Vassya Bankova obtained her PhD in Natural Product Chemistry at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia. She has worked as a guest-researcher at the Ruhr University – Bochum, the University of Saarland, Saarbruecken, the Bandeirante University, Sao Paulo, and the Institute of Molecules of Biological Interest, Naples. In 2004 she became full professor at the Institute of Organic Chemistry with Centre of Phytochemistry, where she is now head of Lab “Chemistry of Natural Substances”.

Biochemical Pharmacist with Master’s, Doctoral and Postdoctoral degrees from the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo (FCFRP/USP).

Vice-President of ABEMEL (Brazilian Association of Honey Exporters) since 2016.

Head of Research, Development and Innovation, member of the Board of Directors, and Pharmacist Responsible at Apis Flora Indl. Coml. Ltda., a leading propolis company in Brazil (IMS Health, 2018).

Author of more than 32 scientific articles, 5 book chapters, and 7 patents as of September 2019.

Janko Božič teaches several courses in the field of animal behaviour and beekeeping at the University of Lublijana. His research is focused on honeybee physiology related to the different behaviour stages. That includes basic investigations of social communication as well related topics with beekeeping technology and bee products. Part of that are also investigation of behaviour and physiological background of collection and processing of the materials for different kind of bee products, including propolis.

Bruce Brown comes from a family who have for over 60 years have been promoting the benefits of Bee Products for human health.

Bruce’s father, Roydon Brown, effectively made the health benefits of pollen known to the American public through his ground-breaking book on pollen The World’s Only Perfect Food: The Bee Pollen Bible.

Bruce is CEO of CC Pollen based in Arizona USA and has funded many projects extolling the virtues of honey, pollen and propolis. He is a major refiner of propolis and sells his products worldwide.

Dr. Emel Damarlı studied Chemical Engineering at Istanbul Technical University (İTÜ), where she completed her doctoral studies. She began her professional career as a Specialist Researcher at the Food Science and Technology Institute of TÜBİTAK Marmara Research Center, working in scientific research and technology development.

Since 2014, Dr. Damarlı has served as Director of R&D and Quality at Altıparmak Food Industry and Trade Inc. (BALPARMAK), a Türkiye-based company operating in the bee products sector. She also serves as Director of the BALPARMAK R&D Center, which collaborates with national and international institutions and conducts scientific research on honey and other bee products. The Center focuses on characterizing the composition and functional properties of bee products, developing advanced analytical methods for the detection of adulteration and counterfeiting, and developing high-value-added products.

Dr. Damarlı also serves as Türkiye’s representative on the ISO Committee for Bee Products.

Professor Fu-Liang Hu is a leading researcher in bee science and bee products, with particular expertise in propolis. His work covers bee biology, chemical composition, biological activity, quality control and processing technologies.

He has led more than 70 scientific projects, contributed to 40 Chinese invention patents and helped develop 15 international, national and industry standards. He has also edited 10 books and published around 500 academic papers, including more than 140 indexed in SCI.

Professor Hu has held senior positions in major Chinese apicultural organisations, including the Apicultural Science Association of China and China Bee Product Association. He currently serves as Chairman of the Apicultural Science Association of Zhejiang Province and has made significant contributions to propolis research and bee product standardisation.

Dr Bhagyashree Kamble is a pharmaceutical scientist specialising in natural products, pharmacology, formulation development and drug delivery, with a particular focus on propolis and bee-derived therapeutics.

She is currently Quality Research Manager at Nature’s Laboratory Ltd, UK, where she coordinates applied research and product development involving natural products and propolis. Previously, as a Knowledge Transfer Associate with the University of Bradford and Nature’s Laboratory, she led a UKRI Innovate UK-funded project investigating the antimicrobial activity of global propolis samples against MRSA, contributing to the development of the Bioshield formulation.

Her research interests include propolis composition, biological activity, analytical characterisation, antimicrobial research, formulation and quality. She is passionate about translating scientific research into safe, practical applications and strengthening international collaboration between academia, industry, clinicians and beekeepers to advance robust, interdisciplinary propolis research.

