Committee

André Rey (President) has devoted himself to faunal species conservation for more than 20 years through his ecological consultancy in Zurich. Since 2007 his main interest has been wild bee conservation. In this field he works for numerous Swiss municipalities and organisations, draws up action plans, carries out mapping and monitoring, and advises them on technical questions. Between 2014 and 2022 he contributed to the revision of the Red List of the Wild Bees of Switzerland. André is also actively involved in various non-profit projects; among other things he played a substantial part in the original web app FuturePlanter, known today as the Bee-Finder. As president of the association, André directs the affairs of IG Wilde Biene and is responsible for the technical supervision of projects and for talks.
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Esther Vogel (Vice-President & Treasurer) completed her biology degree at the University of Bern in 2013 with a master’s thesis on the food web of spiders. She then broadened her experience through numerous international research projects. She helped, for instance, with the identification and recording of humpback whales and took part in various conservation projects for sea turtles. For some years she has worked as a specialist field ecologist (butterflies, grasshoppers, spiders, wild bees) in eastern Switzerland (from Schaffhausen to Graubünden). Her work for IG Wilde Biene covers the supervision of projects; she is also treasurer and co-head of the office.
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Philipp Noger (Secretary) studied environmental sciences and architecture at ETH Zurich. Since his youth he has taken an intense interest in the biology and ecology of bumblebees. Philipp works as an architect at the City of Zurich’s unit for sustainable building; accordingly he is interested in the life and diversity between the houses. Within IG Wilde Biene he works for the preservation and support of biodiversity in the “built environment”.
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Florence Gilliéron (Committee member) completed her master’s degree in biology at ETH Zurich in 2021. She worked for close to 10 years in environmental education at the Goldau nature and animal park, and afterwards at Agroscope in the biosafety research group. At Agroscope she investigated the overwintering capacity of a parasitic wasp that attacks mealybugs. Florence currently leads a research project on wild bees and solitary wasps that nest in pithy stems. She spends a great deal of time outdoors and enjoys it, whether on the alp in summer or travelling in Scotland. At IG Wilde Biene she helps with the supervision of projects.
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Ayaka Gütlin (Committee member) works freelance and has several years of experience in entomology, environmental education, botany and agricultural science. She studied agricultural science at ETH Zurich and, in her master’s thesis, examined the holistic support of pollinator groups by means of reforestation plants. Among other things she gives various school workshops and guided tours at the Natural History Museum Basel, the Botanical Garden of the University of Basel and for Pro Natura. She takes an active part in projects for IG Wilde Biene.
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Rebekka Moser (Committee member) completed her studies as an environmental engineer (BSc). Since 2020 Rebekka has worked at Agrofutura AG, carrying out butterfly mapping, wild rose conservation projects and guided excursions. Besides her committee work she takes an active part in projects for IG Wilde Biene.
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Jürg Sommerhalder owns and runs a company working in software development and ecology. In this capacity, but also as a passionate nature photographer, he concerns himself closely with wild bees and other subjects around biology, ecology and nature conservation. In his work for IG Wilde Biene he is responsible for running the association and, together with Esther Vogel (see above), looks after the office.
-> Send an e-mail to Jürg Sommerhalder