Honey bee disease diagnostics – Fast and reliable assays for beekeepers.

Cooperative Centre for Honey Bee Products

The low pricing of most honey bee products originating from Australia does not reflect their true value as unique and pure. Endemic flora, together with regulated isolation, has created the opportunity to produce these unique products, as well as develop a niche market in Australia, but it is an opportunity that is currently unappreciated. This Federally funded Cooperative Research Centre will resolve industry problems that are limiting both the value and expansion of the Australian honey bee products industry. It also proposes to develop bee disease insurance policies that seek to address a major global threat to the industry. The research centre aims to increase the value of the industry; provide pollination security to Australia through increasing the number of managed hives and develop a training pathway for professional beekeepers. For further information www.crchoneybeeproducts.com

Proposal Challenge

This project develops diagnostics for monitoring hive health and the presence of individual diseases in the hive. For more information: http://www.science.uwa.edu.au/future-students/postgrad/opportunities/bee

Requirements

General UWA PhD entrance requirements can be found on the Future Students website.
Requirements specific to this project:
• Experience, skills and/or a keen interest in honey bees, genetics, biology, molecular biology, biochemistry, or similar.
• Willingness to work as part of a large interdisciplinary team and achieve outcomes through a combination of planning, working independently, and collaborating with other team members
• Excellent interpersonal and oral communication skills
• Experience working with honey bees is highly desired, but not essential. An interest to work with honey bees is required.
• An interest in learning molecular techniques and ability to follow protocols.
• A limited fear of bees and bee stings. Bee allergies should be a consideration

PhD students at the Cooperative Research Centre for Honey Bee Products will be enrolled through the host university. As a PhD student you will belong to a trans-disciplinary group of researchers that reaches across Australia and mixes with the industry. Each PhD student will have both an academic and industry supervisor as well as being trained in commercialisation.