Elena Cini, a PhD student at Reading University, is conducting a project investigating how different threats (e.g. agrochemicals, pests, and pathogens) may impact on the health of bees, with the supervision of Prof. Simon Potts. Her PhD is part of the PoshBee project (EU Horizon 2020), which aims to assess the exposure of bees to such threats, investigate their interactions, and create new tools to improve bee health. Participants include, among others, the BBKA and the NFU.
One of the main outputs of the PoshBee project will be the “Bee Health Card”, a tool under development that will give a rapid insight into the health of the beehives, assisting beekeepers with an early identification of health issues (e.g. pesticide exposure, malnutrition, diseases) and growers with even more reliable pollination services.
As part of her PhD work, Elena has created two surveys, one for beekeepers and another for growers, to explore whether or not they would use this tool and if there are any barriers to them doing so.
The surveys are anonymous, take 10-15 minutes to complete, and will remain online until the end of the year. If you feel you could help Elena with her project and complete the growers survey, please follow the link for more details.
