 | Tom Rosser Assistant Deputy Minister, Market and Industry Services, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Tom has been part of the senior management team at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada since 2017 and became Assistant Deputy Minister of the Market and Industry Services Branch in 2021. His responsibilities include trade negotiations, agriculture and agri-food sectoral competitiveness, emergency management and departmental regional offices. Previously, Tom had served as the department’s Assistant Deputy Minister of Strategic Policy. Before joining AAFC, Tom held senior positions at Fisheries and Oceans Canada and Natural Resources Canada. Earlier in his career, Tom held a number of positions in both the public and private sectors related to economic and public policy analysis in natural resource sectors. This included assignments at NRCan, Industry Canada and the Forest Products Association of Canada. A British Chevening Scholar, Tom holds a Master of Science in Environmental and Resource Economics from the University of London as well as Masters and Bachelor’s degrees in Public Administration from Carleton University in Ottawa. |
 | Dr. Humberto Boncristiani, Inside The Hive Media & Consulting Inc. Humberto Boncristiani is a second-generation beekeeper and honey bee researcher, Dr. Boncristiani has accumulated extensive experience working in several prestigious research institutions, including the USDA, University of North Carolina in Greensboro, University of Maryland, and the University of Florida. He specializes in honey bee health research with an emphasis on honey bee virology. Through Inside The Hive Media & Consulting Inc., Dr. Boncristiani assists companies entering the beekeeping industry with new products and helps beekeepers optimize their operations across the United States. In his spare time, he hosts the YouTube Channel [Inside The Hive TV](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCy_oMgMW7ImhNNp4T7N3atQ), where he educates people about the importance of honey bees, research, and also has fun with his students at [Inside The Hive TV - Academy](https://www.insidethehive.tv/academy), where he teaches honey bee sciences and creates exclusive content for those supporting his YouTube channel. When he is not working on bee-related subjects, Dr. Boncristiani enjoys exercising, traveling, going for long hikes, biking, and cooking. He is also busy chasing his two daughters and helping them reach their life goals. |
 | Dr. Stephen Pernal, Officer-in-Charge, Beaverlodge Research Farm, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Dr. Pernal received his M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Entomology from the University of Manitoba and was a postdoctoral fellow at Simon Fraser University. Since 2001, he has been employed by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada as a Research Scientist in Beaverlodge, Alberta where he leads Canada’s federal apiculture research program and also serves as Officer-in-Charge. His work has been diverse, and has included the detection, control and management strategies for AFB, chalkbrood, Nosema ceranae, as well as emerging parasites of honey bees. Steve has also been an integral member of three successive Genome Canada projects evaluating markers for resistance to bee diseases and Varroa destructor. He formerly served as President of the Canadian Association of Professional Apiculturists and is a contributing member to international bodies related to honey bee health. In 2017, he was awarded AAFC’s Gold Harvest award for Innovation, Collaboration and Service Excellence. In 2019, he served as the Scientific Program Chair for Apimondia 2019 in Montreal, Canada. |
 | Fairo Dzekashu, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Lethbridge I am Fairo Dzekashu from Cameroon. I am a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada working on the effects of heat and drought on canola – pollinator interactions and crop yield. I hold a PhD in Entomology from the University of Pretoria, South Africa. My PhD research was in collaboration with the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe), Nairobi, Kenya where a huge part of my work was conducted under the African Regional Postgraduate Programme in Insect Science (ARPPIS). I also hold an MSc and a BSc in Zoology and Animal Physiology (Specialty Entomology) from the University of Buea, Cameroon. |
 | Dr. Courtney MacInnis, Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Lethbridge Dr. Courtney MacInnis is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Lethbridge where she studies the effects of Lotmaria passim on various aspects of honey bee health. Courtney received her MSc and PhD degrees in Ecology at the University of Alberta in collaboration with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada under the supervision of Dr. Steve Pernal. As a PhD student she investigated the effects of Nosema ceranae and L. passim on honey bee behaviour and physiology. In her spare time Courtney enjoys cross-country skiing, curling, ice fishing (lots of winter activities!), gardening, and winning games of cribbage. |
 | Dr. Rassol Bahreini, Research Associate, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta I have been a honey bee researcher for over 30 years . I have received my MSc and PhD in Entomology from the University of Ahvaz (Iran, 1993) and the University of Manitoba (Canada, 2015), respectively. In my previous positions, as Apiculture Research Scientist in the Animal Science Research Institute-Iran, and Alberta Agricultural and Forestry-Canada, I carried out many studies of honey bee biology, control of parasites and pathogens, integrated pest management, and studies of Varroacides. In addition to teaching graduate and undergraduate students, my extension activities encouraged beekeepers to adopt new and improved methods of honey bee IPM to manage pests and diseases, using a variety of methods. My recent projects were focused on new miticides and antibiotics to assist producers in solving challenges related to honey bee parasites and diseases. At the University of Alberta, I will continue my research on the development of new miticides and antibiotics for control Varroa mites and Nosema disease. |
 | Patricia Wolf Veiga, Manager, National Bee Diagnostic Centre |
 | Nico Coallier, CTO of Nectar Technologies Nico Coallier is the CTO of Nectar Technologies, Co-Founder of Cubee and the co-owner of a small commercial beekeeping operation focused on mead production and data collection for scientific innovation, Miellerie Flavo. He's a biologist with a deep expertise in Ecology and statistics. After working for a couple years as an entomologist in the context of conservation and starting a mushroom farm, he started beekeeping 9 years ago while working as a Data Scientist solving over 200 different business problems and working for big tech when he really learned the state of the art of AI. He's been leveraging his biology, mycology, entomology, programming, mathematics and AI knowledge to improve different topics in biology over the last 11 years. WIth a strong expertise in bioacoustics and many scientific publications on honeybee bioacoustics, he now switched his focuses on building robust science with a large dataset on the impact of beekeeping practices on honeybee health and performance as well as better understanding the impact of the landscape and climate change on honeybees. He's pushing the limit of the biology of beekeeping by leveraging state of the art deep learning models and Nectar big data on commercial colonies. When he's not coding or beekeeping, he's playing with his dogs, doing outdoor activities or gardening! |