Cakes, Jam and Bees!

Our researchers are working with Women's Institutes to support the installation of bee hives and pollinator friendly gardens in our region's schools.

Bees play a key role in keeping Wales a green and pleasant land. Unfortunately, numbers are in decline. To reverse this trend researchers in the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, in partnership with Pollen8 Cymru, are working with local schools to create bee friendly habitats and to inspire the next generation of conservationists and scientists.

To make this possible, the team are developing an engagement kit which will help community groups such as the Glamorgan Federation of Women’s Institutes to raise funds to support the creation of pollinator friendly spaces in partnership with schools across the Cardiff city region. In addition to promotional tools, the kit will contain practical advice on setting up and maintaining a bee hive or bug hotel, as well as bee specific teaching material aligned to the national curriculum.

Watch the team's explanatory film.

Throughout the spring and summer of 2017, researchers from the School of Pharmacy have been taking their materials on the road to WI meetings across South Wales. As a result, Dinas Powys WI, Pollen8 Cymru and Dinas Powys Primary School are already working together on a plan to install a bee hive at the school.

As well as contributing directly to creation of bee friendly habitats in local schools and to learning in the sciences, this collaboration is helping researchers to develop a model which will further contribute to the health and well-being of communities across the city-region and beyond.

At the end of the project, feedback from individual institutes and schools will be incorporated into a revised engagement kit which will be made available to Women's Institutes across the whole of Wales.

Contact

The project team are always keen to hear from individuals and groups who want to get involved with their work.