Damien joined AbacusBio in 2020 as a PhD student after a long association with the beekeeping industry. Originally from France, he first came to New Zealand in 2005 after completing a Master’s degree in genetics from Sorbonne University in Paris, as part of his world tour as a beekeeping worker.

After traveling across Canada and Scotland, Damien ran his own beekeeping business in honey and queen breeding for 12 years. Throughout this period, he also worked as a biology and beekeeping teacher and participated in various genetic improvement programmes for honeybees in France.

At AbacusBio, Damien’s PhD is looking at the genetic improvement of honeybees as part of the FutureBees New Zealand Programme.