Each year a division of the Essex Beekeepers Association arranges a conference – This year the Dengie 100 and Maldon Beekeepers division are our hosts :

Details

Date : Saturday 31st October 2015, 9:45 – 4:30

Location : Ormiston Academy, Burnham-on-crouch, CM0 8BD

Tickets

• £25 non-members
• £20 EBKA members
• £15 junior members (U18)

Phone : 01245 381577

Email:  conference@dmbka.org.uk

Division website

Keynote Speakers

Professor Francis Ratnieks – Sussex University

Francis Ratnieks has been studying insects since he was a boy, and honey bees for the past 30 years. He took his PhD at Dyce Laboratory for Honey Bee Studies in the Department of Entomology at Cornell University. He has kept up to 180 bee hives of his own, making comb honey, rearing queens for sale, and pollinating almonds. He has studied honeybees on all continents other than Antarctica. He has supervised 20 PhD students. He is the UK’s only Professor of Apiculture and he is author of 250 scientific research articles.

Keynote Presentation: The Sussex Plan for Honey Bee Health & Well Being.

What we have learned to help honeybees and beekeeping.

At the EBKA 2015 Annual Conference, Professor Ratnieks will describe “Sussex Plan” research aimed at helping honey bee health and foraging. In terms of honeybee health, he will present results of a series of projects on the effectiveness of hygienic behaviour in controlling Varroa mites and Deformed Wing Virus, and also on the effectiveness of other control methods against Varroa. In terms of foraging, Professional Ratnieks will describe results of a series of projects that have decoded honeybee waggle dances to understand where the bees are foraging and at what distances, as well projects that have compared the attractiveness of different flower varieties for honey bees and other flower-visiting insects.

Professor Lin Field – Rothamsted Research

Lin Field, currently a Head of Department at Rothamsted Research has published more than 200 peer-reviewed papers and popular articles as well obtained funding for, and supervised, many science projects, including 15 PhD studentships since her early days as technician.  As Honorary Chair at the University of Nottingham and a President of the Royal Entomological Society Lin is conversant with the insect world, including the honeybee.  Her personal research interests are focussed on understanding an insecticide mode of action and resistance at the biochemical/molecular level and then using this knowledge to develop better pest control strategies.

Keynote Presentation: Why do we use insecticides and what are the threats for bees?

In this presentation at the 2015 EBKA Conference, Professor Fields will discuss why we use insecticides and what we know about how they work. She will particularly explain what determines toxicity and why some chemicals are very specific for insects and indeed why some are specific for just some kinds of insects. This will include the effect of different compounds on bees and on the varroa mites that threaten bee colonies. The debate on one group of insecticides, the neonicotinoids, is ongoing and Professor Field hopes to be able to give an update on the position at the time of the conference. She will also talk about some of the work she is doing at Rothamsted to try to help find compounds, which offer good pest control without damaging bees.

Barbara Dalby

Biography TBC

Keynote Presentation: TBA

Description TBA