Open conference – Monday 30 January 2023
Insect driven pollination services
On the 30th of January, the UMR EGCE (IRD, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay) successfully managed to organize a hybrid open conference in France at the IDEEV institute, about insect driven pollination services.
The open conference took place as part of the PRIMA project, SafeAgroBee, and it brought together more than 120 participants with fantastic speakers, leading scientists and researchers who are at the forefront of their fields. Something that is not that easy to arrange, especially when dealing with a simultaneous translation –an unprecedented event for many! The talks and presentations were well curated and covered themes about pollinators’ diversity and conservation, and their efficiency in crop pollination. The SafeAgroBee project was also introduced, and it proudly presented Work Package I, comprising their results as well as field lessons, trainings and challenges throughout the year.
The objectives of the open conference were:
- Shed light on the importance of pollinators and their role in the wellbeing of the world
- Introduce the SafeAgroBee project
- Share updates on WPI and their results
- Promote networking and reinforce collaboration between partners.
Elise Verrier and Fabrice Requier helped in moderating the conference
Laure Kaiser-Arnauld, talked about the research at EGCE/IDEEV and the labs which comprises three research units with a large insect quarantine, greenhouses, growth chambers, bee hives, and experimental fields as well as an apple orchard.
Malena Sibaja Leyton, presented a very timely study on honey bee colony loss in Latin America
Adrien Perrard, talked about pollinators’ diversity and conservation.
Isabelle Merle, talked about pollinator efficiency in cocoa crops.
Fani Hatjina, coordinator of SafeAgroBee project, presented the PRIMA project;
Clémence Riva, gave an intricate explanation about the first results of the 2022 experiments on apple and sunflower pollination related to WPI, task I.
At the end of the conference a tour in the labs and the apiary took place, where a number of bee hotels are also established.
