New Youtube series on DIYBio and the EU

[Pieter Waag]

Hi everyone,

I am going to Brussels and need your support. As part of an EU project I have the opportunity to write a policy paper. That's usually a really BORING process, that does not very much involve anyone affected by such documents other than some annoying questionnaires. 

So instead we've launched a youtube series instead. And drumroll please... here is the first video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYJvDfUjurc

I haven't found anyone vlogging about policy lobbying before, so it might as well be a first. Anyhow, it would be pointless to do this on my own. I need your help to create a meaningful series and paper in the end. So in case you have something to say, a suggestion to make or just want to point me to something useful, please reply, post a comment or contact me pie...@waag.org there is plenty of room in the weekly videos to feature your input or perhaps yourself, in case you want to. As of now it's one video a week, so subscribe in case you don't want to miss out.

Anyone living in the EU and on this list is affected some way or another by EU policy, so this is your chance. GMO regulations, access to funding, open science, etc just to name a few. In the EU project DITOs we aim to drive the full spectrum of citizen science forward, and for that we need EU support too. Thanks for your help!

Pieter

[bostjan]

Hi Pieter,

thumbs up and good luck on the quest, this could be a great opportunity! Will definitely be following your progress...

On a related matter, two H2020 calls have been published (will be open for submission in April this year), which deal with open science and science education outside the classroom. If I read them correctly, they are directed at evaluating the possibilities and good practices, rather than funding actual projects, but may still be useful for some insight into how the EU is willing to go about this matter...
https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/opportunities/h2020/topics/swafs-10-2017.html
https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/opportunities/h2020/topics/swafs-11-2017.html

All the best,
Boštjan

Dne torek, 14. februar 2017 15.31.07 UTC+1 je oseba Pieter Waag napisala:

[Pieter Waag]

Hi Bostjan,

Thanks for your endorsement!

The "Science with and for Society" programs are indeed most in line with the diy / citizen science community. It's a total of 100 M euro each 2 years if I am not mistaken. The two calls you mentioned are also on our radar, but we have not engaged in any consortium yet. The science outside classrooms aligns well with the BioHack Academy, but you are right: it is not intended for actually doing stuff, just to study what's already going on. Perhaps I could spend an episode on what SwafS programs are already out there and whether the DIY community actually benefits from it or not. I believe most is intended for institutions to engage with people, not the other way around.

Pieter

[BraveScience]

Hi all,

Isn't this a paradox? There is far way more people trying to study the "DIYbio phenomenon" than actual people involved in active projects.

Unless you could use this research funding to study yourself while doing DIYbio related research and activities and therefore indirectly fund your own project, I fail to see the benefit such grants could bring.

[Lucy Patterson]

Hey Pieter,

It's an interesting approach - also wish you well with it.

But I'm wondering if you could shed some light on the strategy for the DITOs project policy papers as they relate to the DIYbio and/or DIY science community. There was a European Stakeholder Round Table on Citizen and DIY Science and Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) event in Berlin late last year that included a session led by your colleague Lucas Evers to draft a policy paper about DIYbio. The few DIY science people who were able to attend (the event was in the middle of a working day, rather problematically) took part, but they haven't heard anything more back about the paper - it was supposed to be an ongoing process. Over on the DIYscience google group (which we formed in response to the lack of inclusion of our community in the meeting), we also heard there would be a second DIY Science roundtable in Paris in March that may also be about policy...

It would be great to lobby for support from Brussels for DIY science in Europe, but I think some transparency with the community would be very helpful so that we can make informed decisions about how and when to really invest our time. So - how many policy papers are being drafted? What on? What is their potential impact?

Thanks
Lucy

[Pieter]

Hi Bravescience! Actually you hit the nail on the head. The DITOs project revolves around approximately 500 events across Europe, which are expected to involve about 290,000 people (+ another 1,3 million indirectly via media). Most of these will be focused on audiences at a local level. 200 events are related to the concept of "Biodesign", which includes a range of activities such as film nights, science cafes, workshops, hackathons, open lab evenings, educational workshops, serious gaming, etc with some connection to the topic of biology. I believe the diversity is a strength. Typical EU projects scale up a single concept to the unions scale, but in DITOs the activities have been tailored to the best interpretation of the local needs at the time of writing the project proposal by the partners. 

I can assure you that there are far less than 290,000 people studying the impact of this! We are not studying ourselves, but an evaluation partner as well as external review board will do that. Moreover, and more importantly, anyone can express their opinion, contact any of the project partners directly or take part in one of the 500 events. Or respond to one of the videos! Record your own. Tweet us, send us emails (mine is pie...@waag.org), add me on Skype pieter.van.boheemen, just make us go nuts with your feedback!

On March 25th there will be another international meeting in Paris: http://togetherscience.eu/events/european-citizen-science-forum

@Lucy, the final "Biodesign" policy paper will be ready by May 2019. The first version will be published in May 2017 and presented at the Biofabbing conference in Geneva. After that there will be an annual update. The YouTube videos are an attempt to make the ongoing process more transparent. I will post updates and keep my camera ready as much as I can, so you can witness yourself how things develop. Also, apart from Waag Society four more project partners will be actively involved in this paper: L'Universite Paris Decartes, Universite de Geneve, Kersnikova and the European Citizen Science Association. The content is shaped by the evaluation of the 200 events and input from round tables, the video series, etc. I am afraid there is also no straight answer to what the potential impact will be. That is something I hope to find out and document with the video series as well.

Your feedback to the event in Berlin is much appreciated and will certainly not go to waste! Thanks for the post on Medium too. 

What I am aiming for with the DITOs policy paper and the vlog series is to create more opportunities for DIYBio to join 2018-2019 SwafS calls, the FP9 program, streamline regulation of technology for DIY purposes and to raise the level of understanding of the value of DIYBio. However, I am just a guy with a camera and a lab in The Netherlands. I need your help to point me to what is needed the most. Just chatting with the Biotop crew from Heidelberg last Thursday already gave me new insights into needs that I never heard of before.

As I said in the first video, I believe what we need most to start with is a number of strong examples that make the value of DIYBio clear to a complete outsider. I am very grateful to everyone that took the time to send in examples, keep it coming! 

Anyhow, there are also other ways to make an impact. In case you have a great idea for an alternative approach to DIYBio in Europe, one of the options is to join one of the already forthcoming calls (deadline August 2017): http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/opportunities/h2020/calls/h2020-swafs-2016-17.html#c,topics=callIdentifier/t/H2020-SwafS-2016-17/1/1/1&callStatus/t/Forthcoming/1/1/0&callStatus/t/Open/1/1/0&callStatus/t/Closed/1/1/0&+identifier/desc

It seems that this one could interest you Lucy:

http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/opportunities/h2020/topics/swafs-13-2017.html

"Approaches and openings to the “creation of spaces for public engagement” (Rome Declaration), including the development and use of temporary and permanent physical spaces (e.g. exhibitions, events), will contribute towards the processes of involving European citizens and the co-creation of knowledge"

Just as a reference, this is the call that DITOs responded to a couple of years ago: http://cordis.europa.eu/programme/rcn/665143_en.html