PHIRA-Science

28/08/2026

🐝 What is it like to keep honey bees where Tropilaelaps is already established?

For the final film in our educational series on Tropilaelaps, we take you to Thailand to look at beekeeping in a region where these mites have been present for many years.

Thailand is home to several species of honey bee, including the giant honey bee, Apis dorsata, the natural host of Tropilaelaps, as well as the Western honey bee, Apis mellifera. Here, we can see how Tropilaelaps affects managed honey bee colonies, how beekeepers live with the parasite, and the challenges it presents for honey production and colony management.

This film also provides an important perspective for beekeepers elsewhere. Tropilaelaps is not a theoretical future threat—it is already part of everyday beekeeping in parts of Asia. Understanding how the mite behaves, spreads and affects colonies is essential as we prepare for its continued spread.

Over this series, we have explored:
🔬 How to detect Tropilaelaps
🕷️ The biology and life cycle of the mites
🌏 The different honey bee species and their natural parasites
🐝How Tropilaelaps affects Western honey bees
🇹🇭 And finally, what it means to keep bees where Tropilaelaps is already established

We hope these films help beekeepers recognise the threat posed by Tropilaelaps and understand why early detection, surveillance and research are so important.

A huge thank you to everyone who has supported this educational series and to our colleagues in Thailand for helping us to share their experience and knowledge.

The films were generously funded by BIBBA, Dorset Beekeepers Association and Sherborne Beekeepers Association.

This research was generously funded by Bee Disease Insurance.

🎥 Watch the final film in the series below.

20/08/2026

One of the unexpected highlights of my time in Kazakhstan 🇰🇿🐝

Travelling from Almaty towards Saty, I came across something I had really hoped to see during this trip, migratory honey bee colonies sitting out on the open steppe, with a traditional yurt and the mountains of the Tian Shan in the distance.

I also had the lovely surprise of meeting a Kazakh beekeeper who spoke English, and we had a chance to talk about beekeeping, bees and life in this remarkable landscape.

There is something very special about seeing beekeeping integrated into a landscape like this. These colonies are part of a very different beekeeping environment from the apiaries I'm used to working in, and it was fascinating to see how beekeeping fits into the seasonal movement across Kazakhstan.

After a very busy few days, it was wonderful to get out of the conference environment and experience a little of the country, the people, the landscape and, of course, the bees.

This is the kind of field encounter that reminds me why I love doing this work. 🐝🏔️

19/08/2026

HONEES Awards $10K Research Grant
The $10,000 grant will go towards vital research to protect honey bees against a new devastating mite.
https://honees.com/helping-bees/

15/08/2026

We’re delighted to share that HONEES has awarded PHIRA-Science a $10,000 grant to support our research into Tropilaelaps mites. 🐝🔬

Tropilaelaps is one of the most serious emerging threats to honey bee health. While it is already affecting honey bee colonies across parts of Asia, its range continues to expand, making research, surveillance and preparation increasingly important.

This support from HONEES will help us continue our work to understand Tropilaelaps, its impacts on honey bee colonies, and how we can better prepare beekeepers for this emerging threat.

We’re incredibly grateful to Chuck Landrey and HONEES for recognising the importance of this work and for investing in research that aims to protect honey bees before the problem becomes even more widespread.

Thank you, HONEES, for supporting PHIRA-Science and for helping us take this work forward. ❤️🐝

You can read HONEES’ announcement about the grant here:
https://honees.com/helping-bees/

OLD SAYBROOK, Conn. — HONEES, the honey-filled drop brand, has announced a $10,000 grant to support research focused on protecting honey bees

08/08/2026

08/08/2026

🚨🚨 Potentially significant Tropilaelaps mercedesae footage from Türkiye 🚨🚨

We have recently become aware of footage recorded in Türkiye on 26 July 2026, showing Prof. Dr. Aslı Özkırım inspecting a honey bee colony.

During the inspection, live mites are visible on the brood, and Aslı identifies them on camera as Tropilaelaps mercedesae.

The footage was shared by Tirebolu beekeepers, and Aslı identifies the location in the video as a village in Türkiye close to the Georgian border.

If the location and provenance of the footage are confirmed, this would be significant given the documented spread of Tropilaelaps through the wider region and the importance of early detection and surveillance.

We are sharing the footage because we believe observations such as this should be openly discussed by the international bee-health community.

Importantly, this is not being presented as an official government confirmation of Tropilaelaps in Türkiye. The video is evidence of what was observed during this particular inspection, and independent confirmation would be required to establish the wider epidemiological significance of the finding.

We would be very interested to hear from researchers and beekeepers in Türkiye and the surrounding region who may have additional information about Tropilaelaps surveillance or detections.

If you have relevant information, please get in touch with PHIRA-Science.

You can find out how to detect Tropilaelaps using rapid brood decapping and other detection techniques here - www.phira-science.org/resources
Or
www.youtube.com/-Science

07/08/2026

🚨 New open access review paper! 🐝

I'm delighted to share that our latest review on Tropilaelaps mites has now been published, and I'm proud to be a co-author.

Tropilaelaps mites are one of the greatest emerging threats to honey bees. Although they're often compared with Varroa, there are some fundamental biological differences that make them potentially even more challenging to control.

This figure from the paper highlights some of the key similarities and differences between the two parasites.

The review brings together the latest knowledge on Tropilaelaps biology, spread, impacts, diagnosis and control, and discusses the research priorities needed to prepare countries where these mites have not yet become established.

📖 Best of all, the paper is completely open access, so anyone can read it. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pt.2026.07.002

I'd love to hear your thoughts, and please feel free to share it with anyone interested in bee health.

05/08/2026

🐝 Some exciting news!

I'm incredibly honoured to share that I've been awarded an Innovate UK Women in Innovation Award 2026.

This funding is a huge milestone for PHIRA-Science and will help accelerate our research into one of the biggest emerging threats facing honey bees worldwide: Tropilaelaps mites.

Over the next year, we'll be working on developing a climate-adaptive treatment for Tropilaelaps and Varroa, while continuing our work with beekeepers, researchers and government organisations to improve bee health and strengthen pollinator resilience.

When I founded PHIRA-Science, my goal was simple: to carry out practical, independent research that makes a real difference to beekeepers. This award is a fantastic vote of confidence in that vision and will allow us to expand our work internationally.

A huge thank you to everyone who has supported PHIRA-Science so far, our collaborators, volunteers, funders, partner organisations and the many beekeepers who have welcomed us into their apiaries and contributed to our research. This achievement belongs to all of you too.

I'm looking forward to sharing more about the project over the coming months.

🐝 Together, we can help protect the future of our pollinators.

08/07/2026

A big thank you to everyone at Helvetas Tajikistan for all your help and support and for such a fantastic opportunity to visit Tajikistan and work with beekeepers.

04/07/2026

🐝 Calling all beekeepers! We need your help.

How prepared is the beekeeping community for the potential arrival of Tropilaelaps?

We're working with the University of Nottingham on an international research project to find out, and we'd love to hear from you.

📝 The survey takes around 10 minutes to complete, and every response will help us better understand beekeeper knowledge, attitudes and preparedness. The results will help shape future education, outreach and planning.

Whether you're a hobbyist with a couple of hives or manage hundreds of colonies, your experience matters.

🌍 Although the project includes beekeepers from several countries, any beekeeper is welcome to take part.

👉 Complete the survey here: https://nottingham.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1N6Y9SCkYEvwIce

Please share this post with your local association, beekeeping friends and anyone else who keeps bees. The more responses we receive, the stronger the research will be.

Thank you for supporting this important project! 🐝