Good beekeeping practices for sustainable apiculture

CELEBRATING WORLD BEE DAY WITH AIMA, International Association of Agricultural Museums

Digital AIMA Lecture, MAY 20TH, 3.00 PM CET: GOOD BEEKEEPING PRACTICES FOR SUSTAINABLE APICULTURE

We are more and more aware of the significance of beekeeping for agriculture and in preserving biodiversity. Traditionally, beekeeping was important for bee products, while today we are becoming aware of the significance of bees and other pollinators for our survival. Museums around the world cooperate with beekeepers and nature conservationists in spreading awareness on how to ensure better conditions for bees and other pollinators.

Though a small nation, Slovenia is a beekeeping power with many innovative ideas for sustainable beekeeping. Through different institutions, it contributes to the spread of knowledge over two hundred years old about beekeeping in Slovenia and abroad.

The event is about sharing best practices in preserving important values and traditional beekeeping, connected with apiculture in different European countries with rich apiculture traditions, such as in Slovenia, Poland and Austria.

To join the event, please register before May 19th by emailing aimalecturesreg@gmail.com and we will provide you with the Zoom-Link for our meeting.

Program

15.00: Introducing the event with a short film on application for ICH recognition from UNESCO in 2022 Beekeeping in Slovenia, A Way of Life
15.10: Franc Šivic, Slovenian Beekeeper’s Association, Ljubljana
How We Care for The Well-Being of Bees and Other Pollinators in Slovenia
15.25: Valentina Cvjetković, Beekeeping Academy of Slovenia, Ljubljana
Si sapis, sis apis, or »If you desire wisdom, do like the honeybee.«
15.40: Karolina Echaust, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland
Multispecies Ethnography in Heritage Studies of Tree-Beekeeping in Poland
15.55: Dr Michael Rubinigg, Styrian Beekeeping Association in Graz, Austria
The Importance of Beekeeping for Agriculture

Live discussion

16.10 Q & A (live and interactive discussion)
16.30 Closure of the event

Lecturers

Franc Šivic

Franc Šivic is a forestry engineer who has been accompanied by bees since his childhood. He is one of the Slovenian most renowned beekeepers and lovers of nature. Franc repeatedly emphasizes that bees bring happiness in life. It is therefore no coincidence that bees accompanied him in the pursuit of many talents. Besides being excellent an and innovative beekeeper, who passes on his knowledge to both Slovenian and foreign beekeepers, he is a well-known photographer, lecturer, apitherapist, pioneer of beekeeping tourism, beekeeping guide, and author of many articles and books on beekeeping.

Valentina Cvjetković

Valentina Cvjetković has graduated in the field of cultural studies and anthropology at the University of Primorska in Koper with a thesis on Ebola outbreaks in West Africa. Over the years, she has participated in various projects such as archaeological excavations in the West Indies in cooperation with the University of Tennesse, collaborated in an exhibition at the National Museum of Slovenia, took part in the arrangement of a private collection with the Slovenian Ethnological Society and pursued volunteer work in the University Botanic Gardens Ljubljana. She is currently employed at the Agricultural Institute of Slovenia as the Head of the Department of The Slovenian Beekeeping Academy.

Karolina Echaust

Karolina Echaust, a cultural anthropologist and ethnologist, is a PhD candidate in ethnology and cultural anthropology at the Institute of Anthropology and Ethnology at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland. Her research interests are, besides beekeeping, especially tree-beekeeping, in environmental anthropology – multispecies relations, human-animal studies, cultural and natural heritage, folk culture – medicine and hygiene in the village and folk rites and magic in Poland.

Michael Rubinigg

Michael Rubinnig is a director of the training and extension centre of the Styrian Beekeeping Association in Graz, Austria. He completed a PhD in plant physiology at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands. He previously worked as a scientific officer for the Austrian Beekeeping Federation in Vienna, Austria. He is the owner of a professional beekeeping operation, works as an assistant to the local veterinary authority, teaches queen breeding and biology in professional training programmes for beekeepers and is a member of the working group ‘honey’ at COPA-COGECA, an interest group for European farmers. He is also an IT expert who develops software for risk analysis of endemic honey bee diseases. His research interests are the prediction and prevention of honey bee diseases and technical innovation of data acquisition/data analysis systems for honey bee queen breeding and plant pollination.

Slovenski etnografski muzej

Good beekeeping practices for sustainable apiculture