The first “kick off” meeting of the INSIGNIA consortium took place in Oisterwijk, Netherlands in November 2018. The meeting was attended by 18 participants representing 15 institutions from 11 countries. After initial introductions and the completion of some formalities, detailed discussions took place to establish the experimental protocols which will be used in the first year of the project. An article intended for beekeeping magazines introducing the project has been written and has been published in Denmark, to be followed by magazines in Portugal and the UK.