Despite training as a lawyer James Fearnley has spent the last 30 years involved with researching and manufacturing natural medicines derived from both from the beehive and from plants. For the last 20 years he has focussed on trying to understand the remarkable properties of propolis, a resinous product used by the bee to keep the hive free from infection.
Over this period he has carried out research at the universities of Oxford, Manchester, Strathclyde York and Bradford and has published a number of peer reviewed articles. He is author of Bee Propolis: Natural Healing from the Hive and Propolis in Oral Healthcare with Dr. Phil Wander.
President of the International Federation of Apitherapy
Assist. Prof. Dr. Ali Timucin Atayoglu is a consultant medical doctor and a lecturer in Medipol University in Istanbul, Turkey. He is the president of the International Federation of Apitherapy. He has established the first Apitherapy Centre affiliated with a university hospital in the country. He works as the coordinator for the studies in Traditional and Complementary Medicine in the medical faculty. He has been interested in holistic medicine since he was a student in the medical school. After his elective studies in London, UK in 1997-1998 he returned to Istanbul and continued his studies in Integrative Medicine.
He is currently the president of Apitherapy Association in Turkey and the vice-chairman of Apitherapy Commission in China. He is a member of the Scientific Committee for the Traditional & Complementary Medical Practices in the Turkish Health Ministry. He is also the chairman of the Holistic and Integrative Medicine Association in Turkey.
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, doctor and pos-doctoral degree by Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo (FCFRP/USP)
Vice-President of ABEMEL since 2016 (Brazilian Association of Honey Exporters)
Head of Research, Development and Innovation, member of Directors Board and Pharmacist Responsible at Apis Flora Indl. Coml. Ltda - Propolis Leader Company in Brazil (IMS Health, 2018)
More than 32 scientific articles, 5 book chapters and 7 patents until 2019, Sep.
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.
Honorary Board Member
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.
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.
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.
Alfredo Fachini is the scientific director and main shareholder of B Natural first European producer of bee extracts and derivatives and partner of Beetaly organic beekeeping company specializing in the production of propolis.
In the 90s he began to deal with medicinal plants, in 2010 he founded B Natural with the aim of raising the image of propolis from a traditional product of beekeepers to an active ingredient to prevent many diseases.
He has developed and patented an innovative processing system (Dynamic Multi Extraction) capable of fully extracting all the active ingredients present in the raw material. In collaboration with Prof. Nicola Volpi, he develops the HPLC-ESI-MS analytical method to characterize the polyphenolic complex present and thanks to the extraction method develops standardized propolis extracts.
He promotes scientific studies to document the many activities of standardized propolis extracts.
Italian representative in the ISO committee for bee products standardization.
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.
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.
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 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.
Badiaa Lyoussi is Professor, Director of Research, Head of Laboratory Physiology- Pharmacology-Environmental Health at the University of Fez Morocco
Badiaa has over 30 years’ experience in the physiopathology and pharmacology of natural products - medicinal plants and bee products.
She has more than 120 scientific publications and chapters in books in the following areas
Biochemistry Pharmacists 1984) with Master’s degree (1996) and PhD in Pharmacology from the Federal University of Santa Catarina and Maximilian University Munich ( 2005) Coordinator of the Pharmacy course at UNISUL ( 1996-2006) and the Pharmacy course at UNIVBAVE (2006-2010). Coordinator of the Biomedicine Research and Development Group in the Professional \ Masters \program in Pharmacy at UNIBAN 2006-2016) Coordinator of Medical Specialisation LEX/SEPE courses in Clinical phytotherapy and Clinical Pharmacy in the MT Classes (2012 – current). CEO and Business Director of the Medical Lex Information Management and Courses Ltda. Has experience in the field fo Pharmacology, with emphasis in Pharmacology and Molecular of Medicinal Plants. Working mainly in fields related to the mechanism of action of Medicinal Plants and Natural Products, Inflammation and its pharmacodynamic mechanisms.
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.
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.
Professor Fu-Liang HU as been engaged in scientific research and teaching about bees and bee products many years working in the fields of bee biology, chemical composition, biological activity, quality control and deep processing technology of bee products, especially propolis. He has presided over more than 70 scientific projects and has been recognised in a number of awrads including China National Technological Invention and China National Scientific and Technological Progress, as well many provincial and ministerial awards. He has been responsible for 40 National Invention patents in China and has created 15 international, national and industry standards. He is has edited 10 books and has published 500 academic papers of which more than 140 have been included in SCI.
Academic positions held include:
Professor Ze-Tian LV has been engaged in the research of bee products for nearly 60 years.
He has presided over the development of industry standards for Royal Jelly (1989), Bee Pollen (1990), Propolis (2009, 2018), Technical Specifications of Propolis Production (2023), Process Specifications of Propolis Ethanol Extraction (2017). He has participated in the
drafting of Detection Method of Poplar Propolis by Propolis High Performance Liquid
Chromatography" (2017), technical specifications for Bee Pollen Production (2017).
From 2020 to 2023,as project leader of the Propolis – Specification Group (ISO/ISO/NP 2438), he presided over the completion of the first international standard for propolis, which was released and implemented in November 2023.
He has published nearly 100 papers, and edited and published monographs such as "100
Questions about Propolis" and "Apitherapy Healthcare".
He has been the recipient of many awards relating to bee products including:
the Beijing Science and Technology Achievement Award (1985), the Beijing New Product Development Award (1988) In 2005, he was awarded the honorary title of "Outstanding Scientific and Technological Innovation Talent in China's Bee Products Industry and the Outstanding Contribution Award for China's Bee Industry by the Apicultural Science Association of China in 2009. In 2019, he won the Special Outstanding Contribution Award for Thirty Years of Fengyun
Positions held include:
He is a researcher and lecturer at the Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Indonesia. He has a master's and doctoral degree from Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, majoring in Biotechnology and Life Science. He experienced in bioprocess engineering, biomedical engineering, and the development of natural products.
He has published over 200 books and articles in internationally indexed publications and has presented at many national and international seminars and conferences. He has received both research grants and awards from the Indonesian Ministry of Research, Technology, and Higher Education; the Ministry of Finance via the LPDP grant; the United States Agency for International Development - Sustainable Higher Education Foundation (USAID SHERA); the UK-Indonesia Consortium for Interdisciplinary Sciences (UKICIS); and others.
He serves as a member of the editorial board and as a reviewer for nationally and internationally indexed journals. He is executive board member of Asian Federation of Biotechnology (AFOB), Deputy Chair of Technology Innovation of the Indonesian Beekeeping Association - Asosiasi Perlebahan Indonesia, and Head of Indonesian Apitherapy Association - Perhimpunan Apiterapi Indonesia. He has been a Chairman of Asian Apiculture Association Conference 2018 at Jakarta, Indonesia.
He is renowned for his research on propolis, which he has explored for its potential in therapeutic applications, including as an adjunct treatment for COVID-19. He is also dedicated to bio-farming and the development of sustainable bee farming practices in Indonesia. He has published 36 articles Scopus indexed of propolis research from 2019–2024, with most contributed topics about propolis; flavonoid; antioxidant capacity, stingless bee; high performance liquid chromatography.. In addition to his scholarly achievements, he engages in community initiatives, specifically through projects that promote apiculture and empower local populations.