You saved cacao and chocolate!
Human Practices / Public Engagement
Public Engagement
Building bridges between science and society to ensure our microbial biocontrol solution addresses real-world needs and gains community acceptance.
Engaging Communities
Brought our project to diverse audiences to explain our microbial biocontrol idea, run hands-on demos (DNA extraction, quizzes, pipette races), and gather feedback.
Building Networks
Built networks and credibility by showing up at entrepreneurship fairs, meetups (national & international), industry/NGO collaborations, and competitions, positioning our team within both scientific and business circles.
Raising Awareness
Prioritized science outreach and awareness by speaking at events, making synthetic biology accessible and exciting to all audiences.
Events & Activities
Throughout our project, we have organized and participated in various events to engage with different stakeholders and communities. These activities have been instrumental in building awareness, gathering feedback, and fostering collaboration around our microbial biocontrol solution.
600 years of KU Leuven
February 15-16, 2025
In 2025, KU Leuven celebrated its 600th anniversary with festivities across the city. As part of the celebrations, student teams were showcased, and our team's booth was located at Group T, from the Faculty of Engineering Technology. This gave us the opportunity to engage with the wider public by presenting the previous projects of iGEM KU Leuven teams.
STEM Universities
February 22, 2025
On the 22nd of February, we participated in STEM university. This event was centered around STEM workshops for children. Our team conducted two sessions, each with approximately 30 children. It commenced with a short presentation that introduced the basics of biology and DNA. Following this, we organized a hands-on workshop where the children carried out DNA extractions with fruits, such as bananas and strawberries. To wrap up the activity, we held a quiz that allowed the children to test their knowledge and reflect on what they had learned during the session.
Entrepreneurship Day
March 4, 2025
The Entrepreneurship Day is held every year by the student association for Industrial Engineers. It gathers more than 130 companies and hundreds of students. During the event we engaged with students to raise awareness about our team, while also engaging with companies to broaden our network.
LBK Job Fair
March 30, 2025
The LBK job fair was organized by the student organization for Bioscience Engineers at KU Leuven. Students and companies participated in the event. It allowed us to appeal to prospective members and network with potential partners from the biotech industry.
Ekoli Festival
March 30, 2025
Ekoli Festival is a free science festival that brings science closer to children and young people from underrepresented backgrounds. It is organized by Ekoli, a non-profit organization that was co-founded by Hanne Tytgat, an iGEM KU Leuven alumnus. Around 450 participants aged 4 to 18 attended this event and explored various science-related experiments and workshops. Daniel and Niels contributed by assisting with the build-up, carrying out the experiments and answering questions.
KICK Challenge
May 13, 2025
The KICK Challenge is a business plan competition open to everyone within the university. Held on May 13th, it emphasizes the early development of start-ups and promotes entrepreneurship under (PhD-)students. Our team presented our project idea aiming to identify and predict our target market. While we advanced to the second phase of the competition, we did not make it to the finals of the KICK Challenge. Aside from the pitching finals and presentations of the Practical Innovation Projects (PIP), a networking event was organized afterwards where students and industry experts could interact with the startups and student teams from KU Leuven.
BFH Meetup
May 23-25, 2025
We participated in the BFH meetup in Frankfurt, which took place from the 23rd to 25th of May. Daniel, Aditya, Niels and one former team member, Anna joined. The Frankfurt team had organized various activities throughout the weekend. One of the major activities was a 10-minute presentation showcasing the problem each team is trying to solve and the methodology they intend to implement. We are proud that our team won the prize for the second-best presentation. In addition, a poster session was held after the presentation. This allowed for more informal discussions between the teams and judges.
Dutch Meetup
July 11, 2025
The Dutch meetup took place on the 11th of July in Utrecht. Five team members, Adithi, Beatriz, Brindha, Niels and Daniel represented our project during the meetup. During this event, we presented our project through a short 10-minute presentation. This was followed by discussions with other teams about their projects and ways to improve them.
JuniorJam Münster meetup
July 25-27, 2025
The iGEM JuniorJam Münster 2025 meetup took place from the 25th to the 27th of July. Daniel, Aditya, Olga and Amalia joined this meetup. Each team was given the opportunity to exhibit their work in a 10-minute presentation, as well as a poster session. Alongside the project focused activities, four talks were held throughout the weekend that introduced safety, plant biology and more. A panel discussion with three iGEM judges gave the teams the opportunity to gain a better understanding of the judging process during the Grand Jamboree in Paris. However, the weekend was not only focused on formal sessions. Introductory and social activities were organized, helping the different teams get to know each other and enjoy their time together.
Belgian meetup
August 9, 2025
We organized the Belgian meetup on the 9th of August in Leuven. The teams from UCLouvain and UHasselt were invited to participate, though the team from Hasselt was unable to attend. The UCLouvain team and our team both gave a 10-minute presentation to display our projects. After the presentations, we had lunch together and continued the day with a small tour of the city, which included a visit to the library tower.
International Student Fair
September 17, 2025
At this event, organized by Pangaea on the 17th of September, we had the opportunity to introduce synthetic biology and our team to international students that arrived in Leuven.
International Microorganism Day
September 20, 2025
On September 20th, our team attended International Microorganism Day, organized by the Young Belgian Society for Microbiology at the Museum of Natural Sciences in Brussels. This event brought together scientists, students, and the public to celebrate the fascinating world of microbes. By presenting our project and organizing a 'pipette race' we engaged with visitors of all ages, raising awareness about synthetic biology and its potential applications.
WiseNight
September 27, 2025
On September 27th, our team joined Ekoli Wisenight at the Museum of Natural Sciences in Brussels. This event, organized by Ekoli, was part of the European Researchers' Night and aimed to make science accessible to a broad audience. We supported Ekoli by assisting with educational activities and guiding participants through small experiments, offering visitors a practical introduction to science.
Kid's university
October 4, 2025
On October 4th, our team joined Kids University in Leuven, an event designed to introduce children to the world of science and research. We supported the program by helping with educational activities and small experiments. This included a do-it-yourself-DNA-extraction task and learning about bacteria.
Send-Off Event
October 22, 2025
On the 22nd of October, we are hosting our Sending-Off Event at the KICK House in Leuven. We have extended the invitation to all our sponsors, principal investigators and their PhD students, potential future team members, as well as the current team. The event will provide an opportunity to showcase our complete iGEM journey and highlight the invaluable contributions of our sponsors to our progress, while also giving them the stage to present themselves and their work.