Programme

Tuesday August 29 – Soils for Society  

Prof. Peter Groffman, City University of New York

Peter Groffman is Professor at the City University of New York Advanced Science Research Center at the Graduate Center and the Brooklyn College Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences. He studies the role of microbial processes in impacting gas exchange between the soil and air, with a particular focus on nitrogen. His research projects have ranged across multiple spatial scales and included a wide range of techniques, from isotopic and geochemical approaches to remote sensing and simulation models.

Wednesday August 30 – Advances in Measuring and Modelling Soil Processes   

Dr. Debjani Sihi, Emory University

Debjani Sihi is an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences at Emory University (GA, USA). She is an environmental biogeochemist with a broad research interest in soil organic matter dynamics and greenhouse gas emissions from natural and managed systems. Her research program includes both empirical studies and process-based modeling. She uses biogeochemical models to evaluate the fate of soil carbon (and nutrient) in the face of climate change in systems ranging from the tropics and subtropics to temperate and boreal transition forests.

Thursday August 31 – Mapping and Evaluating Soil Functions across Scales

Dr. Madlene Nussbaum, Bern University of Applied Sciences

Madlene Nussbaum is a research associate at Bern University of Applied Sciences, school of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences within the research group soil use and management. She is a nationally and internationally recognized digital soil mapping expert. Her current work focuses on methodological developments to set up a sound mapping framework for subsequent soil map applications. She developed a practical machine learning based sampling framework to acquire new data for multi-purpose soil assessments.

During the past years M. Nussbaum invested in the communication of soil mapping products especially to make methods understandable and to introduce end-users to map uncertainty. As former president of the Swiss Soil Science Society she is aware of the needs of policy makers and soil practitioners. She largely promoted knowledge transfer by founding a working group for modern soil information methods within the Swiss Soil Science Society or by offering courses or consulting government agencies. Over the years, she chiefly contributed to build confidence in approaches sometimes difficult to convey. Digital soil mapping and assessment is now considered the way to survey large areas in Switzerland in the near future.

Friday September 1 – Soils for Nature-Based Solutions 

Dr. Carlo Calfapietra, Institute of Research on Terrestrial Ecosystems

Dr. Calfapietra is a research director of Institute of Research on Terrestrial Ecosystems, National Research Council, Italy. His research interests include energy, water and carbon exchange between soil, vegetation and atmosphere. For many years C. Calfapietra has been studying functions and ecosystem services of urban green infrastructures with especial focus on air quality and climatic comfort. He is an expert of European Commission for Nature-Based Solutions. Enhancing functionality of urban green infrastructures to improve quality of life in cities is the core idea of the projects coordinated by C. Calfapietra. He is an active member of Czechglobe, Centre of Excellence for Studies on Climate Change of AVCR, Brno (Czech Republic), where his research is focused on forests urban resilience and sustainable urban development.