A student of the Silesian University of Technology in a project saving bees

Irmina Lepiarczyk, a student of Biomedical Engineering at the Silesian University of Technology, took part in an international project aimed at saving bees by fighting varroa - a deadly disease among these insects.

As Albert Einstein said, when the bee becomes extinct, the human race will only have 4 years left to live. Therefore, scientists are taking actions that can improve the existence of this species on Earth.

A student of the Silesian University of Technology, Irmina Lepiarczyk, took part in one of such projects. The Biomedical Engineering student was selected, based on her scientific achievements, as 1 of 10 students from all over Poland to represent the country in the Huawei Seeds For The Future competition in Rome.

Seeds for the Future took place on July 1-5 in Rome. This prestigious event was attended by 145 outstanding students from 23 European countries, including ten students from Poland. Their applications in the recruitment process stood out among the remaining several hundred candidates. 

Irmina, together with a team called Beelievers, created a project aimed at saving bees by fighting varroa.

As we read on the competition organizers' website, the project involves installing a special camera in the hive that would analyse the image and the system would detect mites that cause a deadly bee disease - varroa. Then the system will automatically apply herbal-based smoke to the hive, which will kill the mites without harming the bees.

The Beelievers team was among the top ten teams from all over Europe.