Why did we focus on inclusivity?

Confucius (opens new window), a great philosopher in the Spring and Autumn period of China, indicated that teachers should "instruct students according to their aptitudes," which reminds us of the significance of personalized teaching scheme tailored to the specific audience. This year, we are committed to promoting the popularization of synthetic biology in the general public. Our ultimate aspiration is to demystify synthetic biology and kindle a genuine passion for this field in the hearts of all individuals. Therefore, in order to achieve comprehensive and significant results, we created an open, inclusive and high-quality education model, taking multiple factors including the age, gender, occupation, educational experience, economic level, cultural background of different groups into consideration.

What did we do for inclusivity?

• Education for people in underdeveloped areas

In order to make synthetic biology education accessible to people in underdeveloped areas, especially the children and teenagers there, we have traveled to many rural areas in China to hold educational activities. We have also created a picture book series and mailed these books to children in underdeveloped areas.

• Education for ethnic minority groups

China is a multi-ethnic country with 56 ethnic groups, of which 55 ethnic groups except the Han belong to ethnic minorities due to their small population. There is a general lack of educational resources among ethnic minority groups. So this year we connected with some ethnic minority students. Recognizing the cultural differences, we integrated elements of their culture into teaching content.

• Education for foreigners in China

We have also taken into account the foreign community in China in our education. We created a continuous dialogue with foreign students in international schools, interviewed foreign tourists on the street about synthetic biology, and designed bilingual education-related text materials including questionnaires and flyers.

The aforementioned work was mainly carried out by our team alone. Furthermore, we hope to leverage the power of collaboration to promote inclusivity in more iGEM-related work. Therefore, we took the initiative to establish the iGEM Alliance of the Yangtze River Delta, which represented a unified regional community dedicated to advancing synthetic biology. We hold a confident vision that the alliance with strong power of many teams can reach more underprivileged groups and promote openness and inclusivity in multiple areas of synthetic biology in the foreseeable future.

More details can be found in the Education page in our wiki.

Summary of the achievements in the inclusivity work

Inclusivity in education has enabled different groups, especially the relatively disadvantaged groups, to have easy access to synthetic biology, making our education more comprehensive, more open, and of higher quality. Furthermore, the establishment of the iGEM Alliance of the Yangtze River Delta has provided a broader stage for future inclusivity-related iGEM work.