In light of the travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 PoshBee annual general meeting took place online. Project members and representatives of partner organisations met up online between 12 and 14 January 2021. The three-day long online meeting was marked by insightful presentations, vivid discussions and an overview of the project’s developments and future initiatives. The special interactive online environment provided for the meeting proved to be extremely efficient in facilitating dialogues and discussions between partners.

Following a welcome address by project coordinator Prof. Mark Brown of Royal Holloway University of London and a brief overview of the agenda, the first day of the meeting kickstarted with a presentation by Marie-Pierre Chauzat from ANSES, who presented the research progress on the topic of chemical exposure, pathogens and aspects of nutrition of bees. 

Welcome address by project coordinator Prof. Mark Brown.

Subsequent panels featured overview and discussions of the work by different project teams including chemicals with other stressors in semi-field & field experiments, development of novel wild bee species for risk assessment, and communication. Progress from semi-field experiments conveyed by University of Freiburg in 2020 was presented. The PoshBee team from Agroscope presented a new semi-field experiment in the making.

The PoshBee team from Agroscope presenting a new semi-field experiment in the making.

The second day of the meeting featured interesting research progress on a number of topics. Denis Michez from University of Mons and his partners in the task elaborated on aspects of agrochemical-nutrition interactions on bee health. They presented laboratory experiments performed in order to establish the types of interactions between bee nutrition and pesticide exposure. 

University of Mons presenting laboratory experiments performed in order to establish the types of interactions between bee nutrition and pesticide exposure.

Another topic that was elaborated in the second day of the meeting was related to computational agent-based modelling of bee behavior. This analytical approach is part of the ALMaSS agent-based model, and aims to provide insight into synergistic effects of multiple stressors on bee health. The second day was closed with a panel on OMICS data collection for agrochemical responses in bees.

The third day was also marked by exciting research results from different laboratory experiments and provided vivid discussions. The day started with a panel on the topic of toxicokinetics, toxicodynamics and interactions among agrochemicals related to bee health, and later on moved on to a panel on agrochemical-pathogen interactions on bee health.

A panel on the topic of toxicokinetics, toxicodynamics and interactions among agrochemicals related to bee health.

The third day also featured panels on the progress on communication and dissemination, knowledge transfer and stakeholder engagement, project management and scientific coordination.

Group photo from the third project annual general meeting.

The conference was wrapped up by Prof. Mark Brown, who thanked all project partners for the successful work so far, and noted that as the project enters its second half, more exciting new research is coming on the PoshBee way.

With planned actions for 2021, the PoshBee team could not help but look forward to the upcoming year of exciting new research!