As we reflect on 2024, let’s look at our public and community engagement achievements. One particular highlight is our continuing partnership with young people. Our commitment has been to nurture a strong connection between research and the younger generation through a range of activities across all sites.
Active Participation of Young People in Research
As part of SEACOVARIANTS—a multidisciplinary research project assessing the biological significance of SARS-CoV-2 variants to support evidence-based policymaking—the Youth Action Research Group in HCMC has been an integral part of efforts to listen to communities affected by health crises.
This initiative brings together passionate young people and empowers them through training and practical activities to actively participate in research and contribute their unique perspectives. The group is developing a outbreak preparedness engagement framework that will help identify hard-to-reach and heavily impacted groups during outbreaks. Their work will inform recommendations for improving public health policies during future health crises.
Opportunities for Young Scientists
Seed Awards project has been a focal point for promoting community engagement among young scientists at OUCRU for the last 9 years. By providing funding and support for community-driven research projects, we have encouraged young researchers to develop engagement solutions, inspired creativity and innovation as well as strengthened the bond between academia and the broader community.
Nurturing Future Advocates
Children Against AMR in Nepal
OUCRU Nepal has been celebrating World Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Awareness Week (WAAW) since 2016. As part of our mission to inform, interact with, and engage the community on AMR issues, our public engagement (PE) team conducted various activities for WAAW 2024. Following this year’s theme “Educate, Advocate, Act now,” we launched a comprehensive youth engagement campaign featuring innovative, creative, and participatory activities across digital and in-person platforms. Through visual storytelling and discussions, our team worked to raise awareness about AMR, promote responsible antibiotic use, and foster cross-sector collaboration. Here are the key highlights of our campaign:
- More than 120 students from three schools participated in the “Fighting AMR with Youths” educational sessions.
- 21 creative vlogs were produced exploring healthcare-seeking behaviors.
- “Paint down the bugs,” a two-day comic workshop, brought together 8 young artists who created four impactful stories to communicate complex AMR concepts.
- 46 young professionals from IT, pharmacy, engineering, medicine, and management attended our collaborative webinar “The AMR Chronicles: Battling the Invisible Enemy.”
Raising Awareness among Young People in Indonesia
In Indonesia, many people use antibiotics as a general medication whenever they’re sick. With OUCRU’s support, CIMSA (Center for Indonesian Medical Students’ Activities) created a series of 3-minute social experiment videos. The student project team interviewed young people and the general public about their antibiotic use and knowledge. The findings were concerning but unsurprising: 8 out of 10 people were unfamiliar with AMR, and half reported using antibiotics for simple infections without proper diagnosis. The CIMSA and OUCRU team incorporated expert commentary from Dr. Robert Sinto to provide scientific context for further explanations and advices.
During this World AMR Awareness Week 2024’s initiative, CIMSA students gained valuable experience conducting research interviews and creating educational videos. This activity aligned with our mission to enhance scientific literacy and build capacity among young people and future generations.
Making Science Making Sense: Science Theatre and Fair
OUCRU’s Public and Community Engagement Group launched a science theatre tour in Ho Chi Minh City middle schools to raise AMR awareness. The interactive play “Take Medicine Recklessly, Bacteria Can Resist” used humour and Gen Z-friendly elements to teach students about proper antibiotic use, successfully reached and engaged with 5,000 students.
Building on the AMR play’s success, OUCRU’s Public and Community Engagement group partnered with the Tien Giang Department of Education to organise science events, including community plays and a science fair. These events gave students a platform to demonstrate their scientific understanding and show how art can make complex topics accessible.
Beyond celebrating the achievements of Tien Giang’s students and teachers, these events aim to inspire other schools to embrace science education and encouraged young children to think critically about future health issues.
Applying Forum Theatre method to raise awareness on Tetanus, led and executed by Youth Science Ambassadors
Launched in 2024, the Youth Science Ambassadors (YSA) is an empowerment program for youth from 18 to 25 years old who enroll in universities in Ho Chi Minh City. The young people will join OUCRU as volunteered part-time collaborators for 1 year to participate in training and mentoring sessions on public engagement while planning and executing their own youth initiative.
From a quick survey on the needs to learn more about top 10 infectious diseases among young people, tetanus is second to last, which is alarming as several young people in Vietnam are not vaccinated.
Recognising the situation needs more public awareness on the danger of tetanus and encouraging everyone to vaccinate, YSAs 2024 decided to create Protect Us from Tetanus (PUFT) project featuring Hospital Health Talks for patients and carers and Forum Theater Performances for young people and the wider public.
Forum theatre, an interactive method that provides a platform for the audience to intervene and change the scenerio, thereby changing the consequences of stories that end on negative note, had been chosen with the aim that this engaging approach will help to encourage more young people to actively participate in the activity. In-person with a completely non-scripted play about the journey of getting tetanus infection has been touring through 4 schools in Ho Chi Minh City. The community-led scenarios will be digitalised for people who can’t join the on-site sessions.
Science Visits
Since 2017, Science Visits has played as a bridge connecting curious children with scientific research through engaging experiences. During these visits, young participants take guided tours of state-of-the-art labs, interact directly with scientists, observe researchers at work, and participate in interactive role-playing activities. After a short pause during the COVID-19 pandemic, Science Visits have now returned—expanding beyond school students to include university students, particularly those studying sciences. In 2024, we organised 6 tours, welcoming more than 120 participants, including both students and teachers with positive feedback.
2025 will be the year that we will continue to strengthen the connection between OUCRU’s research and local communities, nurturing future generations, and improving public understanding and awareness on global health issues. We look forwards to contributing to building an evidence-based, scientific-driven society while enhancing the quality of life through research.
