Difference between revisions of "Team:Aalto-Helsinki/Outreach"
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+ | <h4>General public</h4> | ||
<p>To promote synthetic biology to the general public, we approached the people behind the yearly science festival <a href="http://thinkfest.helsinki.fi/english">Thinkfest</a>, organized by the University of Helsinki in early September. Thankfully, we were given a major role in organizing Science picnic, an event oriented mainly towards families. We brought with us microscopes to check out gram-stained bacteria with, amazing glow-in-the-dark bacteria and even a gene gun! Children could colour their own superhero bacterium and tell us its special ability, play <a href="http://igem-qsf.github.io/Flappy-coli/">Flappy Coli</a> previously developed by Aalto-Helsinki, or create super soap bubbles. We also had the chance to give a talk on synthetic biology, its possibilities and our project for an audience of general public in the center of Helsinki during the event.</p> | <p>To promote synthetic biology to the general public, we approached the people behind the yearly science festival <a href="http://thinkfest.helsinki.fi/english">Thinkfest</a>, organized by the University of Helsinki in early September. Thankfully, we were given a major role in organizing Science picnic, an event oriented mainly towards families. We brought with us microscopes to check out gram-stained bacteria with, amazing glow-in-the-dark bacteria and even a gene gun! Children could colour their own superhero bacterium and tell us its special ability, play <a href="http://igem-qsf.github.io/Flappy-coli/">Flappy Coli</a> previously developed by Aalto-Helsinki, or create super soap bubbles. We also had the chance to give a talk on synthetic biology, its possibilities and our project for an audience of general public in the center of Helsinki during the event.</p> | ||
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+ | <h4>Universities</h4> | ||
<p>As the only iGEM team in Finland we considered inspiring new iGEM teams a priority in our outreach work. Other Nordic countries of similar size also have more than one team, so this should be achievable, too. Norway has 1 team per 2,6 million inhabitants, Sweden 1 team per 2,5 million inhabitants and Denmark 1 team per 1,9 million inhabitants, whereas our team alone currently represents all the 5,2 million inhabitants of Finland. To get more teams next year and strengthen the iGEM community in Finland we contacted biotechnology researchers in the two next biggest cities in Finland after Helsinki: Tampere and Turku. Thankfully, researchers from <a href="http://www.tut.fi/en/home">Tampere University of Technology</a> and the <a href="http://www.utu.fi/en/Pages/home.aspx">University of Turku</a> welcomed us to give a presentation for their students and faculty members. So we went there and talked about synthetic biology, iGEM, our project and offered our help if anyone was interested in starting an iGEM team of their own. We also discussed with the local researchers about their synthetic biology projects and were given a tour in their facilities. We really hope to see some new teams in Finland next year!</p> | <p>As the only iGEM team in Finland we considered inspiring new iGEM teams a priority in our outreach work. Other Nordic countries of similar size also have more than one team, so this should be achievable, too. Norway has 1 team per 2,6 million inhabitants, Sweden 1 team per 2,5 million inhabitants and Denmark 1 team per 1,9 million inhabitants, whereas our team alone currently represents all the 5,2 million inhabitants of Finland. To get more teams next year and strengthen the iGEM community in Finland we contacted biotechnology researchers in the two next biggest cities in Finland after Helsinki: Tampere and Turku. Thankfully, researchers from <a href="http://www.tut.fi/en/home">Tampere University of Technology</a> and the <a href="http://www.utu.fi/en/Pages/home.aspx">University of Turku</a> welcomed us to give a presentation for their students and faculty members. So we went there and talked about synthetic biology, iGEM, our project and offered our help if anyone was interested in starting an iGEM team of their own. We also discussed with the local researchers about their synthetic biology projects and were given a tour in their facilities. We really hope to see some new teams in Finland next year!</p> | ||
<p>Besides inspiring new iGEM teams, we will continue to actively promote iGEM and synthetic biology in our own universities, giving presentations to students in both University of Helsinki and Aalto University to ensure an ever growing number of applicants for the Aalto-Helsinki iGEM team.</p> | <p>Besides inspiring new iGEM teams, we will continue to actively promote iGEM and synthetic biology in our own universities, giving presentations to students in both University of Helsinki and Aalto University to ensure an ever growing number of applicants for the Aalto-Helsinki iGEM team.</p> | ||
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+ | <h4>High schools</h4> | ||
<figure style="float:right;margin-left:20px;"> | <figure style="float:right;margin-left:20px;"> | ||
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<figcaption>The Foresight workshop by organized the Chemical Industry Federation of Finland.</figcaption> | <figcaption>The Foresight workshop by organized the Chemical Industry Federation of Finland.</figcaption> | ||
</figure> | </figure> | ||
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+ | <h4>Industry</h4> | ||
<p>Our team members also attended a workshop on the future of chemical industry, organized by the <a href="http://www.kemianteollisuus.fi/en/">Chemical Industry Federation of Finland</a>, an organization that represents a large portion of Finnish industry, including the biotechnology companies. The Foresight Project workshop was arranged by <a href="http://www.alternativefutures.fi">AlternativeFutures</a> and included brainstorming new ideas for current chemical industry and for the future, which were then rated by the level of impact and the requirements to implementation. </p> | <p>Our team members also attended a workshop on the future of chemical industry, organized by the <a href="http://www.kemianteollisuus.fi/en/">Chemical Industry Federation of Finland</a>, an organization that represents a large portion of Finnish industry, including the biotechnology companies. The Foresight Project workshop was arranged by <a href="http://www.alternativefutures.fi">AlternativeFutures</a> and included brainstorming new ideas for current chemical industry and for the future, which were then rated by the level of impact and the requirements to implementation. </p> | ||
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<h4>Website</h4> | <h4>Website</h4> | ||
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+ | <figure style="float:right;margin-left:20px;"> | ||
+ | <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2015/b/bb/Aalto-Helsinki_Website.png" style="width:325px;"/> | ||
+ | <figcaption>Our website, www.aaltohelsinki.com.</figcaption> | ||
+ | </figure> | ||
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<p>Already in the very beginning of Aalto-Helsinki 2015 we built a presentable website for our project, even before we had our project idea. We started searching for supporters early on, and we thought website would be a good way to shortly present our project to potential sponsors and other people interested in our project. The site shortly described in both Finnish and English what synthetic biology and iGEM is about, as well as our goals and our team. As the project progressed, we included information on our project and our supporters.</p> | <p>Already in the very beginning of Aalto-Helsinki 2015 we built a presentable website for our project, even before we had our project idea. We started searching for supporters early on, and we thought website would be a good way to shortly present our project to potential sponsors and other people interested in our project. The site shortly described in both Finnish and English what synthetic biology and iGEM is about, as well as our goals and our team. As the project progressed, we included information on our project and our supporters.</p> | ||
Revision as of 04:03, 3 September 2015