15th June 2019 – 8:30am to 5:00pm
TICKETS HERE –
Early Bird Registrations are now open
Victorian Beekeeping Clubs Conference 2019
The aim of the Conference is to connect with hobbyist, recreational, sideline and commercial beekeepers from across Victoria. Conference delegates will hear from informative and inspiring presenters including researchers, educators, entrepreneurs, biosecurity specialists, innovators and authors.

Costa Georgiadis
Conference Facilitator
We have pleasure in welcoming eco-visionary, landscape architect and ABC Gardening Australia’s host Costa Georgiadis as our MC and speaker for the 2019 Victorian Beekeeping Club Conference.
Costa’s charm, charisma and passion make him an appealing event host. Costa is engaging and highly entertaining and is sure to give the Conference a green edge.
Thanks Costa.
Secured Speakers – more to be announced!

Dr Paulo de Souza
Office of the Chief Executive Science Leader, Cybernetics CSIRO
Dr Paulo de Souza is leading research on micro-sensor technologies and systems.
A physicist and miniaturisation expert, Dr de Souza is recognised internationally in field robotics, geochemistry and environmental engineering.
Paulo is a collaborating scientist on NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover mission, which landed and operates two large robots, Spirit and Opportunity, on the surface of Mars.

Hilary Kearney (USA)
Founder of Girl Next Door Honey
Hilary Kearney is the author of QueenSpotting and the creator of Girl Next Door Honey, a beekeeping business that offers educational opportunities to hundreds of new beekeepers each year.
She maintains the blog “Beekeeping Like A Girl” and her writing on bees has appeared in Modern Farmer and Gritmagazines. Her work has been the subject of features in Huffington Post, Vogue, Mother Earth News, and other outlets.
She rescues wild bee colonies and manages around 90 hives in her hometown of San Diego, California.

Professor Ben Oldroyd
Professor of Genetics, University of Sydney
Ben Oldroyd is Professor of Behavioural Genetics at the University of Sydney. Ben completed a BSc (Agr) in 1980, PhD at the University of Sydney in 1984 and a Doctor of Science in 2005. Ben’s research focuses on the behavioural genetics of honey bees, the evolution of social behavior and evolution more broadly. Ben is also heavily involved with the Australian beekeeping industry, including helping beekeepers breed better, healthier strains. Ben has made important contributions to understanding the genetic basis of worker sterility in honey bees. Ben has authored nearly 300 scientific papers on bees and social insects.

Dr Amy-Marie Gilpin
Ecologist, Pollination Biologist - Western Sydney University, Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment
Dr Amy-Marie Gilpin is an ecologist with research interests in pollination ecology, global change biology, behavioural ecology, invasion ecology and agroecology. Amy-Marie is particularly interested in both pure and applied ecology and employs a variety of techniques such as large scale manipulative field experiments as well as manipulative glasshouse and growth cabinet experiments to study interactions between plant-pollinators and anthropogenic change.

Stuart Anderson
Inventor Flow Hive
Stuart Anderson invented the Flow Hive system in Byron Bay, New South Wales with his son Cedar Anderson. In February 2015, they launched a campaign on crowdfunding platform Indiegogo hoping to raise $70000. Instead, they raised over $12 million and received nearly 25,000 orders from over 130 countries. The campaign broke several records for Indiegogo, becoming its most successful campaign. The invention took out a 2016 Australian Good Design Award.

Dr Nural Cokcetin
Research Fellow, The ithree Institute
Nural is equally passionate about doing research that has direct positive impacts for society, as she is about communicating her research to as broad an audience as possible.

Dr Ken Walker
Senior Curator of Entomology at Museum Victoria
Dr Ken Walker has been the curator of entomology at Museum Victoria now for over 32 years. His research topic is the study of native Australian bees and has described several hundred new species and revised groups – particularly in the Halictinae and within the subgenera of Lasioglossum and Homalictus. Being a museum curator, Dr Walker’s other passion is making museum specimen information more accessible to the scientific and general public (now called Citizen Science). He has also created several significant website resources: Bioinformatics, Pests and Diseases Image Library (PaDIL) and BowerBird, being Australia’s first social science website dedicated to Citizen Science.

Vanessa Hoo
Mademoiselle Bee
Based in Adelaide, Vanessa Hoo AKA Mademoiselle Bee is a 2nd generation beekeeper and fervid advocate for bees, whose father is a French commercial apiarist.
She rescues our pollinators, by offering a diverse range of services around South Australia, from mentoring and education, to live bee removal, and adoption/sponsorship programs .

Ben Moore
Ben's Bees
Ben Moore is an apiarist, environmentalist, father, food-lover and the owner of Ben’s Bees. Exposed to nature and farming from an early age, Ben started Ben’s Bees over ten years ago. Since then, his company has expanded to include beekeeping, honey production, the safe rehoming of bee colonies, wasp removal, international mentoring, media and education. Through these activities, Ben has built a passionate and loyal community of beekeepers from Australia and across the globe. With a focus on ethical and natural beekeeping practices, Ben is committed to educating the community about bees and their vital connection to the environment and our everyday lives.

Jessica Millar
Bee Biosecurity Officer Biosecurity and Agriculture Services (DEDJTR)
Based in Swan Hill, Jessica Millar is working to reduce the risk of disease entering beehives, by promoting ‘best practice biosecurity’ based on the Biosecurity Manual for Beekeepers, the Biosecurity Code of Practice and the National Bee Biosecurity Program.
Jessica works closely with Agriculture Victoria’s other apiary inspectors, she monitors and detects endemic pests and disease such as American Foul Brood (AFB) via field surveillance.
Important details
Location
Hyatt Place Melbourne, Essendon Fields:
1 English St, Essendon Fields VIC 3041
Date
Saturday 15th June 2019
8:30am – 5:00pm
Cost
$125.00 per person (Early Bird and Youth tickets)
$155.00 per person (after March 15th 2019)
Includes:
- Morning and Afternoon Tea
- Lunch
- Trade Exhibitors
- A bumper Conference offering keynote speakers in plenary sessions, as well as three parallel beekeeping streams.
- Conference Showbag
Conference Program Schedule (DRAFT Schedule to be released March 2019)
Program to be released in mid February 2019
Registrations are now open
Take advantage of early bird ticketing – available until March 15, 2019
Have questions or feedback,
please email
conference@vicbeeclubs.com.au
Map
Conference location
Hyatt Place Melbourne: 1 English St, Essendon Fields VIC 3041
Our sponsors
Gold partners TBA
Silver partners TBA
Bronze partners TBA
Supporting Beekeeping Clubs TBA
Trade tables TBA
Conference registrations will be open from mid Feb 2019
Have questions or feedback,
please email
conference@vicbeeclubs.com.au
Conference countdown
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Pre-Conference Friday Dinner
You are invited to join Keynote Conference Speakers to celebrate the 2nd Victorian Beekeeping Clubs Conference on Friday 14th June, 7pm-10pm at Hyatt Place: 1 English St, Essendon Fields.
Time: Friday 14th June 2019 at 7:00pm
Cost: $85.00
Bookings: To be announced with Conference ticketing
Victorian Beekeeping Clubs - Supporting Victorian bee clubs and their beekeepers
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