Addressing Emerging Synthetic Biology Threats: The Role of Education and Outreach in Fostering Effective Bottom-Up Grassroots Governance

This chapter seeks to examine the role of the synthetic biology community in strengthening biosafety and biosecurity and safeguarding synthetic biology against accidental and deliberate misuse. It argues that biosafety and biosecurity education, awareness-raising, and outreach are essential for fostering effective bottom-up (self-governance) approaches for biosafety and biosecurity risk management. The chapter provides an overview of the structure of the synthetic biology community underscoring its complexity in terms of professional interdisciplinarity, stakeholder diversity, and fluidity, i.e. professional and non-professional actors moving from one context to another over time. It then examines the prevalent perceptions and framing of biosafety and biosecurity risks within the synthetic biology community, in order to identify options for enhancing stakeholder engagement and leveraging the diversity of expertise within the synthetic biology community for promoting responsible research and innovation practices. The conclusion outlines a summary of the key findings in this chapter.