Giving Beekeeping Guidance by cOmputatiOnal-assisted Decision making

The first part of the 18th COLOSS Conference took place online on 17-18 October. The two-part 2022 e-gathering consists of 2 days full of workshops and a main event, which will be held on 2-3 November. COLOSS (Prevention of honey bee COlony LOSSes) is an international, non-profit association headquartered in Bern, Switzerland that is focused on improving the well-being of bees at a global level. It is composed of scientific professionals that include researchers, veterinarians, agriculture...

The European Research Executive Agency (REA) hosted a workshop on 10. October to examinе the current pollinator situation, pinpoint substantial knowledge gaps, as well as their potential solutions resulting from EU-funded projects supporting pollinators.   A welcome speech by Paul Webb of the REA was followed by discussions on the insights gained from the EU's international research initiatives and  most important next steps for both research and policy. Sofie Hofkens...

The 9th European Congress of Apidology (EurBee9) took place from 19-22 September 2022 in Belgrade, Serbia. This year’s edition of the conference was convened under the motto "Save the bees for our future" and welcomed scientists from Europe and far beyond to exchange recent advancements and ideas that emerge from basic and applied research.  The conference aims to foster the exchange of knowledge and international collaboration and to enable researchers, instructors,...

On the 14-15th of September 2022, the 182nd Seminar on "Sustainability via biodiverse agri-food value chains" (EAAE) took place in Chania, Crete at the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania. The event with the theme ‘Sustainability via biodiverse agri-food value chain’ brought together scholars and researchers, amongst whom were several B-GOOD partners. In a rapidly changing environment where wildfires, desertification and floods, disease outbreaks, increasing trade costs,...

Complex model documentation has long been a challenge since currently used methods involve reviewers too late in the process, often not allowing them to flag issues or suggest redesigns before the analysis is finished. The Formal Model, introduced recently in the open access journal Food and Ecological Systems Modelling Journal (FESMJ), aims to improve transparency and provide a formal approach to documentation. Reviewers can help improve the model by identifying problems early. The Formal...

A new research paper featuring B-GOOD partner and WP5 leader Prof. Christopher John Topping was recently published in the journal Nature Communication, and sheds light on the pesticide effects on honey bees. The publication titled "A deeper understanding of system interactions can explain contradictory field results on pesticide impact on honey bees", puts forward a research, explaining the contrasting field results regarding the harm of toxic compounds on honey bee health and...

B-GOOD’s main goal is to support beekeepers in maintaining healthy and sustainable bee colonies. In order to promote their invaluable work and part in B-GOOD, we launched a new webpage on the project website devoted to our #BeekeeperStories social media campaign.The #BeekeeperStories campaign tells the stories of different B-GOOD beekeepers in an effort to emphasize the value, opportunities, and difficulties of beekeeping. The posts, shared on Facebook and Twitter on a weekly basis, can...

Meet Vincent Louis, a Swiss beekeeper living in Geneva, on the new #BeekeeperStories instalment! Vincent started beekeeping 5 years ago in a hobby group within an industrial company. Two years later, he had the opportunity to acquire his own apiary from a beekeeper who had to urgently leave the country. It took him less than five minutes to make the decision without even realising that he lives in an apartment and has no garden to set the colonies. Fortunately, he was lucky enough to find...

A new publication focusing on the Lateral Flow Device (LFD) developed within B-GOOD is now available. The article titled "Biosensing Chlorpyrifos in Environmental Water Samples by a Newly Developed Carbon Nanoparticle-Based Indirect Lateral Flow Assay" has been published in Biosensors - the international, peer-reviewed, open access journal on the technology and science of biosensors. The authors of the article, amongst whom B-GOOD researchers Mang Xu and Jeroen Peters of Wageningen...

#BeekeeperStories is back on Twitter & Facebook! In the eight feature of the series, we present to you Bas Sprengers. Bas is a 35-year-old beekeeper from the Netherlands. He has always been fascinated by insects. Before starting beekeeping, he used to keep ants in a formicarium. In 2016, after getting his driver’s licence, he bought second-hand beekeeping equipment from a retired beekeeper and since that day he’s had between 1-14 hives. Bas says that he loves spending time...

