SPBU hosted the second international workshop on global biosecurity
The second interdisciplinary multinational workshop "Designing the Future of Responsible Life Science Research. Identifying Global Problems — Proposing Joint Solutions" was held online from 17 October to 9 December 2022. This pilot project was developed and managed by Associate Professor and Director of the Cross-disciplinary Centre for Global Biosecurity Studies Dr. A. Malygina (SPbU, Russia), Dr. M. Himmel (Independent biosecurity consultant, Germany), Dr. M. Dukhinova (ITMO, Russia). The lecturers at the workshop were leading Russian and foreign experts in international relations and life sciences.
Eight students from St Petersburg, Ekaterinburg, Krasnoyarsk, Beijing, Shanghai, and Tainan attended the workshop: six international relations students and two life science students.
After the students attended introductory lectures, they were divided into two interdisciplinary working groups. Elena Kokinos (ITMO, Russia) who attended the first workshop of the series in spring 2022 consulted the two working groups and helped them in preparing final presentations. In the sixth week of the workshop the student working groups discussed their ideas and discoveries with other students and moderators. Moreover, the attendees of the workshop had a chance to join to the international expert panel "Life sciences and diplomacy: Interdisciplinary dialogue for strengthening global biosecurity" which was held on the margins of the First St Petersburg Congress on International Studies "Global and Regional Challenges in the Changing World" on November 10-12, 2022.
In the eighth week of the workshop students groups presented their final oral presentations. Working Group 1 shared ideas on possible ways to minimize risks in the field of bioinformatics and the Big data accumulation and processing. Working Group 2 examined potential risks associated with genetic engineering for food production and reviewed the national approaches to genetic engineering regulation. Some students expressed their desire to continue teamwork and prepare a joint scientific paper after the workshop.
The organisers presented the experience of developing and conducting this interdisciplinary educational project at the conference "GMOs: history, achievements, social and environmental risks", held at St Petersburg University on December 6-8, 2022, as well as at a side event on the margins of the 9th Review Conference of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, which took place in Geneva on November 28 — December 16, 2022.