On Monday, 8th September around 250 bee scientists from all over Europe and beyond gathered in eager anticipation of a promised feast of presentations. They were not to be disappointed and the programme arranged
by Dr Juliet Osborne and implemented by
Dr Robert Paxton certainly lived up to and exceeded expectations.

 The first plenary session was preceded by a short eulogy in memory of Dr Eva Crane who had passed away exactly a year previously. IBRA's Director, Richard Jones, said that there was no better place to celebrate Dr Crane's
life than at an international gathering of bee scientists. The sharing of new research and good scientific practice, new theories and possibilities, using the past to realise the potential of the future will continue to be her true memorial. 

Each morning and afternoon session began with a plenary lecture given by world leaders in their fields:

Vassya Bankova (Bulgaria), shortly to be a contributor and associate editor of our new journal (Journal of ApiProduct and Apimedical Science), spoke about Propolis: good for bees, good for humans

Tom Seeley (USA) on House hunting for honey bees:  study of effective group decision making

Martin Giurfa (France) A taste from the magic well: studies on learning and cognition in honey bees

Steve Martin (UK), the newest member to join IBRA Council, spoke on: Bee diseases: the need for a multi-disciplinary approach

Claire Kremen (USA) Honey bee population crisis: can native bees take up the slack

Dave Goulston (UK) Conservation of bumble bees.

These sessions were then followed by dozens of presentations almost all of the highest order. The only criticism was that running parallel sessions, essential to fit in all presentations, meant that sadly the listener could not be in two places at once.

IBRA had a prominent and successful book stand (see above) thanks to the influence of Council member Robert Paxton. There was great interest and few cannot now be aware of the new vitality and developments at IBRA, what we have to offer, and more important what we have the potential to offer and deliver.

IBRA AGM. 

As the EurBee meeting was in the UK, it was an excellent opportunity to conduct our AGM at an international gathering. It was well attended and members went away enthused with the new developments.

I   B   R   A

Innovative   Bright    Radical    Accurate

 
After a number of years of review and introspection IBRA
is now set to re-establish itself on the global scene and take up once again the mantel that it has proudly worn
for almost 60 years that of purveyor of accurate apicultural information to the world. The standards set by our Journal of Apicultural Research are the envy of many. For the last two years it has grown in content and quality. Each issue has met its deadline, seen an increasing rise in citation ratings and won regular praise from the scientific community. All this has been achieved by a small team that more than matches, with honesty and integrity, big printing house competitors in the same field.

Subscribers to the journal have always been able to gain access to back issues on the website but now we have been able to devote the same intensity of development to our home pages. An all-new web site awaits you. JAR and Buzz Extra available in electronic format. However, now individual papers carry a DOI (Digital Object Identification) number to make access, research and referencing even easier. There are special areas for members only. However, the whole body of IBRA scientific knowledge is much more accessible to casual searchers who are free to read abstracts but will have to make a payment if they wish to down load full papers.

Over the years the bookshop has been a major supplier to discerning bibliophiles and the revenue generated has been vital in keeping IBRA alive and visible on the world beekeeping scene. The shop has developed and the increased stock is accessible through the website. Members can buy their books and automatically receive a 10% discount for their ongoing support.

Breaking news...

Perhaps the biggest news of all and certainly the most important, for it clearly shows that IBRA is once again taking a proactive role in apicultural matters, is the creation of a new sister journal to the respected JAR. It is obvious that there are huge developments involving hive products. Standards of quality and assessment of that quality continue to improve rapidly while the uses made of the products themselves have increased both in compass and reputation over the years. In particular medical uses and applications of honey and, increasingly, other bee-derived products, have become the focus of clinical analysis and interest.

It is an area that can be subject to fanciful thought and much baseless pseudo-science BUT there is also much that is good happening in this field. IBRA, true to is founding traditions, wants to be in the vanguard of promoting this science and so is offering a vehicle for the publication of new research and new developments. The new publication will be called:

Journal of ApiProduct
and ApiMedical Science

(JAAS)

 It is 46 years since JAR was first published - a journal that grew out of a scientific need. We hope JAAS, which also aims to fill a scientific need in this new and rapidly developing area, will take the same standards of peer reviewed quality, scientific truth and excellence well into 21^st century. It will be an Electronic Journal only in order to eliminate crippling printing and postage costs and will be available on the website at the beginning of January 2009.

Already on board are a team of international experts. Dr Stefan Bogdanov (Switzerland), a world honey authority, has agreed to be the Senior Editor: while Associate Editors, Dr Rose Cooper (Wales), Dr Cristina Mateescu (Romania) and Professor Mitsuo Matsuka (Japan) have offered their expertise in the fields of wound healing, apitherapy research, and royal jelly production. Others will be invited to join the editorial board in due course.