Continuing a valued tradition, the Belgian Soil Science Society is once again organizing the Day of Young Soil Scientists, providing a platform for early-career researchers in both fundamental and applied soil science. The event is open to young scientists—MSc and PhD students, as well as early-career postdocs—affiliated with a Belgian academic or research institution.
Following last year’s successful edition, we look forward to welcoming many familiar faces and, of course, meeting new participants. Use the link below to register and find more details on abstract submission.
What
A full day of talks and poster presentations by young soil scientists
Best oral presentation and best poster receive awards
Coffee breaks & sandwich lunch included in registration fee
When & where
Date 26/03/2025: 8h30h-17h00
Venue: Royal Academy, Hertogstraat 1, Brussels – The Rubens room (Oral presentations) & The Atrium (Posters & coffee)
Oral and poster presentations
During the Day of Young Soil Scientists, participants can actively engage in the program by delivering either oral or poster presentations. Oral presentations typically last about 15 minutes, while poster presenters have the opportunity to give a brief flash presentation of approximately 3 minutes. Both plenary discussions and informal, one-on-one exchanges are encouraged, fostering a relaxed and interactive atmosphere.
Abstracts
Indicate your preference for an oral or poster presentation. There is no limit to the number of poster presentations. MSc thesis students are strongly encouraged to create a poster based on their thesis work, with a particular focus on their research question and methodology.
Deadline for submitting abstracts is March 10th, 2025. UPDATE: extension of deadline till March 12, 2025.
Submission: send your abstract to [email protected] with the following e-mail heading DYSS2025_Name_Given Name
Format Language: English & max 300 words, Use the following template
A decision on acceptance for oral or poster presentation will be communicated to you by March 14th, 2025.
Registration
Register for the DYSS 2025 as presenter or regular attendee and meet your fellow soil scientists. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to exchange, learn and network. Price depends on member status. Registrations are open till March 14, 2025.
We are joyful to announce that the SSSB organises an excursion, open to established and new members, on October 18th in Gedinne, the Ardennes.
During the day we will explore carefully selected parts of the geological and pedological trail of the Croix-Scaille (summary in French) and combine it with interactive examinations of soil profiles as well as participatory soil augering. This select mix of activities offers insights in some pedological peculiarities of the Ardennes and how field observations can contribute to understanding the relationship between rocks, soils and landscape. You will thus have the chance to discover, observe, scrutinize (by auger and on pits) some typical soils of the region, and discuss about their genesis, characteristics and connection with the landscape. In this process, we will be particularly attentive to share information adapted to each participant, whatever their area of expertise.
Program
09.00 : bus pick up right at the back of the Namur railway station (Boulevard du Nord, see map).
10.00 : outcrop of the Fépin conglomerate
11.15 : soil profile – Podzol
12.30 : Tour du Millénaire – Welcome by the Mayor of Gedinne & lunch (bring it yourself ; 1 fresh local drink offered)
13.30 : soil augering – “Sol à argile blanche” (don’t hesitate to take your own auger !)
14.30 : soil profile – Acid brown forest soil & ICP Forests observation plot (intensive monitoring of forest ecosystems)
16.00 : former quarry (quartzite & phyllades) & soil profile – Acid brown forest soil with micropodzolisation
17.30 : back to the Namur railway station
Accessibility
Both morning spots are reached by bus. The three afternoon spots (points 4, 7/8 & 13 of the geopedological trail) are located along a 2 km route (4 km round trip) that we’ll do on foot, through very accessible roads.
Registration and fee
The fee is 30 € for members (30 € + membership for people who are not yet members). This fee includes access to the profiles, excursion guide, transportation, and 1 local drink during the lunch. The number of participants is restricted to 35 for practical reasons, registration will be handled on a “first-come first-served” basis. Registration is open till October 1st.
In good tradition the Belgian Soil Science Society is yet once more organizing its ‘Young Soil Scientist Day‘ where we offer a forum to starting researchers in both fundamental and applied soil science. Open to young (MSc & PhD-students and young post-docs) working at a Belgian Academic or Research Institute. Following last year’s successful edition we hope to see many of you back and welcome new faces of course as well. See the below link to register and find more info on abstract submission.
An update: 42 registrants & program provided below. Find the book of abstracts here below!
Register for the DYSS 2024 as presenter or regular attendee and meet your fellow soil scientists. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to exchange, learn and network. Price depends on member status.
Give your preference of oral or poster presentation. There is no limit to the number of poster presentations. MSc. thesis students are warmly encouraged to make a poster on their actual thesis work, with special attention to the research question they are trying to answer + the methods of their research.
