University of Northampton hosts the world’s largest gathering of experts on pollinators and pollination

This weekend the buzz of conversation will focus on bees and other pollinators, and the flowers that they pollinate.

The University of Northampton is hosting the 34th meeting of SCAPE – the Scandinavian Association for Pollination Ecology – for its annual conference. This time, of course, the conference is virtual, allowing more than 330 scientists from over 40 countries to watch talks on topics such as bees in agriculture, the conservation of pollinators, bumblebee behaviour and the evolution of flowers.

Professor Jeff Ollerton.

Jeff Ollerton, Visiting Professor of Biodiversity in the Faculty of Arts, Science and Technology, said: “Hosting SCAPE in Northampton is a huge honour. SCAPE is the oldest such conference in the world; this is the first time that it’s been held in the UK, and only the second time outside of Scandinavia. Holding a virtual conference brings with it some challenges and has a very different feel to a face-to-face conference. But it does mean that many more people can take part than would normally be the case. I’m looking forward to watching some great, cutting edge science focused on one of the most important ecological processes: the pollination of flowers by pollinators.”

Prizes of books for the best student presentations at the conference are being sponsored by Pelagic Publishing to coincide with their publication of Professor Ollerton’s book Pollinators & Pollination: Nature and Society.

The 34th SCAPE meeting runs from Friday 6 to Sunday 8 November. More details can be found on the website.