In light of the travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 5th B-GOOD Consortium Meeting took place online. Project members and representatives of the B-GOOD multi-actor forum met up online between 28 and 30 June 2021. The three-day long online meeting was marked by insightful presentations, vivid discussions, SWOT analysis of project objectives, and an overview of the project’s developments and future initiatives. The meeting was organised by B-GOOD partners at Aarhus university.

 

Following a welcome address by project coordinator Prof. Dirk de Graaf and a brief overview of the agenda, the first day of the meeting offered a number of interesting presentations including the measuring of the effects that vibrations have on bees, updates about disease monitoring of B-GOOD mini-apiaries in 2020, the optimisation of on-site rapid testing technology (LFDs), assessment of floral resources, and results on the socioecomomics of beekeeping. The first day of the meeting concluded with an engaging social event in an interactive online environment!

Photo: Consortium members during the interactive online social event

The second day of the meeting began with panels that were dedicated to SWOT analysis of different actions of the project. Partners talked about the strenghts, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to bee health data gathering, socioeconomic analysis, stakeholder engagement, technological development and communication.

An interactive communication training had participants engaged in communicating research through social media. Parallel sessions on the impact of COVID-19 on the project and data collection and management offered participants an in-depth discussion and dialogue. At the end of the day, the most recent developments of the BEEP app were presented to partners.

The last day of the meeting began at the interactive digital social space of the project where the winners from the special B-GOOD CM5 photo competition were announced.

 

Photo: Interactive digital social space

 

Afterwards, meeting attendees took part in an interactive workshop on lateral flow devices (LFDs). The day concluded with an interactive panel on the creation of end-user tools for B-GOOD mapping and assessing of floral resources in Europe, and a presentation of the developments of the ApisRAM agent-based model. The teleconference highlighted B-GOOD’s action plans for the near future, which ultimately aim to provide guidance for beekeepers and pave the way towards healthy and sustainable beekeeping and pollination across Europe.

With the successful end of the 5th Consortium Meeting of the project in June 2021, the B-GOOD team is looking forward to the exciting project research and development in the upcoming months!