Professor Ze-Tian Lv has nearly 60 years of experience in bee product research, with particular expertise in propolis and industry standardisation. He has led the development of numerous Chinese standards for royal jelly, bee pollen and propolis.

From 2020 to 2023, Professor Lv led the ISO Propolis – Specification project, resulting in the first international standard for propolis, published in 2023. He has published nearly 100 papers and several books on propolis and apitherapy.

He is Honorary Vice President of the China Bee Products Association, Chairman of its Propolis Professional Committee, and a member of China’s National Technical Committee for Standardization of Bee Products. He has received numerous awards for his contributions to scientific innovation, bee products and the development of China’s apiculture industry.

Badiaa Lyoussi is Professor, Director of Research, Head of Laboratory Physiology- Pharmacology-Environmental Health at the University of Fez Morocco. She has over 30 years’ experience in the physiopathology and pharmacology of natural products – medicinal plants and bee products.

Professor Lyoussi has more than 120 scientific publications and chapters in books in the following areas:

• Acute and chronic toxicity of plants used in traditional medicine.

• Management of several pathologies like diabetes, obesity, hypertension, metabolic syndrome by medicinal plants and supplements.

• Valorisation of bee products, honey, propolis, pollen, royal jelly, bee venom from Moroccan sites.

Prof Anant Paradkar is the current Director of the Centre for Pharmaceutical Engineering Science at Bradford University. He is a highly experienced natural product researcher and formulator, with special interest in the health promoting benefits of Turmeric and Propolis.

Professor Paulino is a Biochemistry Pharmacist (1984) with a Master’s degree (1996) and a PhD in Pharmacology from the Federal University of Santa Catarina and Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (2005). He was coordinator of the Pharmacy course at UNISUL (1996–2006) and the Pharmacy course at UNIBAVE (2006–2010). He also coordinated the Biomedicine Research and Development Group in the Professional Master’s programme in Pharmacy at UNIBAN (2006–2016). Professor Paulino is currently coordinator of Medical Specialisation LEX/SEPE courses in Clinical Phytotherapy and Clinical Pharmacy in the MT Classes (2012–current). He is also CEO and Business Director of Medical Lex Information Management and Courses Ltda. He has experience in the field of Pharmacology, with an emphasis on the Molecular Pharmacology of Medicinal Plants. Professor Paulino works mainly in fields related to the mechanism of action of Medicinal Plants and Natural Products, Inflammation, and its pharmacodynamic mechanisms.

He is a researcher and lecturer in Chemical Engineering at Universitas Indonesia, specialising in bioprocess engineering, biomedical engineering and natural product development. He holds Master’s and doctoral degrees in Biotechnology and Life Science from Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology.

His research has a strong focus on propolis, including its chemical composition, antioxidant properties and potential therapeutic applications, as well as sustainable beekeeping. He has published over 200 books and articles and has received research support from national and international organisations.

He is an Executive Board Member of the Asian Federation of Biotechnology, Deputy Chair of Technology Innovation at the Indonesian Beekeeping Association, and Head of the Indonesian Apitherapy Association. He also actively promotes apiculture and sustainable bee farming to support and empower local communities in Indonesia.

Marla Spivak, Ph.D., is a MacArthur Fellow and Distinguished McKnight University Professor in Entomology in the College of Food, Agricultural and and Natural Resource Sciences at the University of Minnesota. She also leads the Spivak Honey Bee Lab.

Spivak’s current research includes studies of the benefits of propolis (tree resins) to the health and immune system of honey bees; the identification and biological activity of honey bee collected resins; the development of “bee lawns”—pollinator habitat in urban landscapes; the use of native forbs by honey bees through identification of collected pollen and decoding bees’ dance language; the health of commercial honey bee colonies and the evaluation of queens’ breeders efforts to select stocks for resistance to diseases and mite pests; novel methods to control Varroa mites in honey bee colonies; and surveys of native bees in Minnesota.

Stefan Stangaciu is a medical doctor who has devoted most of his life to developing and supporting Apitherapy – the therapeutic use of bee products.

