How should you mention your academic accolades? Should you mention your college beer-pong winning streak? All these questions and more can be answered. Bring a copy of your CV in-hand and our resident expert will be more than happy to let you know all their tips and tricks. If you want to set yourself apart from other applicants using nothing but the first three sentences of your CV, be sure to stop by!