Wellington Proving a Popular Venue for Research Symposium

All the best and brightest minds in New Zealand’s honey bee research in one room, along with the beekeepers who want to be brought up to speed on the latest findings – that’s the idea behind the New Zealand Honey Bee Research Symposium which will see its sixth iteration take place in Wellington, Thursday August 28.

The 2024 Honey Bee Research Symposium saw more than 100 people cram into the Ruakura Research Centre in Hamilton, and on August 28 this year’s event in Wellington is heading for another ‘sell out’.

The event was first held in 2020 and, in a sign of the Covid-inflicted times, was online. Since then, Rotorua, Christchurch and Hamilton have played host. Now, in year six, the event will be centrally located in the nation’s capital and on the home turf of event organiser Prof. Phil Lester of the University of Victoria Wellington.

“We cap the event at 100 attendees and we are nearing three quarters of that already registered, so I encourage anyone who wants to come along and be brought up to speed with the latest in what the science community in the beekeeping space is doing to sign up now,” Lester says.

The final programme of speakers for the university venue is yet to be finalised, but abstracts have previously been called for and organisers are working through them. Once they have decided who will present and when, each will have 15 minutes to detail their findings and/or ongoing research.

While the title might read ‘Honey Bee’, in reality the spectrum of topics is always far wider. Honey research and varroa findings are always covered, but the likes of native bees, propolis and even new product adaptations having been known to be discussed too.

In recent years the day has been capped with an open discussion which allows attendees to converse around where they think research should be focused moving forward. This will once again be the case the organisers say, thus providing beekeepers an opportunity to help guide future research.

“While the research portion of our industry operates on a, comparatively, thin budget for the most part, there is some good work going on out there with an eye to real-world, practical application for beekeepers,” Lester says.

“We designed the Symposium with the idea of fostering collaboration between the honey bee science community, as well as between scientists and beekeepers. I think it has been successful in doing that, and on August 28 in Wellington that will once again be the aim.”

Registration to the event costs $80, includes catered food and can be made here.