Students Engagement Program

Biosafety and biosecurity play a crucial role in scientific research, healthcare, and public safety. It is essential to raise awareness about the safe handling of biological materials and the prevention of biotechnology misuse. SEAOHUN, in collaboration with Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), is pleased to announce the fourth annual Regional Student Competition in 2023, focusing on Biosafety and Biosecurity. This year's competition will involve the creation of visually compelling infographic posters to empower undergraduate students from SEAOHUN member universities in raising awareness about biosafety and biosecurity in a comprehensive and informative manner.

Objective

The competition aims to:

Promote awareness and understanding of biosafety and biosecurity principlesamong students.
Encourage students to explore innovative approaches to enhancing biosafety andbiosecurity practices.
Foster creativity and effective communication skills through visually compellingposters.
Provide a platform for students to share their ideas and contribute to the broaderdiscussion on biosafety and biosecurity.

Target Participants

The competition is open to undergraduate students studying in SEAOHUN member universities in Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Theme and Topics

The competition theme is “Protecting Lives: Promoting Biosafety and Biosecurity fora Sustainable Future.“

The infographic posters should address the following topics:

What are biosafety and biosecurity, and why are they important
The role of biosafety and biosecurity in the control and prevention of controllingand preventing infectious diseases.
The involvement of the One Health approach in biosafety and biosecuritymeasures to protect human, animal, and environmental health against pathogens.

Deadline to submit the application: 3rd September 2023 (Extension)
Winner teams will be announced by the end of September 2023

Download Call for Application: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/1F-sECgpg-KbqoJfPDgPAN6y3yTZhFNiR

Submission Link: https://form.jotform.com/231971255284460

Requirements and Eligibillities

Each team should consist of exactly 4 student members and 1 university faculty member as a mentor. Special encouragement is given to young women to participate.
Team members and faculty mentor must be the citizens from SEAOHUN member countries (Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam)
Team members can be undergraduate or freshly graduate students (no more than 3 months) at the time of participation.
One faculty member can be a mentor for more than one team. But one student may join only one team.
Teams coming from 3 disciplines will receive higher scores.The collaboration between different One Health disciplines is encouraged, for example veterinary science, human health, and environmental health/ecology. Other possible disciplines included but not limited to are public health, epidemiology, economics, law, political science, social sciences, marketing, public affairs, communications, arts or graphic design.

Submission Requirements

A poster and a short poster description
Poster must have below technical requirements:
- Poster Size: A3, 297 x 420 mm (either landscape or portrait) **please leave at least 1 inch empty space for us to add the disclaimer at the bottom.
- Resolution: at least 300 dpi
- Poster formats: .JPEG and .PNG
- Poster description format: Word/Pdf
- File size: 10 MB maximum
- Title font size: Not smaller than 22 pt
- Text font size: Not smaller than 12 pt
- Language: English
- No plagiarism allowed
- Please name the poster file: Country_Team name_Poster (e.g. Thailand_Team1_ Poster)
Short description of poster: Not more than 200 words to explain the inspiration, concept, or context behind your poster. It must be submitted in word/pdf format. Please name the description file: "Country_Team name_Description" (e.g. Thailand_Team1_Description)
Each team is allowed to submit only one poster and one poster description.

About Students Engagement Program

SEAOHUN Students Engagement Program encourages students across its member Universities to practice applying One Health concept and approach in addressing One Health issues. SEAOHUN organizes regional students’ activities where students across disciplines and countries can interact and develop technical and soft skills, including infectious diseases, zoonoses, antimicrobial resistance, communication, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking, all of which are essential to solving complex health challenges. These activities include producing posters, videos, and arts to raise awareness of One Health in their communities.

Program Objective

The Student Engagement Program aims to foster the young professionals from multidisciplinary background to learn and apply the One Health concept to stimulate the good practices in the communities.

Our History of Successful
Regional Students Competitions

12_Vietnam_NonDigital_TBUMP ONE HEALTH CLUB.png

2022

SEAOHUN marked World Antimicrobial Awareness Week in November 2022 with its 3rd Annual Regional Student Competition, partnered with USAID One Health Workforce – Next Generation (OHW-NG) consortium, Zoetis, and Pfizer. Undergraduate teams from SEAOHUN nations crafted digital and non-digital art to creatively communicate the urgency of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) to the public. The event commenced on September 21, 2022, accompanied by a webinar titled "Communicating the Impact of AMR through Art" on September 26, 2022, where OHW-NG speakers shed light on AMR and blending science with art. Participation from Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam yielded 58 thought-provoking art pieces, reinforcing the idea that "a picture is worth a thousand words." SEAOHUN applauds partners USAID, Zoetis, and Pfizer for contributing to the success of the SEAOHUN 2022 Regional Student Competition. This initiative not only amplified AMR awareness but also nurtured cross-disciplinary skills among emerging professionals, empowering them to advocate One Health principles in their communities.

“Using Art is such amazing and fun idea to raise AMR awareness in creative way. The webinar also provided the knowledge and information of AMR and tips for drawing. I learned that messages conveyed in the form of art can educate the non-scientific community effectively and easily. Through this competition, I gained a lot of new experiences by working as a team, generating scientific ideas and converting into artwork.” – Rachana Dorn, Whale Team, Cambodia

2021

For the second year, “SEAOHUN 2021 Regional Students’ Competition: Risk of Zoonotic Diseases” was held with the aim to foster the young professionals from multidisciplinary background to learn and apply the One Health concept to stimulate the good practices in the communities. This competition was funded by United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Chevron as a co-sponsor. This competition acted as an opportunity for the students of SEAOHUN member countries to utilize their creative skills (soft skill) and technical knowledge (hard skill) to communicate to the public about the risk of Zoonotic diseases. Over 200 students joined with 52 submissions received from seven SEAOHUN member countries (Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam). The competition ended up with achieving one award per country and recognized six runners up, yielding so many interesting and well-made entries with a very successful public selection.

“I'm so very happy to join the SEAOHUN in the video competition, that was a new experience for me to create the video for raising awareness for people to understand the Risk of Zoonotic Disease… my team members [and I] learned a lot from making the video, especially about teamwork… we always motivate each other and keep working together during the pandemic. Finally, I thank you for creating this program that is an opportunity for youth to learn from each other and we contribute to helping our society or community.” -

A student who joined the SEAOHUN 2021 Regional Students’ Competition

2020

In 2020, there was poster and video competition of “Covid-19 Digital Awareness Challenge” aimed at engaging Southeast Asian students in educating their communities about COVID-19 and promoting risk-reducing behavior through digital platforms. The activity was supported by the USAID One Health Workforce Next Generation (OHW-NG) project. Over 200 students across six Southeast Asian countries (Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam) submitted 110 posters, flyers, and videos to raise awareness of their communities on COVID-19. From there, 4 winners; 2 for videos and 2 for posters were identified who created the best original, creative and informative products.