Madlen’s interest in bees started at the beginning of her Bachelor’s degree, where she joined the Centre of Integrative Bee Research (CIBER) at the University of Western Australia.

She has since undertaken research on honey bee fertility, nutrition, foraging behaviour and pollination. During her PhD she studied the effects of nutrition on colony health and crop pollination efficiency.

Her continuous passion for working with the honey bee industry has led her to her current position as the ‘Honey Bee Industry Development Officer’ with the Department of Primary Industries in NSW.

In her role she is focusing on applied research to improve the productivity, profitability and sustainability of the beekeeping industry. She is currently focusing on research on honey bee nutrition and supplementary feeding, as well as crop pollination.