Meet The Team

Founder & Director
Dr. Jody Gerdts
Dr. Gerdts is the principle researcher, queen bee breeder, primary beekeeper, web designer, and janitor at Bee Scientifics. Jody is a fourth generation beekeeper and total science nerd bringing a wealth of practical beekeeping and scientific experience to the team. Jody has a love-hate relationship with propolis and loves the smell of crispy eucalyptus leaves burning in a smoker.

Technical Expert
David Briggs
Mr. Briggs is a commercial queen producer and queen bee breeder from Northeast Victoria. David's technical skills and commercial beekeeping experience helps Bee Scientifics solve tricky beekeeping problems in a research context. David's diplomacy skills, work ethic, and nice-guyedness are a winning combination.

Technical Consultant
Laurie Dewar OAM
Mr. Dewar is a retired master queen bee breeder from Queensland and former chief queen breeder for the national stock improvement program. Laurie has been involved with the Australian Beekeeping industry for over 40 years and was the inaugural chair of the Australian Honey Bee Industry Council. Laurie is a wealth of knowledge and experience and a fantastic story-teller.

Leading Field Technician
Benedict Hughes
Mr. Hughes trades independently as the Practical Beekeeper providing education and outreach to upcoming beekeepers in the Melbourne area. When not teaching and taking care of his own bees, Benedict helps us teach classes, catch queens, dream big, and keeps our coffee cups full.

Chief Honey Advisor
Jeremy Scott
Mr. Scott is a commercial beekeeper from Southwest Victoria. In addition to helping shift our commercial apiary, Jeremy consults on honey flow location and quality keeping our drone stock under commercial pressures. Jeremy also helps with extracting and team spirit with his jovial demeanour and can-do attitude.

Chief Quality Control Officer
Peita Martin
Ms. Martin helps ensure our honey is delicious and she hasn't found a batch that wasn't approved. In addition to her honey sampling responsibilities, Peita is in charge of honey sales keeping our farm gate shop stocked. Peita occasionally assists with bee breeding by catching drones and most important is a powerful advocate for bees and pollinators amongst her age group.