Human Practices: Education and Public Engagement Special Prize

Synthetic biology is an important tool for the future, and our project is only one of many opportunities that synthetic biology provides. It is therefore of great significance to create awareness about this field. We focused on showing synthetic biology in an understandable setting for youth by participating at the events Researcher’s Night and Forskningstorget (Science Faire). We showed a visual explanation of biofilm, bacteria and DNA through a poster during these events. Another goal for us was to create general public awareness about iGEM and our project through social media and by doing interviews in a couple of newspapers.

Byavisa Drammen

Hege Hetland Pedersen was interviewed by Byavisa Drammen (the local newspaper in Drammen) in June. The article presented NTNU iGEM as a team, our project and iGEM in general. Every wednesday, all households and many businesses in Drammen receive Byavisa Drammen.

The article can be read in norwegian (p.13):

Bayer visit

On the 14th of September 2018 we visited Bayer headquarters in Oslo as part of our sponsorship agreement. We held a presentation for the local employees, where we presented our idea for the project and all the things we had done. After our presentation, we were taken on a lab tour where Bayer introduced us to their research activities and the everyday life of their employees. We also participated in a management game, where we got a taste of what it is like to manage a pharmaceutical company and the difficult decisions they have to make. Overall, we think it was a great experience for both parties and we want to thank Bayer for having us.

The Science Fair

The Science Fair (Forskningstorget) is an annual event arranged at the NTNU museum of Science, this year 21-22.September. The Science Fair is about science and research, and this is shown by a variety of stand activities. Everyone has free admission to the fair, but the event is especially arranged for children from elementary schools in Trøndelag. Every year there is approximately 7000 kids that visit the Science Fair. We had a lot of fun talking to all the people visiting our stand, speaking about our project and doing some experiments. One of the activities at our stand was extraction of DNA from fruit, using items everyone has in their kitchen. Both kids and grown-ups seemed to enjoy playing with DNA with us, and we sure enjoyed the event!

Amanda Sande (left) and Anja Rosvold From in action during the Science Fair.

Researcher's Night

On the evening of 28th September 2018 the annual Researcher's Night was held at our university NTNU. Around 1100 high school students are invited to come look at science fair stands and lectures to motivate students to pursue science. We held a stand similar to the one in The Science Fair (Forskningstorget). We talked to the students about what they wanted to do after high school, what we do at the university, and what we in the NTNU iGEM team has learned from our project.

Social Media

We have also had social media accounts via Facebook and Instagram to update those who are interested.