Symposium¶
Symposium consists in running a research event on a specific topic bringing together experts from the fields, from local anf global outreach. What's better than gathering a community of practices into the field you want to discover and develop locally? Opening the doors to young professionnals, students to attend and participate in events with more expert and recognized people is a great occasion for them to learn about the topic, to find inspirations and to connect to the community.
International Biomaterial Learning Symposium¶
| Path | Target | Duration | Skills |
|---|---|---|---|
| Discovery | All audiences | 2h | Biofabrication |
Innovative Biomaterials in Design: A Shemakes Symposium¶
The idea of the symposium is the first step in tackling the topics of biomaterials. We used this approach as an introduction to the hands-on activities that were programmed for afterwards and were targeting students. Using a format of an online (Zoom platform) Symposium with moderated discussion offered us to engage and expand our audience. We invited national and international experts to participate in the talks on the future of fashion materials - more precisely we had a discussion and presentations on the topic of Innovative biomaterials. Combining practitioners and researchers from different fields of biobased materials, we created a broad circle of expertise in a limited time.
Target audience and context of use
The event was intended for students, teachers, scientists and other experts interested in biomaterials. Symposium was used as an intro to the later Cellulosic and Biomaterials hands-on workshops for students. It was an excellent overview of biomaterials and also to learn about the institutions that are researching the topic, to get first-hand information on the experiences of professionals making products from biomaterials, to learn about the diversity, greenwashing and overall methodologies including sustainable fashion paradox.
Programme¶
- 17:00 ⎪ Welcome and introduction
- 17:05 ⎪ Presentation about the Shemakes project and the Innovative Biomaterials workshops
- 17.10 ⎪ Lecture and presentations by key experts
- 18:10 ⎪ Moderated discussion about the future and role of women innovators in the textile and clothing sector, followed by Q&A
- 19:00⎪ Close
Step by Step Instructions¶
STEP BY STEP overview
- Confirm the availability of the speakers, obtain their cv, profile image, images of their work, title of their talk.
- Define the time available for each lecture
- Create the event on the platform of your choice. ( in his case zoom was used)
- Do a test check, connect it to the channels you want.
- Send a newsletter, invite through facebook
- Send the event to relevant platforms, to stakeholders that can give more visibility, to the speakers.
- Make sure that the speakers have stable connection before the beginning of the event
- Open for discussion and interact with the public
- Send a follow up email to the lecturers and registrants thanking them for their participation and sending usefull links, such as the recording or statistics of participation
Example for invitation email
Tips to facilitate the activity in context (to-do / not do)¶
- Let some time for the speakers to interact with each other and with the audience
- If possible, arrange an online meeting with all speakers in advance to make them familiar with each others work and open the rooms for discussions.
- Publish the activity in advance on social media and share flyers and posters with the speakers, so that they can also invite their peers.
- share the event live of social media platforms
- Ask for the participants to sign up/register to the event and to your lab's newsletter, so that you can get back in touch with them for other events.
- This activity combines internation and national speakers, thus it is a very good opportunity to create synergies with local initiatives, Universities, designers, stakeholders and highlight their work in an international level.
- find a diverse group of key experts and cover different fields of biomaterials,
- have a meeting with key experts before the event to coordinate the topics,
- prepare PowerPoint template in which every expert can add their presentation,
- keep the number of slides limited and same proportion of speaking/presenting time for all guests,
- directly address educational institutions to help and share the event,
- encourage speakers to be engaging and participants to interact and ask questions,
- Add some background music at the beginning of the event, while waiting for everyone to join online.
- make sure that you and the speakers have a stable internet connection, best through LAN cable
Estimated cost
The online symposium cost varies, depending on the fees arrangement with the lecturers. It can be completely free or each lecturer can receive a remunaration.
References¶
Here you can find the LINK of the event on ROGLAB's webpage.
Innovative Biomaterials in design, a shemakes online symposium
PRESENTATIONS
Licence and credits¶
Attribution — ShareAlike CC BY-SA This activity has been designed by Lucija Jankovec from Roglab and Anastasia Pistofidou from Iaac Fab Lab Barcelona for shemakes.eu.
Related and supporting activities/modules
It can be combined with the other topics of Biofabrication.