He is an active teacher and broadcaster, writing and delivering courses and talks on Apitherapy round the world bringing to Apitherapy a level of medical recognition to this age old but medicine.

He is Secretary General of the International Federation of Apitherapy and has founded / co-founded chaired or been a board member of many Apitherapy Associations including those in America, Germany, and in his home country Romania where he has been very influential.

Publications include: Soft Healing Through Bee Products, Gentle Healing with Honey, Propolis and Beeswax and Good Health with the Bees.

Assoc. Prof. Dr Ali Timuçin Atayoğlu is a Consultant Family Physician and academic based in Istanbul, Türkiye, specialising in integrative medicine and apitherapy. He founded the Holistic and Integrative Medicine Association in Türkiye and established the Department of Traditional and Complementary Medicine at Istanbul Medipol University, where he directed Master’s and PhD programmes. He also founded Türkiye’s first university hospital-affiliated Apitherapy Center.

He currently works at Memorial Hospital and Haliç University in Istanbul and serves as a Clinical Project Consultant at the Apiceutical Research Centre in the UK. Dr Atayoğlu is President of the Apitherapy Association of Türkiye, former President of the International Federation of Apitherapy, and a member of the Ministry of Health’s Scientific Committee for Traditional & Complementary Medical Practices. His work focuses on evidence-based research, clinical education, and the safe and effective integration of traditional and complementary medicine into healthcare.

Adrien Thibault is an artist, natural healer, speaker, passionate about life, holistic education, and health.

His work is to understand the relationship between Bees and Health from the definition of Dr. Bill Hettler of the U.S. National Wellness Institute: seven dimensions of wellness: physical, emotional, intellectual, environmental, social, occupational, and spiritual.

He studied stained glass and organized exhibitions in Europe, travelled in Canada to experience Holistic Education at I.D.E.A.L. society where he became an executive director, graduated from A.C.O.S. in Nelson BC, with a Doctorate in Traditional Chinese Medicine.

He co-founded the Canadian Apitherapy Association and was the first president.

Dr Trong Tran obtained his PhD degree in Natural Product Chemistry at Griffith Institute for Drug Discovery, Griffith University, Australia and then continued a two-year NIH postdoctoral fellowship in the National Cancer Institute in USA. Dr Tran returned to Australia and started working at University of the Sunshine Coast as the SIEF STEM+ Business Fellow in 2017. He was promoted to Senior Lecturer in Organic Chemistry in 2023. His current research focuses on the discovery of bioactive compounds from natural sources for the development of nutraceutical, pharmaceutical and agricultural products. He is leading several research projects funded by both government and industry partners to investigate the chemical diversity and therapeutic values of Australian propolis produced by European honeybees and native stingless bees.

Miguel Vilas-Boas is a PhD in Chemistry from Porto University, Professor in Chemistry of Natural Products and actual Director of the Agrarian School of the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança, Portugal. As a researcher in the Mountain Research Centre his goals are focused on beekeeping technology, organic beekeeping and particularly in the quality evaluation of bee products. He has published more than forty books and papers in international indexed journals and presented more than two hundred and twenty communications in national and international meetings. Currently, he is the leader of the propolis group at the International Honey Commission, Vice-President of the scientific commission on beekeeping technology and quality of APIMONDIA and the Portuguese representative in the ISO committee for bee products standardization.

Dr Dave Watson who has done much to support propolis research and who was instrumental in organising the first International conference in 2016, has now retired from active scientific work. We wish him well and It is with gratitude that he continues as an honorary member of the IPRG Board.

Dave worked in the fields of mass spectrometry and chromatography for nearly 40 years. He has applied these techniques to a wide range of problems in the fields of natural products analysis and clinical chemistry. In the last ten years he has focused on metabolomics and was the local organiser for the 2013 Metabolomics conference in Glasgow.

Dr Felix Zulhendri, Ph.D is the owner and operator of Kebun Efi. Kebun Efi is an award-nominated agritourism company located in North Sumatra, Indonesia, that focuses on developing bee products; propolis in particular and nomadic-style tourism. Prior to managing Kebun Efi, Felix spent most of his professional career in New Zealand in the R&D and Patents Law fields.