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- I did see that the iGEM site itself already provides teams with a lovely prebuilt Gantt chart checklist, so I have not produced another one for this purpose. I will however summarise what I think the key milestone points are alongside rough time points I would imagine we would want to aim for.
- Stakeholder outreach to companies and researchers that our project could impact is a priority as soon as the research period has ended and we are concrete on our concepts. I imagine the initial research period will only last a few weeks maximum in order to get the ball rolling as soon as possible. Aiming to give presentations and try and secure funding from commercial interest is key for sufficient funds and I noticed that many iGEM pages have a wide range of sponsors. In particular, companies involved in Vitamin D production in mushrooms already here in The Netherlands would be good to approach, such as Scelta Mushrooms, limas, or the grower Champignonland Horst. Researcher involvement is also key as it can rapidly increase our understanding and improve future presentations with their collaboration.
- By this point, likely early to mid February, we should be developing our pitch and presentations, as well as starting out on documentation and potentially media production as well depending on the comfort level of the team with it. We should be arranging meetings with potential company sponsors for March at the latest (depending on availability) in order to hear back before sign up deadlines. Ideally, the required funding should be secured by March/April for the wet labs research to go ahead. Smaller sources of funds led by the team such as sponsored sports events, bakesales, and family/friend donations should also be run during this period once we have media to publicise our project with. If the required materials are also already available at the University or low enough cost, it would be best to start wet labs even earlier if feasible.
- Safety forms are due June, so should be prepared throughout May to ensure completion, as well as confirming the Village selection. I think it would be a good idea for the rest of the team not involved directly in the experimentation to from April-August be practicing and producing online social media content to both raise awareness and build skills ahead of the introductory video deadline in August. The more time we can put into this earlier on, the simpler it will be to put together a full presentation video later when the crunch will be really felt!
- Hopefully then by August we will have meaningful results from our wet lab which we can then start producing final content around for the jamboree. Keeping stakeholders up to date on the progress during this time period will also be key for building our project narrative, and to potentially hear useful additional suggestions from experts either in research or industry. We should also be drafting our booth concepts and live stage talk proposal (which I imagine we would go for even if not invited!) to have it refined in good time.
- September onwards we should be finalising our presentation video plans and be mid production, and also updating the wiki with conclusions, results, and trimmed of any excess information (as the wiki should be updated throughout as we go with all relevant content to then be cut down as needed later). Rehearsals for any stage presentations should be started to help make sure everyone presenting is comfortable and prepared for the jamboree.
a c t i o n . p l a n
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| start date | end date | activity |
|---|---|---|
| 01/01/2026 | 20/01/2026 | Research period - current knowledge, routes forward, and active researchers |
| 21/01/2026 | 15/02/2026 | Stakeholder outreach - arrange meetings with researchers and interested companies |
| 21/01/2026 | 15/02/2026 | Pitch creation - preparation and practice for stakeholder meetings |
| 16/02/2026 | 15/03/2026 | Stakeholder meetings |
| 16/02/2026 | 31/08/2026 | Social media production - the earlier the better to develop skills throughout the project |
| 16/02/2026 | 30/05/2026 | Funding campaign - team money raising and company funds |
| 01/03/2026 | 31/08/2026 | Wet lab research - could even begin earlier if the funds and means to begin are already present |
| 01/03/2026 | 31/08/2026 | Stakeholder updates - any funders or researchers involved should be kept up to date on developments |
| 01/05/2026 | 31/05/2026 | Safety form preparation and Village selection |
| 01/08/2026 | 31/08/2026 | Finalising of wet lab results and conclusions from these |
| 01/09/2026 | 30/09/2026 | Presentation video production and wiki clean up |