151. Interview with native bee researcher and performer Dr Kit Prendergast

This week we were absolutely delighted (and, we'll admit, a little starstruck) to sit down with Dr Kit Prendergast: native bee researcher, taxonomist, conservation biologist, science communicator and performing artist, better known to many as Bee Babette. Kit came to science through a blend of the arts and the sciences, and that mix of creativity and rigour has come to define her career. She fell for native bees back in 2016, drawn in by macro photography and bee hotels, and went on to complete her PhD at Curtin University as a Forrest Research Scholar studying native bee biodiversity, urban pollination networks, and the genuinely contentious question of how introduced European honeybees affect our native species. Since then she's been remarkably prolific: more than 80 peer-reviewed papers, two brand-new bee species described (one named after her beloved dog, Zephyr), an award-winning science circus comedy show called The Birds & the Bees, a book, a swag of outreach awards, and a real knack for throwing out the rulebook on how scientists engage the public.

Join us for a fabulous conversation about falling in love with native bees, the trouble with "bee washing", why species names matter far more than you'd think, combining acrobatics with science on stage, and Kit's advice to be unapologetically your true self.

You can follow Kit and find out more about her work here:

• Everything Bee Babette on Patreon: patreon.com/cw/TheBeeBabette

• Kit's Forrest Research profile: forrestresearch.org.au/profiles/dr-kit-prendergast

• YouTube: The Bee Babette

• Instagram: @dr.beebabette

• LinkedIn: https://au.linkedin.com/in/dr-kit-prendergast-7b9250135

• Facebook: Kit Prendergast, The Buzz on Wild Bees, and Creating a Haven for Native Bees

Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/o7vh