Ten years after the foundation of the European Association for Bee Research (EurBee), LASI bee researcher Norman Carreck has recently returned from the fifth European Conference of Apidology, held at the Martin-Luther Universität, Halle-Wittenberg, Germany. The conference was attended by approximately 300 bee researchers, mainly from Europe, but also travelling from further afield including Africa, America and Thailand. The aims of EurBee have been to bring together scientists working on basic and applied research on diverse aspects of the biology of bees, honey bee management and honey bee products. Three parallel lecture sessions took place including 130 talks and in addition, 170 posters were presented, many by young scientists and students. Highlights of the conference included sessions on neurobiology, chemical ecology, physiology, behaviour and colony function, pathology, population genetics, and genomics, together with further sessions covering two major EU funded projects BEE DOC (BEes in Europe and the Decline Of honey bee Colonies) and STEP (Status and Trends of European Pollinators). Prizes were awarded for the best talk and poster from student presenters. The next EurBee Conference will be held in 2014 in Murcia, Spain.

The venue of the 2012 EurBee Conference