Team:Amsterdam/Human Outreach/Collaboration/Meeting

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Meeting of Young Minds

The establishing of Rathenau Institute was to promote the formation of political and public opinion on science and technology. In concordance, the Institute studies the organization and development of science systems, publishes about social impact of new technologies, and organizes debates on issues and dilemmas in science and technology.
To stimulate interaction between youth departments of political parties (PYO) and the iGEM participants, Rathenau Institute and the European iGEM committee are organizing a Meeting of Young Minds (MYM) between PYOs and the participants of iGEM 2011. The aim of this Meeting is to introduce the general public to SynBio and its possible implications for society. Due to the pace of developments in SynBio, it is important to start fostering political and public opinion making on SynBio.
As one of the Dutch iGEM teams, we also participated in this event. The entire organization was spread over several meetings:

• Kick-off meeting
• Jump-start event MYM
• Debate PYO's

Kick-off meeting MYM

The kick-off Meeting of Young Minds started on the 30th of September in NEMO museum. During this meeting, members of Dutch iGEM teams and PYOs were challenged in a debate on SynBio and the political, societal and ethical issues this rapidly developing techno science might raise. Before the debate started off, an introductory on SynBio and iGEM was offered by the Rathenau Institute and previous iGEM members of TU Delft. Due to this introductory, members of the PYOs and iGEM had enough knowledge to proceed with the discussions.

Jump-start event MYM

At 1 September 2011, the iGEM team of TU Delft together with the Rathenau Institute organized the follow-up of the Kick-off Meeting of Young Minds: Jump-start Event Meeting of Young Minds. The aim of this Jump-start was to deepen the discussion of the political, societal and ethical issues of SynBio. During this event, the iGEM teams of TU Delft, Wageningen and Amsterdam gave a presentation about their project and its ethical, social an political implications. Following these iGEM presentations, a lab tour was organized at the TU Delft. The second part of the day consisted of expert talks in the field of politics (Chantal Gill'ard), society, synthetic biology (Huib de Vriend) and philosophical and cultural understandings (Henk van den Belt). Eventually, an interactive session was planned of two SynBio Futures vignettes with Chantal Gill'ard, Han de Winde and Frans Brom.

Debate PYO

On the evening preceding the iGEM Jamboree in Amsterdam the finale debate is organized at VU University Amsterdam on 30 September 2011. During this debate, members of iGEM 2011 and PYOs will participate. The participating PYOs during this debate are:

• PINK (youth Party for Animal Welfare)
• SGP-Jongeren (Reformed Political Youth Party)
• JOVD (Liberal Youth Party)
• DWARS (GreenLeft Youth Organization)
• CDJA (Christian Democratic Youth Appeal)
• Jonge Socialisten (Young Socialists)
• Jonge Democraten (Young Democrats)
• PerspectieF (Political youth organization of the ChristianUnion)

A promo clip for the meeting of young minds.
This clip is produced by the Rathenau Institute and placed here with their approval.
For more information on the Meeting of Young Minds, have a look at their website