Photo Gallery
7 Jul 2026, 7pm - 8pm
How does a honeybee hive change across the season, how do beekeepers adapt to urban environments, and what can we do to help bees thrive?
In this session we will explore an average day in the life of a student beekeeper, connecting the daily actions within the apiary to deeper tales of beekeeping history, culture, and practice.
We’ll discuss how hives survive the winter when regular forage is gone, the process of swarming in Spring when the hive reproduces as a whole, as well as how the daily tools of beekeeping connect to its long and storied history within England.
Attendees will also get a taste of student beekeeping across the United Kingdom, learning how they may become involved in their local association or academic society. Across our session we’ll take a behind-the-scenes peek at the Oxford University Beekeeping Society─the university’s first beekeeping society in 185 years─to learn how modern beekeeping doesn’t only immerse students in the rhythms of the natural world, but deepens their connections with ecosystems across the globe.
Spencer Drake is the founder and president of the Oxford University Beekeeping Society, and a freelance beekeeping instructor of eight years’ experience. In the past he has helped lead the King’s, St John’s, and Darwin College Beekeeping Societies at the University of Cambridge, and managed research hives at Cambridge’s Department of Biochemistry. In his instructing capacity, Spencer has opened apiaries and privately tutored students across Southern England in Oxford, Cambridge, London, and in the United States in Boston. When he is not beekeeping, Spencer may be found in the libraries of Oxford University, working on his history PhD.