11th European Conference of Apidology (EurBee11): Abstract Book, (A. Ricci, Coord.). CREA & University of Bologna.

EurBee conferences are held every two years, and over time they have become major occasions to bring together bee scientists from Europe and beyond.

EurBee 1 was held in Udine in 2004, and since then our Conference has travelled across many European countries. After a long journey, it now returns to Italy. In those early years, the programme revolved largely around the managed honey bee. Apidology has since become a far more complex science, closely connected with other scientific and technological fields and increasingly attentive to wild bees and to the ecological questions that surround them. We have tried to make EurBee 11 reflect this shift. The Conference is built around ten scientific topics, which we reformulated from the traditional ones to match where our discipline stands today: the new challenges and threats we face, and the growing weight of research on wild bees. For the first time in the history of EurBee, the programme also includes a topic devoted to Ethics in bee science. It has attracted only a few contributions, but we are convinced it will matter a great deal in the years to come. In addition, EurBee 11 adopts a Code of Conduct, as a way of stating plainly the respectful, welcoming and inclusive spirit we want this Conference to have.

This edition carries another first. For the first time, two apidological institutions of global standing, born in the same city and grown along parallel paths, have joined forces to organise the Conference: the apidology group of the CREA Research Centre for Agriculture and Environment and the Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences of the University of Bologna.

The response has gone beyond our expectations. Over 500 contributions have been received, approximately 200 of them chosen for oral presentation, by authors not only from across Europe, but from all continents. Each morning and afternoon opens with a plenary keynote lecture on a subject of particular relevance, given by a distinguished specialist and followed by four parallel oral sessions. The one exception is the second afternoon, which we have set aside for a social visit of the city.

All of this is gathered in the motto we chose for EurBee 11: Like foraging bees. We seek novelty, we need cooperation and we profit from diversity. As in a colony, knowledge moves forward only when different minds and disciplines work together, and the best discoveries come precisely from that variety of backgrounds and points of view.

We are sure you will enjoy Bologna, the city home to the most ancient University of Europe. Its convivial, easy-going spirit, together with the art, the music, the culture, and the food the city offers in abundance, makes it the perfect place to reward long days of intellectual work with evenings you will remember.

Finally, we warmly thank everyone who has made EurBee 11 possible: the institutions, the many people who worked behind the scenes, our sponsors and collaborators, the EurBee members who elected our venue for this Conference, and all EurBee 11 participants, whose commitment keeps this community alive. Benvenuti a Bologna!