Global DIY Biology Survey

[Khalisah Zulkefli]

Hello fellow DIY Biologists,

I am part of a research team who is looking into the Global DIY Biology landscape. We have launched a survey today and are seeking as many participants for the survey as possible. We would really appreciate your help! Please see below for the official invitation containing the details of the survey.

 

Invitation to Participate in the Global DIY Biology Survey

 

We humbly request for your cooperation to fill out this survey on Do-It-Yourself (DIY) biology. This survey is conducted by the Global Young Academy (GYA) in collaboration with Sunway University and funded by the Volkswagen Foundation. The aim of the survey is to explore the global landscape of DIY biology and understand the challenges and opportunities in the field. We plan to use this information to inform policies that can help support the maximising of benefits and minimising of the associated risks related to DIY biology field.

 

This survey will take about 10-20 minutes of your time.

Please see below for the survey link:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/diybio

Global DIY Biology Survey www.surveymonkey.com A survey by the Global Young Academy (GYA) in collaboration with Sunway University and funded by the Volkswagen Foundation.

 

Please kindly fill out the survey by 11.59 PM (GMT), 1st of July 2019. 

 

Please feel free to email us if you have any queries and/or if you require more information with regards to the survey.

 

Professor Dr Abhi Veerakumarasivam         

Principal Investigator                                     

ab...@sunway.edu.my

+603-7491 8622 ext 7175

 

Dr Khalisah Zulkefli

Research Associate

khal...@sunway.edu.my

 

Please disseminate this survey to anyone who you believe should participate in the survey.

 

We thank you in advance for your participation!

 

Best regards, 

 

Khalisah Zulkefli, PhD

Postdoctoral Research Associate

Sunway University

 

On behalf of, 

Professor Abhi Veerakumarasivam 

Co-Chair, DIY Biology Working Group, Global Young Academy 

Chair, International Network for Government Science Advice-Asia
Co-Chair, ASEAN Young Scientists Network

[Koeng]

I think I said this in an email I sent after getting this survey, but I believe the last section is (or was) poorly created in respect to understanding the landscape of DIYbio practitioners. If I remember correctly, there wasn't a section on if you actually did work as a DIY biologist or to what capacity (which would definitely influence your opinions/ fears), and the section on education didn't have any position for those who never got a formal education but do amazing work in the field of DIY biology (David Ishee and Sebastian Cocioba come to mind), which by it's very nature has a skew towards different educational paths.

ie, it seems to me the survey isn't actually interested in practitioners opinions, which is sad to see.

Koeng

[Patrik D'haeseleer]

Will the results of this survey be published in an Open Access journal? 

I have no interest in providing this information if it's just going to benefit some for-profit journal, or worse, used by some for-profit consultant group. 

Patrik

[Khalisah Zulkefli]

Hi Koeng,

Thank you for your response to the thread! We appreciate it very much.

To address your questions/concerns, the survey has been designed to understand the DIY Biologists as much as possible and therefore there are 4 sections which extensively looks at 3 aspects - motivations, challenges and opportunities. There is also an open comment box section where DIY Biologists are free to express their opinions or fears if need be. I would also like to remind you that the survey is completely anonymous and therefore no personalised answers have been obtained and/or kept. 

As for the education section, you would see that there is an 'other' answer option where you can specify if there is no formal education that has been undertaken.

I personally think  (as a scientist and educator) that the DIY Bio field has tremendous potential for education and thus should be further encouraged.

I hope that this clarifies some concerns you have. If not, please feel free to email me. I would be happy to answer any other questions you may have.

Thank you!

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[Koeng]

Hi Kelly,

I prefer an open form. 

The main issue that I meant to bring up is that there wasn't a section to actually claim that you were a practitioner or how long you practiced in the field. On paper, I basically look like a random uneducated teenager that has strong opinions, when in reality I have the skill + experience + home lab to execute on many of those theoretical projects.

Ie, it would be interesting to know what normal people think vs what practitioners think.

Also, it is a bit concerning that you didn't answer Patrik's question. Where will the results be published?

Koeng

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[Khalisah Zulkefli]

Hi Patrik,

Thank you for your reply to the thread! and apologies for the late reply.

I understand your concern about the accessibility of the results from the survey as I also believe that it is only fair to have these results to be available. Therefore, we do have a final section where you can input your email to register your interest to be updated about the results of the survey before submitting your answers to us to complete the survey. You are free to go through the survey as only completed surveys will be analysed.

As far as I know, all collaborators of the project, Global Young Academy, Volkswagen Foundation and Sunway University are not for profit organisations. I hope the information helps to some extent and please feel free to email me directly if you have any further questions or concerns. 

Cheers,

Kelly

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[Khalisah Zulkefli]

Hi Koeng,

Thanks again for your prompt response.

There are two surveys that we are currently running, the Global DIY Biology survey which ultimately aims to capture the global landscape of the DIY Biology field and the Perception of Biorisks whereby the invites for these two surveys have been sent separately.

Please correct me if I am wrong, but I think you are referring to the Perception of Biorisks survey which aim is to analyse the perception of biorisks of the general population. Thus irrespective of whether or not the survey respondent is a DIY Biologist. It is to have an idea of how does the general population perceive biorisks of research done in a traditional lab setting (academic/government etc.) versus a non-traditional lab setting and the correlation with their STEM education.

However, I do understand your concern, which is valid and will forward to the project leads for their attention. 

In the meantime, it would be great if you could help fill out the Global DIY Biology survey (https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/diybio) and spread the word to your networks :)

Thank you!

Cheers,

Kelly

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[Koeng]

You're right, sorry for assuming that. 

[Khalisah Zulkefli]

Hi Koeng,

No worries at all. We appreciate any feedback as it would help us in the clarification of the aims of the survey to other participants. So, thank you :)

Please do help us to spread the word on the survey!

Cheers,

Kelly

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