Team:Waterloo/Practices/An iGEM Critique
An iGEM Critique
2015 is the tenth year that the University of Waterloo has been involved in the iGEM competition. It's a proud moment for our team and our school, but it is a good time to reflect and provide a critique of iGEM as a whole.
As a student who’s been involved with iGEM for three years now, I’ve been involved in a number of exciting projects; seen hundreds more; and learned an incredible amount about biology, teamwork, and leadership. Being a part of iGEM has provided experiences for me that I am proud of and will look back fondly on. This address isn’t meant to denigrate or diminish all of the hard work that thousands of individuals - especially those at iGEM HQ - have put into making iGEM such a success. However, as iGEM becomes more successful and broadens its scope, it has a responsibility to keep its direction clear, and to stick to the values that I and many others admire. This address is meant to highlight flaws that I have observed over the past few years, and hopefully to give some idea of how to remedy them.
There are two main topics I would like to address and talk about in detail: iGEM’s priorities with respect to education and students, and the wall that separates iGEM from science.
iGEM is About Education, Not Profits
On iGEM’s website, there is a page listing their core values, and it includes a video from iGEM President Randy Rettberg. After thanking a number of people for the success of the iGEM Foundation, he says this (1:37):
In that big long list of people to thank, I’d like to add one group that is really the most important group. And that’s you, the iGEM teams. Without you, iGEM is a waste of effort. It’s your work, it’s your organization that is really the key to iGEM.Randy Rettberg
And I agree with this wholeheartedly. We, as teams, have invested countless hours to work on projects that we find exciting and invigorating. Not because we hope for medals or awards at the end of the year, but because we love doing it, and iGEM gives us the means and opportunities to do so.
Participating in iGEM is often the first time that university students get the chance to do science - real science, from the ground up. Coming up with ideas, planning out how to design plasmids and constructs, creating experiments and collecting data. For aspiring scientists and engineers, this is all pretty exciting. Compared to most other university level team competitions, however, iGEM is incredibly expensive.
As can be seen below, we’ve summarized the average cost of a team to participate in the iGEM competition in 2015, and how quickly the expenses can accumulate.
| Expense | Cost (USD) |
|---|---|
| Single team registration fee | $4000 |
| Giant Jamboree attendance fee (10 people) | $6950 |
| Accommodation for the four nights (10 people, iGEM discounted rates at Sheraton Boston) | $3428 |
| Transportation (10 people; depends on proximity of team to Boston; some flights cost over $2000 USD per person) | $2000 &emdash; $20,000 |
| Wet Lab chemicals and equipment | $15,000 |
| Total | $31,378 &emdash; $49,378 |
To put it succinctly: this is an exorbitant price to pay.
In my mind, the iGEM Competition exists to educate students about synthetic biology: connecting individuals with other students and organizations from around the world that share their passion for genetic engineering; giving students the chance to peel back the curtain and experience science themselves, first hand; and preparing future scientists, mathematicians, engineers, politicians, and artists for what this branch of science can become. I do not believe it exists to only offer these opportunities to those who can afford it, and requiring such a high barrier of entry only serves to keep this opportunity from those who cannot.
I understand that booking a space that can accommodate 3000 individuals is not inexpensive. I also understand that hiring personnel to look after hundreds of judges, thousands of students, and millions in expenses does not come cheap either. But like you yourself have said, without us students, iGEM is a waste of effort. These figures require significant institutional backing and support, and not every institution can defend this expense, let alone afford it as an annual occurrence. It’s a shame that there are so many students who cannot afford to participate in this educational experience because of the price tag you’ve set.
This price is very difficult to justify after looking at audit statements made publicly available on the iGEM website. From 2011 to 2014, net assets for the iGEM Foundation have nearly doubled ($238,919 in 2011 to $447,045 in 2014), with a significant drop in 2013 (down to $66,550) and rise in 2014 (up to $447,045). Below are a few figures detailing the changes in iGEM’s expenses and revenues from 2011.