As 2025 comes to a close, we are delighted to reflect on what has been an inspiring year for the Trust. Thanks to the dedication of our Trustees, we have been able to support an extraordinary range of projects working to improve knowledge and disseminate bee science across the globe.
Over the past 12 months, the Trust has committed nearly £160,000 in funding to 23 projects. These initiatives span bee research, citizen science projects, book publications and academic conferences.
Our work is reaching further than ever before. This year alone, we received more than 200 grant applications, a clear sign that awareness of the Trust and its mission continues to grow. The geographic diversity of submissions has been truly staggering — from Burundi to Brazil, Malaysia to Mexico, and many places in between.
This growing interest has, of course, increased the workload for our dedicated Trustees, who carefully review every application we receive. To manage the rising number of submissions while maintaining fairness and quality, we have introduced a preliminary screening process. This ensures that all applications meet our grant-giving criteria before moving forward to full review.
We would like to extend our warmest congratulations to the 12 applicants awarded funding following the September and December deadlines:
Dr Laura Avila, Emory University, USA - Using multi-omics to study the impact of crop-sprayed antibiotics on bee behavior. (Science)
Dr Andrew Brown, University of Bern, Switzerland - MicroBEEome: Investigating seminal microbiota across bee species and its role in male reproductive health. (Science)
Mr Manuel Saucedo, En Orbita, Peru - The Stingless Guardians of Amazonian Riches: Exploring New Frontiers for Bee Conservation through eDNA. (Science)
Dr Madeleine Ostwald, Queen Mary University London, UK - Bee life histories in a warming world: Insights from AI video tracking. (Science)
Dr Christopher Grueter, University of Bristol, UK - Assessing the impact of parasitic bees on bee colonies and Indigenous beekeeping livelihoods in the Peruvian Amazon. (Science)
Miss Monjca Pibernik, Pollinator Conservation Society of Slovenia, Slovenia - Promotion and training for bumblebee queen monitoring in Slovenia. (Citizen Science)
Miss Noemi Arnold, Mexico - Catalogo de las Abejas Sin Aguijon en Mexico. (Book)
Dr Antonio Nanetti, - EURBEE 11, Bologna, Italy. (Event)
Dr Heather Mattila, Wellesley College, USA - David versus Goliath: understanding the organization of Apis cerana colony defences against coordinated group attacks by giant hornets in Vietnam. (Science)
Dr Alessandro Cini, University of Pisa, Italy - The endangered wild-living populations of honeybees in the mediterranean: Pianosa Island as an open-air laboratory. (Science)
Dr Matthew Pound, Northumbria University, UK - The arrival of bumblebees on the Faroe Islands - biodiversity gain or loss? (Science)
Dr Andrés Arenas, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina - Histone deacetylase inhibition shifts foraging specialization in honey bees. (Science)
As we head into 2026, we are excited to begin working closely with our new grant recipients and to follow the progress of their projects. Thank you to everyone who has supported the Trust this year — together, we continue to advance the understanding of bees and beekeeping around the world.
