Giving Beekeeping Guidance by cOmputatiOnal-assisted Decision making

Photo: Prof. Dirk de Graaf We launch a new series of videos featuring experts working on the project, in order to provide a clear overview of the project, B-GOOD’s objectives, methodology and progress. In the first video, B-GOOD’s coordinator Prof. Dirk de Graaf gets in front of the camera and talks about the project action plan and expected outputs. "[B-GOOD] tackles two very important questions, one is on the health and sustainability", says Dirk in the opening...

Nottingham Trent University are seeking a candidate to work as a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow as part of a multidisciplinary team in support of research funded by the EU under project grant B-GOOD. The successful candidate will underpin fundamental research into honey bee health and the automated monitoring of hives. The role will involve working in close collaboration with, including possibly spending short periods of time at, consortium research organisations in Europe. This is an...

This update on the progress of the BEEP base was provided by April van Delden. Wednesday the 28th of January, Stephan Peterse of the BEEP team sealed the boxes. What started off with piles of components for the BEEP base - steel, sensors, PCBs, screws, boxes - resulted in the production of 89 BEEP bases. The joined effort of the WUR and BEEP made this possible. Thanks to everybody for the good work in our assembly room. The first eight BEEP bases have already been taken to Wageningen...

Photo: Dana Freshley representing the B-GOOD project at the 2019 BEES Christmas Market The B-GOOD project was represented at the 2019 BEES Christmas Market, which took place on 20 December in Brussels, Belgium. The scientific networking Christmas-themed event was hosted by the Belgian Biodiversity Platform and with the Instituut voor Natuur- en Bosonderzoek (INBO) and united scientific experts, policy makers, stakeholders and practitioners. Central objectives and questions The...

B-GOOD wishes you a very happy holiday season and a joyful and prosperous New

Photo: Consortium members at the First General Assembly Meeting The first B-GOOD project assembly meeting took place between 2 and 3 December 2019. The meeting was hosted by the University of Coimbra, Portugal, and discussed the progress achieved on the project so far. The beginning of the event was marked by presentations discussing the advances in the B-GOOD work packages. Furthermore, discussions on the mini apiaries setup were undertaken: these apiaries are test sites where the...

Photo: Viktoria Nikolova at the International Fair of apiculture products in Varna, 2019 The B-GOOD project was presented at the International Fair of apiculture products Varna 2019 that took place between 17 and 19 September 2019 in Varna, Bulgaria. More than 100 beekeepers and representatives of beekeeping associations from Moldova, Romania, Turkey, Bulgaria, and Ukraine were welcomed.  The manager of Varna’s district information point Viktoria Nikolova introduced the...

BEEP successfully reached its crowdfunding goal for the BEEP base only nine days after launching their campaign on the Kickstarter platform. The proposed open-source beehive scale, measuring weight, sound and temperature, was created by the beekeeper and engineer Marten Schoonman and product developer Pim van Gennip. Beekeepers can monitor their bees through the accompanying BEEP app that shows the measurement data from the BEEP base. This real-time information enables them to make timely and...

Nottingham Trent University are seeking a candidate to work as a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow as part of a multidisciplinary team in support of research funded by the EU under project grant B-GOOD. The successful candidate will underpin fundamental research into honey bee health and the automated monitoring of hives. Full job offer & application process here: https://vacancies.ntu.ac.uk/displayjob.aspx?jobid=7168  Merging data from within and around beehives as well as...

The University of Coimbra opens a tender to award a fellow scholarship under the B-GOOD project, with the following characteristics: 1) Participate in data gathering on pollen and nectar production by dominant plant species and on phenological patterns according to the bibliography and databases of existing plant characteristics.2) Contribute to phytosociological information on landscape elements mapped for Europe, identifying keystone species important for bees, and to the characterization...

The H2020 project B-GOOD was part of the 10th World Conference of the Ecosystem Services Partnership that took place in Hannover, Germany. The event welcomed about 800 participants from 65 countries. By bringing together researchers, policymakers and practitioners, the conference aim was to implement best practices for managing ecosystem services and maintain and enhance the related science, policy and practical application. Additional focus was put into topics of conservation and...

The Bee Cello - a unique B-GOOD inspired and supported installation is now available to see for visitors of Holme Pierrepont Hall, Nottingham, UK. The cello, which is home to over 20,000 local honey bees can now be seen by visitors on days when the gardens are open to the public. Photo: An installation by Dr. Martin Bencsik at the Holme Pierrepont Hall, Nottingham, UK. The credits for the unique installation goes to Dr Martin Bencsik, who...

B-GOOD took part in the 46th Apimondia International Apicultural Congress, which took place from 8-12 September 2019 in Montreal, Canada. The Scientific Program for the 46th Congress covers a wide range of topics of interest to researchers and beekeepers alike.   The project was represented with a scientific poster presented at the congress by B-GOOD's coordinator Prof Dirk de Graaf, Ghent University. At this initial stage, B-GOOD's...

On 9 July 2019 B-GOOD met its sister project INSIGNIA to exchange ideas and plan for future collaboration. Both B-GOOD's Coordinator Dirk de Graaf, Ghent University and INSIGNIA's - Sjef van der Steen, Alveus AB Consultancy - presented their respective project's objectives and aims. Among the points discussed were intentions to organize joint contact moments with the stakeholders and plans for future joint consultations. Agreements were also made in terms...

Big data, an interactive platform and six different technological innovations are the core of the recently started Horizon 2020 project B-GOOD in its 4-year mission to pave the way toward healthy and sustainable beekeeping across the European Union. In close cooperation with the EU Bee Partnership, the project aims to develop a EU-wide bee health and management data platform, which will enable sharing of knowledge between scientists, beekeepers and other actors in the area....

The B-GOOD project had its official Kick-off Meeting on 12&13 June 2019 in Ghent, Belgium. The project's acronym stands for "Giving Beekeeping Guidance by Computational-assisted Decision Making". B-GOOD the involves 17 institutions from 13 countries across the EU, including scientists, beekeepers, and beekeeping associations and will run for a total of 4 years through which it will seek to pave the way toward healthy and sustainable beekeeping across the...

Newly published research looks into the association between the deformed wing virus and the parasitic mite Varroa destructor as a major cause of worldwide honeybee colony losses. The article featured in Proceedings of the Royal Society B studies the mechanisms through which the mite acts as a vector of the viral pathogen and can trigger its replication in infected bees. The authors develop and test a novel hypothesis that mite feeding...