Between 20 and 23 February 2024, partners from 25 institutions across 15 countries gathered in Padua, Italy for Safeguard’s third Annual General Meeting to showcase project results and discuss future actions towards sustainable pollination across Europe and reversing the losses of wild pollinators. Organised by the partnering institution the University of Padua, the four-day meeting was full of enlightening presentations, fruitful discussions, and valuable workshops.

The first day of the meeting started with warm words of welcome by the local host Prof. Lorenzo Marini (University of Padua) and the project officer Dr. Christophe Coudun (European Research Executive Agency), followed by three work package (WP) interactive workshops on Re-assessing the status and trends of European pollinators (WP1), Pressures on wild pollinators and their biotic interactions (WP2) and Strengthening pollinator-relevant policy and decision making (WP6). The goal of these sessions was to discuss current challenges and plan the work ahead.

Along with progress overviews of each work package, on the second and third days of the meeting the consortium engaged in several sessions on individual Safeguard tasks and was introduced to the updates on the pollinator research development of the project in China, provided by Prof. Xiushan Li (China West Normal University). During the meeting, the main focus of discussion fell on:

• The status and trends of European pollinators;
• Pressures on wild pollinator communities and the plant-pollinator interactions;
• Assessing the environmental, socio-cultural, and economic values of pollinators;
• Effective responses to counteract wild pollinator decline;
• Integrative Assessment Framework (IAF);
• Pollinator-relevant policy and decision-making;
• Safeguard Knowledge Exchange Hub (Safe-Hub);
• Fostering knowledge exchange with multiple stakeholder groups at regional, national and EU levels (Buzzing tables).

Apart from insightful progress presentations, project partners engaged in several enriching workshops:

• Conceptualising an integrated assessment framework (IAF), led by Dr. Adam Vanbergen (French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment – INRAE);
• Engaging with valuing pollinators: Valuing pollinators/pollination across economic, ecological, and socio-cultural dimensions, led by Prof. René Van Der Wal (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences), Dr. Tom Breeze (University of Reading) and Juliette Young (INRAE);
• Data preservation and handling for PhD students and postdocs, led by Dr. Jie Zhang and Dr. Douglas Sponsler (University of Würzburg).

With the AGM coming to an end, the project coordinator Prof. Dr. Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter (University of Würzburg) presented the next steps and main responsibilities of the project coordination team.

During the final day of the event, the consortium members had the opportunity to join a city tour, going through Palazzo Bo and Padua Botanical Garden, offering a closer look at Padua’s cultural and biological history.

Find more photos of the event here.