On Thursday, 23 September, B-GOOD’s coordinator Prof. Dirk de Graaf received a honorary doctorate from the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. He receives this award for his pioneering work in bee research.

In his laudatio, Professor Daniel Dezmirean honored Professor de Graaf's involvement in the implementation of advanced technologies in bee research for a wide range of research lines. Prof. Dirk de Graaf introduced DNA fingerprinting techniques in the diagnosis of bee diseases 20 years ago and laid the foundations for the 'component resolved diagnosis' in sting allergy. In recent years, he has been very active in the field of selection and management in beekeeping. He unraveled the genetic origin of resilience to the varroa mite disease and discovered a trait that forms the basis of virus resistance in honeybees.

In his acceptance speech, Professor de Graaf pointed out the importance of technological collaboration in achieving ground-breaking research. B-GOOD is a great example, where the health status of a bee colony is estimated on the basis of remote sensing and machine learning technologies, aiming to guide beekeepers in their management by sending alerts whenever the health status of a colony deviates from a virtual reference colony.

Photo: Prof. Dirk de Graaf with the certificate and flanked by Rector Cornel Catoi (L) and Professor Daniel Dezmirean (R).