Nordic iGEM Conference
NiC 2016
In June this year we, the iGEM Stockholm team, hosted a Nordic iGEM Conference (NiC), a meet-up for all Nordic iGEM teams. Around 80 people from different teams in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland attended. It was a three day conference with two workshops (Ethics and Speculative Design of Synthetic Biology) with the purpose to encourage everyone to think and work on other aspects of their iGEM projects. We also organized a mini-Jamboree, where the requirements set by iGEM Headquarters were in focus, as well as social activities to get to know each other. This meet-up gave the teams an opportunity to get a feel of the big iGEM competition, refine their projects and seek collaborations with other teams, creating a platform to connect students with their peers in an international setting.
Workshops
Ever wondered how the future of biotechnology will look like? Or how synthetic biology could be used as a weapon of mass destruction, and for that reason why we should keep it safe?
Ethics
Speculative Design
In this workshop, current developments in science and technology are extrapolated into alternative future realities, to discuss how the research areas could affect society and life itself. The scenarios are visualized and made tangible so that people who are not experts in the field can take part in the ethical discussion of how we want our future to look like.
The workshop started with a 30 minute presentation where the design field was introduced through a series of examples and projects. After that, the participants started in their own iGEM projects, creating speculative scenarios that discuss how their project might develop in the future both from a positive and negative point of view. The workshop aimed to help the iGEM teams answer the recurring question - How do you think this might be used in the future?
Mini-Jamboree
The Mini-Jamboree was an event during the conference where all Nordic Teams presented their synthetic biology projects. Each team had 10 minutes to present their project, followed by a short Q&A. There was a panel of judges that choose a winner based on the official iGEM criteria for standard tracks (or se below). We had the honor of having Vinoo from iGEM HQ at the mini-jamboree, and he gave an inspiring presentation and told us more about iGEM and things that can help us.
The judges were no less than Felix Ricther, the iGEM Stockholm 2015 project leader, and Caroline Dahl, Head of Innovation & Research and Founder at Ortrud Medical. During the Gasque (a Swedish student dinner party) the same night the winners were announced. The prize was to carry on the honorable task of hosting next year's NiC. Congratulations to the UCPG 2016 iGEM Team from Denmark for their project "CosmoCrops"!
The whole Stockholm team would like to thank Vinoo and the judges, as well as everyone who attended the second NiC conference and contributed to a great experience and a sweet foretaste of what's to come in Boston at the great jamboree!
Criteria
*Demonstrate your work - research based project idea and plan
Proof of concept of your project - Functional testing
*New standard BioBrick Part
*Improve previous part/project
*Collaboration with any registered iGEM team
*Integrated Human Practices
The project presentations were judged based on a point system similar to the giant jamboree:
Project
How impressive is this project?
How creative or novel is the team’s project?
How much did the team accomplish?
Is the project likely to have an impact?
How well are engineering and design principles used?
How thoughtful and thorough was the team’s consideration of human practices?
How complete is the team’s effort to attribute work?
Presentation
Clarity
Graphic design, layout & composition
Engaging
Team effort
Questions will be asked & answers will be assessed
NiC was sponsored by Fontana.
