Beekeepers in East Anglia are buzzing with excitement, as a £100,000 bee research project gets underway.

Public appreciation for the plight of honey bees has never been higher. Pollination contributes £165,000,000 to the agroeconomy, yet beekeepers report up to a third of their colonies have died in each of the last two years.

Member associations of The East Anglian Bee Forum decided to do something for themselves and have obtained funding from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) to investigate the interaction of honey bees and varroa – a parasitic mite implicated in significant UK bee loss.

The beekeepers from Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, West Norfolk, Peterborough, Huntingdon, Essex and Suffolk have committed some £16,000 over four years to support a PhD research studentship at Sheffield University, with the balance of £100,000 from BBSRC.

Interest in beekeeping is increasing, with almost 100 new beekeepers on this year’s beginner course in Bedfordshire: but will there be enough bee colonies alive for them all?

Secretary of Bedfordshire Beekeepers Association, Wally Thrale feels this project paves the way for others. “We hope that other regions around the country will emulate this initiative and set up further areas of research to benefit beekeepers nationally.”

Professor Douglas Kell, BBSRC Chief Executive said: "It is very valuable for researchers to work alongside industrial partners; by working with people who have practical experience of keeping bees, this student will be able to set their research in the important context of the agricultural industry. Varroa mite is a real threat to the UK's honeybee population and this work to understand the interactions between the mite and the honeybee host will provide the fundamental scientific knowledge that will help us to tackle this economically important problem."

Such collaborative awards in science and engineering’ allow students to receive high quality research training in conjunction with an industrial partner. They are 4-year doctoral training grants for top quality bioscience graduates to undertake research (leading to a PhD) on a subject selected and supervised jointly by academic and industrial partners.

Industry Supervisor for the project, David Bancalari, a member of West Norfolk Beekeepers, which is heading the consortium of associations, said “This project brings beekeepers and researchers Inspecting bee brood for disease in the laboratory closer together, a very necessary step to ensuring that all involved in beekeeping agree the priorities for research. It is a first for BBSRC to work with beekeepers in this way - the combination of excellent science and committed beekeepers has been at the heart of this research funding.

Dr Stephen Martin of the Department of Animal and Plant Sciences at Sheffield University, who will be mentoring the student, has been at the forefront of beekeeping research in the UK for many years. A recognised authority on the varroa mite, Dr Martin says that for a PhD studentship to succeed, the work must be original and capable of peer review by researchers both in the UK, Europe and world-wide. Research into beekeeping is very much a collaborative process in an international setting.

The National Bee Unit (NBU) delivers the Bee Health programmes on behalf of DEFRA and has a monitoring role in the project. “The E.A.R.S.

studentship is a great demonstration of how the NBU, academics and industry can work together to access larger pots of money for honey bee research. The fact that the BBSRC has recognised a beekeeping association as an industrial partner is key to the success of this studentship. Schemes like BBSRC or NERC industrial studentships offer a great way of maximising the benefit from precious industry funds. Hopefully this studentship will trail blaze for many more successful studentships from established honey bee researchers in the UK” says Dr Giles Budge, research co-ordinator at the NBU.

Tim Lovett, President of the British Beekeepers Association (BBKA) which has mounted a high profile campaign to make the public aware of the problems with bees and the need for better research funding said, “This is most encouraging. The BBSRC is a major and important research funder and it is notable that they have chosen to back a topical and much needed piece of work which will hopefully help us to meet the challenge of the varroa mite.”

John Howat, Secretary of the Bee Farmers Association of the UK (BFA) , representing commercial beekeepers said “As members of the East Anglian Bee Forum, with bee farmers in many of the local beekeeping associations, we are delighted to see this trailblazing initiative and congratulate all East Anglian beekeepers on their commitment to research”.

Andy Wattam, organiser of the East Anglian Bee Forum said “This is excellent news and is a credit to the collective ethos of Beekeeping Associations in Eastern Region, with whom I am immensely proud to work. It also highlights the importance of bringing together all Associations and their representatives within an area to exchange ideas and focus on the advancement of beekeeping”.

As well as the associations involved, individual beekeepers have been working hard to obtain funding to stall the decline in bee numbers. Norfolk violin maker, Philip Taylor aired his concerns to Richard Osborne at Philip’s local agricultural foundation and was delighted when he had a positive response.

Richard Osborne said “The Morley Agricultural Foundation exists to promote for public benefit the study and knowledge of agricultural science and the application of modern techniques to agriculture and husbandry in all their branches. The trustees are therefore pleased to provide financial support towards the cost of a PhD student engaged in investigating the interaction between varroa and the honeybee (apis mellifera). The trustees believe this research is worth supporting for the longer term benefit of agriculture in general.