Public and policy engagement
A part of EBRC’s mission will be to develop useful public engagement activities and tools for its academic and industrial members. EBRC seeks to create a cadre of practitioners with the tools and knowledge to authentically engage with public stakeholders about the broad impacts of engineering biology. We will engage the general public through social media, science cafes, science museums and centers, public talks, op/eds, and so on. We will engage policymakers through federal testimony, white papers, and advisory roles in various agencies and commissions. The ability for researchers to clearly communicate their work is an important component of engagement, but just as important is an improved ability to actively listen to public views and incorporate those views into research agendas that lead us toward a publicly shared vision of the future.
Are you interested in learning more about public engagement on synthetic biology? Please contact Kevin Costa at kcosta@ebrc.org. We also recommend the AAAS discussion on public engagement (registration required).
Past engagement activities: Please visit http://synberc.org/engagement to browse some prior public engagement activities of our predecessor organization.
To learn more about synthetic biology and engineering biology, please visit our What is Synthetic Biology? page or our collection of synthetic biology reports.
Resources for synthetic biology communication and engagement
- A Guide for Communicating Synthetic Biology – The Wilson Center (September 2014)
- Communicating Synthetic Biology: How the Media Covers Emerging Technology (June 2009)
- Communicating Synthetic Biology: from the lab via the media to the broader public (December 2009)
- Synthetic biology dialogue: Summary findings and recommendations (June 2010)
From the BBSRC study on synthetic biology dialogue in the UK – visit the BBSRC site for the full report and other materials - Will the real synthetic biology please stand up? (August 2014)
Brent Erikson of BIO talks about the characteristics of synthetic biology and its relationship to genetic engineering technology - An ecological risk research agenda for synthetic biology (May 2014)
- The next front in the GMO war: Synthetic biology (The Grist, June 2014)
- Synthetic biology confronts publics and policy makers: challenges for communication, regulation and commercialization (March 2012) Paper in Cell by Bubela et al
- Royal Academy of Engineering (UK): A public dialogue on synthetic biology (June 2009)
This report presents the findings of an exploratory public dialogue project to explore uninformed and informed perceptions of and attitudes to synthetic biology in the UK. - COSY Project: Communicating Synthetic Biology (EU)
Markus Schmidt, Organisation for International Dialog and Conflict Management IDC