The 47th edition of the Apimondia International Apicultural Congress took place from 24-28 August 2022 in Istanbul, Turkey. For the first time, three major symposia have been organised with the participation of world-recognised specialists speaking about the most relevant themes in apiculture. This year, the congress was organised in hybrid format, by livestreaming scientific sessions in the virtual platform. Apimondia is the International Federation of Beekeepers’ Associations. Its...

Our campaign #BeekeeperStories on Twitter & Facebook continues! The next feature is Dirk-Jan (DJ) Valkenburg, a B-GOOD researcher for Wageningen University & Research (WR), who is also participating in the project as a Tier 3 beekeeper.From early childhood, DJ remembers being fascinated by people wearing bee suits. He always knew he wanted to become a beekeeper in the future, but thought he would have more time for that when he’s older. But then fate played its part and he got a...

Each year, millions of bees travel thousands of miles - not on their wings but via the highway or postal services. In the new B-GOOD video titled "Express Delivery of B-GOOD Samples", B-GOOD Tier 2 beekeeper Norman Thürmer shows us the rather unusual manner in which he transports his bees. Photo: Norman Thürmer transporting his bees on his plane The video created by Norman himself presents the delivery of the samples from his beehives in Magdeburg, Germany to the...

Next up on #BeekeeperStories on Twitter & Facebook is Tobias Dittmann, a beekeeper from Germany. Tobias is an ex-filmmaker. Ten years ago, he used to be unsatisfied with his movie maker job, when he found his new passion. After helping a professional beekeeper for 3 months, Tobias liked it so much that he took a professional training course and became a beekeeper himself. He now works at Bee Health Service, where he advises beekeepers and veterinarians. What he finds most exciting...

Our fifth feature in the #BeekeeperStories series on Twitter & Facebook is Thorsten Hornemann.Thorsten is a hobby beekeeper from Switzerland, who joined BEEP and the B-GOOD project. He had a lifelong fascination with insects, especially bees. He lived in Germany when he was younger and tried beekeeping there for a while. He made the decision to retry after moving to Switzerland. For him, the best part is, of course, honey. Thorsten loves seeing his bees grow, studying their behaviour, and...

Our campaign #BeekeeperStories, presenting the stories of various B-GOOD beekeepers, continues on Twitter & Facebook! The fourth feature in the series is Malte Hesse. Malte is a beekeeper from Essen, Germany. Four years ago, his company offered a beekeeping course, while working together with the Bee Association in Mannheim. The training took place on the campus of the company, where the beehives were located. The course sparked Malte's interest and he immediately signed up. He's...

B-GOOD’s eventful 7th consortium meeting united beekeepers, project partners and multi-actor forum members and concluded at the end of June 2022. (Read more about the meeting here.) The first day of the meeting was dedicated to the beekeepers in the project and was full of excitement. It took a rather non-conventional structure, including not only informative presentations and in-depth discussions, but also networking sessions, workshops, a quiz and the information market stands. The...

Our campaign #BeekeeperStories, presenting the stories of various B-GOOD beekeepers, continues on Twitter & Facebook! The third feature in the series is Chrys Charpentier. He is a beekeeper from the Netherlands, who shares with us his aspirations and the story behind his passion for bees.  Chrys’ grandfather is a beekeeper who inspired him to become one as well when he was just 14 years old. His favourite part about being a beekeeper is that it gives colour to his daily...

The second #BeekeeperStories feature is on Twitter & Facebook! Our guest, Martin Klopfer, shares his story and his long-term goals.Martin is a beekeeper from northern Germany, working with the B-GOOD project. When we asked him what made him interested in beekeeping, he tоld us that it somehow always surrounded him. Martin used to be a part of an EU project where pollination services were a relevant aspect in one of the pilots. Meanwhile, his neighbours are also beekeepers, which...

B-GOOD is all about healthy and sustainable beekeeping. Its main objective is to help beekeepers maintain healthy bee colonies. In order to highlight their invaluable work and role in B-GOOD, we launched a new campaign dedicated to beekeepers.#BeekeeperStories is a campaign presenting the stories of various B-GOOD beekeepers with the goal of highlighting the importance, opportunities, and challenges of beekeeping. The stories will be shared weekly on the project’s website, as well as on...