Through Human Practices, iGEM teams consider whether their projects are responsible and good for the world. They creatively engage with issues in ethics, sustainability, inclusion, security, and many other areas. Human Practices questions are complex and don’t have simple answers. Teams therefore often conduct public engagement; inviting stakeholder input to shape the direction of their work.

"Human Practices is the study of how your work affects the world, and how the world affects your work." — Peter Carr, Director of Judging

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Video Transcript

Human Practices is about how your work affects the world and how the world affects your work.

Hi, I'm Megan Palmer. I'm the chair of iGEM's Human Practices committee. This video is to get you oriented to what human practices means at iGEM. It covers the why, what and how of human practices. Why is Human Practices an important part of iGEM? What do we expect from teams? And how can you get started? This video itself is just to get you started.

You can find much more information on the iGEM Human Practices Hub and if you have questions or ideas about Human Practices, feel free to email me and the rest of the committee at executivehp@igem.org

So let's get started.

First, why is Human Practices an important part of iGEM?

Human Practices is about how your work affects the world and how the world affects your work.

What I love about iGEM is that teams don't just do great technical work in the lab.

Through their human practices efforts iGEM teams engage with the world their projects exist within; exploring aspects of their project that involve issues such as ethics, sustainability, social justice, safety security and more.

These issues are complex and often don’t have simple answers.

This means teams engage with the communities who might be impacted by their work; to invite them to help shape the course of research. We at iGEM believe that these societal considerations should be upfront and integrated with the design and execution of synthetic biology projects, which is part of being a good engineer and designing a thoughtful biological engineering project.

This leads us to our next question. What do we expect from teams?

As in other parts of iGEM, we expect excellent and inspiring work on topics in Human Practices, we also expect and challenge you to come up with new and creative approaches that we may not have thought of before.

To get an idea of what we might like to see, you should review the medal criteria and the award descriptions on the iGEM website. To qualify for a silver medal, you must convince us that you have thought creatively and carefully about whether your project is safe, responsible and good for the world.

One way to qualify for a Gold Medal is to expand on this work and show us how you have taken lessons from engaging with Human Practices issues and reflected them in the design and execution of your project. We award a special prize for Best Integrated Human Practices to recognize excellence in this Gold Medal work. We also award a special prize for the Best Education and Public Engagement efforts for outstanding work that goes above and beyond making changes in the project design and execution.

You can read more about these awards and criteria on the Human Practices Hub.

So last, how can you get started?

The first thing you can do is to check the tips for teams that we have listed on the Human Practices Hub. These are simple things to keep in mind, like finding mentors and thinking about how you can build on previous work and help others to adapt your approach. The second thing you can do is check out the resources on the Human Practices Hub. These include tools that have been specifically developed to help iGEM teams think about their Human Practices work and links to people and organisations you can contact to learn more. The third thing you can do is look at what other teams have done in the past. For example, teams have conducted analyses of the environmental impact of their project, written guides on ownership and intellectual property, facilitated biosafety and biosecurity investigations, created museum exhibits and even done street theatre. Through this work teams have engaged with diverse communities to shape the practice of synthetic biology across local and global scales. They have consulted and shared their experiences with citizens and policy makers in their own cities and countries as well as international forums such as the United Nations.

We’ve highlighted a few examples on the Human Practices Hub that impressed us but you can find many more inspiring examples on previous years’ teams’ iGEM wiki pages. Again, we'd love to see you try something that has never been done before.

Finally, if you have any questions or ideas about Human Practices that you'd like to share, please reach out to us. My favourite part of working with iGEM is being inspired by your visions of synthetic biology as a Human Practice. We wish you the best of luck with your projects.

Coronavirus Update

As a core part of the iGEM Competition, human practices asks teams to think carefully and creatively about how their project will affect the world, and how the world affects the project. As a major disruption in the world, the COVID-19 pandemic clearly falls under this mandate; it will undoubtedly affect your project and some teams may even want to respond to COVID-19 using the tools of synthetic biology. We want to caution that regardless of your project focus, this public health crisis poses some special challenges for human practices of which you should be aware.

In particular, team-based projects and integrated human practices requirements will need careful consideration while social distancing measures are in place in many countries. Teams will need to think carefully about any in-person interactions with people that might be affected by their projects, regardless of whether they are focusing on COVID-19. This is particularly true when teams are planning to work with vulnerable populations, including those particularly susceptible to this disease, such older people (that is people over 60 years old); and those with underlying medical conditions (such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, and cancer).

The Safety and Security Committee and Human Practices Committee, along with iGEM Headquarters, have created a page with additional guidelines on your work in the context of COVID-19: https://2020.igem.org/Safety/Coronavirus

What is Human Practices?

Learn about Human Practices and why it is an important part of iGEM.

LEARN MORE

Frequently Asked Questions

See answers to questions like "How can my team integrate Human Practices into our Foundational Advance project?"

FAQ

Resources

Getting started? These resources can help you understand methods for responsible research, public engagement, and much more.

RESOURCES

Exemplary Projects

Explore how teams have approached Human Practices in many inspiring and impactful iGEM projects.

EXAMPLES

How to Succeed

All teams are encouraged to engage in Human Practices. Check out our tips for teams on the page below.

HOW TO SUCCEED

Beyond the Competition

How did Human Practices come to be a part of iGEM? What does Human Practices look like in the real world?

THE REAL WORLD

Committee

Questions? Suggestions? The Human Practices committee is here to help!

COMMITTEE

Is your team interested in incorporating the Sustainable Development Goals in your project? We have created a page with resources to help you get started!

SDG RESOURCES

Questions?

If you have questions or suggestions please check out the FAQ or email us at humanpractices [AT] igem [DOT] org

We love hearing from teams as they explore the Human Practices issues that arise during their iGEM season. Best of luck with your projects!

Human Practices

Human Practices Hub

Video Transcript

What is Human Practices?

Frequently Asked Questions

Resources

Exemplary Projects

How to Succeed

Beyond the Competition

Committee

iGEM Foundation

Contact

Quicklinks

Keep in touch!