2018 COLOSS Conference,
Ghent, Belgium.

Attendants of the 2018 COLOSS Conference at Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium. Photo: A. Gajda

As Vice President, please accept my sincere gratitude for your support of our conference. It took place immediately prior to EURBEE at Ghent University in Belgium on the 16th and 17th of September, 2018.Our meeting was well attended – one-hundred-eight individuals representing 31 countries participated!

This year’s event consisted of two General Assembly meetings, one Executive Committee meeting, a poster session that included 24 presentations, and 15 Core Project and Task Force workshops.

The meeting was kicked off with a warm welcome from local host Prof. Dr. Dirk de Graaf . Then, similar to previous meetings, participants experienced updates from each our Core Projects (Monitoring, BEEBOOK, B-RAP) and Task Forces

(Apitox, Bee Breeding, CSI Pollen, Small Hive Beetle, Varroa Control, Varroa Survivors, Vespa, Viruses). The meeting wrapped up with a final General Assembly, and announcement of this year’s student poster prize!

The 2018 Conference marked the mid-way point of our current Executive Committee term. Next year, not only will the General Assembly elect a new 3-year term Executive Committee, but it will also host our annual conference for the first time outside of Europe!

We are very excited to be planning our event alongside Apimondia 2019 in Montréal, Canada. We hope to use this opportunity to attract a new audience of North

American apiculture professionals, alongside our ardent Euro-centric supporters, to promote COLOSS’ global vision.

Apart from our annual conference, at least nine of our existing Core Projects and Task Forces are planning workshops during 2019 in locations across Europe, and even in Asia. A prospective new task force focusing on honey bee nutrition may also take place. A number of these workshops will look to add to the COLOSS  BEEBOOK. This includes chapters on the Asian hornet Vespa velutina, as well as other species of honey bees.

Acknowledgement of conference support by the Eva Crane Trust occurred both during the build-up to the meeting, as well as in Ghent. We hope that our efforts to recognize your important contribution are fitting.

We wholeheartedly appreciate your commitment to COLOSS, and look forward to furthering our partnership in the future.

Dr. Geoff Williams

Assistant Professor of Insect Pollination & Apiculture
Auburn University