The writer is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute professor of Biomedical Engineering, International Health and Medicine at Boston University. He tweets @mhzaman
Our students, who are just as competitive and passionate as anywhere else that I have travelled to or worked at, face an increasingly competitive world. In addition to the standard problems of society they also face poverty of encouragement, ignorance and above all a society that puts more emphasis on the end than the means. They also face our intentional and unintentional biases that make the journey to the top all too difficult.
Our biases are a combined result of laziness and ignorance. Our first bias comes from focusing only on the end result. We get to know of the student, in our loud media, who got a big trophy or a recognition, only after the event. Little do we ever focus on the process and the journey. Thus our choice to highlight is based on the recommendation of judges, not on the project, event or the student. The second bias comes from our own ignorance. For us, a student project should fit a certain mould. If it is not a sport, it has to be either some kind of a debate (or a model UN) competition, or if it is science it has to be a gadget, a software, an app or something that can be clearly defined in electrical and mechanical terms. Elements of discovery in biological and health sciences are too messy and difficult to comprehend, hence not worthy of discussion. I am all for creativity in all forms, debate in all its manifestations, but if our definition of competition and success remains rigid, there is little reason for hope. The world needs more than apps and a smart phone is not a solution for all scientific challenges.
While this may sound depressing, and it is, there are also rays of hope. Last week, I came across a group of students aiming to become Pakistan’s first team to participate in the International Genetic Engineering Machine (iGEM) competition. The iGEM is a global competition focusing on synthetic biology and using novel tools to engineer biological systems to perform specific tasks. It may sound like science fiction, but we now have the tools to programme biological cells to help us detect water impurities, produce malaria medicines and generate fuel. Over the last decade I have had the pleasure of knowing one of the pioneers in the field, and learning a lot from him. In Pakistan, the understanding, awareness and appreciation has remained nascent. But a team of dedicated students is aiming to change that. What is remarkable is not only their pursuit of something that is needed but not appreciated, but also their commitment to inclusion, diversity of ideas and rejection of cultural and ethnic barriers. The team comprises male and female students, and members represent all four provinces. The team members come from not just Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar but also from Mardan, Waziristan, Hyderabad and Kalat.
When I spoke to them, I was impressed not only by their project focusing on reducing air pollution through biosensors, but also by their passion to increase awareness about science, technology and the ethical pursuit of technology. They have ways to go before the competition next year, but their commitment to excellence and intellectual diversity showed a level of maturity that our political elite needs.
In a time of division and rupturing of our national fabric by forces of ethnic division, there are also integrators, who may not be breaking any news but are breaking the bounds of myopia, ignorance and racial exclusion.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 30th, 2016.
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