Deadline for submitting abstracts is February 26nd 2024.
Submission: send your abstract to [email protected] with the following your e-mail heading DYSS2024_Name_Given Name
Format Language: English & max 300 words, Use the following template
We are very pleased to announce that – after digging ourselves out of the swamp of the corona pandemic – our society’s annual excursion in May is back in full force! For this joyful occasion, we have prepared quite a show for you!
University forest Beverbeek, Hamont-Achel: Dr. Stefaan Dondeyne will take us on a below-ground trip to the Middle-Ages with Plaggic Anthrosols along with related landscape and land use features (Pine forest with human disturbed Podzols; forest conversion, wetlands with bog myrtle and outfields separated from the infields by a ditch and an earthen bank (Dutch: ‘wolvensprong ’).
A step over the border to the ‘Kraanvenne’ nature reserve with shifting dunes and Heathlands
A final stop at Achel Kluis for our society’s famous ‘Sundowner’!
Registration & fee
The excursion is exclusive to members, so the fee is 60 Euro for members, or 60 Euro + membership for people who are not yet members. This fee includes access to the profiles, excursion guide, transportation, and drink during the ‘Sundowner’.
Registrations are open NOW, so get ready to ‘get some sand in your shoes’! The number of participants is restricted for practical reasons, registration will be handled on a ‘first-come first-served’ basis.
In good tradition the Belgian Soil Science Society is yet once more organizing its ‘Young Soil Scientist Day‘ where we offer a forum to starting researchers in both fundamental and applied soil science. Open to young (MSc & PhD-students and young post-docs) working at a Belgian Academic or Research Institute. Following last year’s successful edition we hope to see many of you back and welcome new faces of course as well. See the below link to register and find more info on abstract submission.
What
A full day of talks and poster presentations by young soil scientists
Best oral presentation and best poster receive awards
Keynote speaker Karen Vancampenhout (KULeuven)
Coffee breaks & sandwich lunch included in registration fee
Final program here below + download the book of abstracts
Welcome Prof. Jeroen Meersmans (ULiège) – President of SSSB
9.10-10.30
Oral presentations – 9.10 – 9.30: Boito Lucilla – Silicates rock! Steps towards application of silicate rocks to mitigate climate change – 9.30 – 9.50: Arthur Vienne – Insights from a basalt mesocosm experiment. Do earthworms stimulate carbon sequestration through enhanced weathering? – 9:50 – 10.10: Nicolas Kovacs – Converting grassland to a bamboo plantation affects soil organic carbon stock and dynamics – 10:10 – 10.30: Kelly Wittemans – Digital mapping of soil properties in Flanders using the DOV soil database
Key Note Presentation Prof. Karen Vancampenhout (KU Leuven) – Former president of SSSB The ways of the dead – finding a nexus between biotic and abiotic drivers of soil carbon cycling
14.10-14.30
Oral presentations – 14.10 – 14.30: Marie Dincher – Major element residence times in humus from a beech forest: the role of element forms and recycling
Oral presentations – 15.30 – 15.50: Astrid Francoys – Assessing capillary rise in a laboratory set-up: impact of contrasting groundwater depths on topsoil moisture and mineralization of added plant material – 15.50 – 16.10: Florian Lauryssen – Phosphorus reference conditions in lowland streams: survey in old forests and anaerobic sediment release – 16.10 – 16.30: Yixian Chen – Data-driven prediction of gully densities at the global scale
16.30-17.00
Closing and Drink
When & Where?
Date 24/03/2023: 8h30h-17h00
Venue: Royal Academy, Hertogstraat 1, Brussels – The Ockeghem room (Oral presentations) & The Atrium (Posters & coffee)
Registration
Register for the DYSS 2023 as presenter or regular attendee and meet your fellow soil scientists. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to exchange, learn and network. Price depends on member status.
Give your preference of oral or poster presentation. There is no limit to the number of poster presentations. MSc. thesis students are warmly encouraged to make a poster on their actual thesis work, with special attention to the research question they are trying to answer + the methods of their research.
Deadline for submitting abstracts is March 6th 2023.
Submission: send your abstract to [email protected] with the following your e-mail heading DYSS2023_Name_Given Name
Format Language: English & max 300 words, Use the following template
Venue: Royal Academy, Hertogstraat 1, Brussels – Rubenszaal & Atrium
Programme
8.45 – 9.15: Arrival (coffee in Atrium – presentations in Rubenszaal) 9.15 – 9.20: Welcome (Rubenszaal) 9.20 – 9.40: Invited Speaker – Bas van Wesemael (UCLouvain) Monitoring of soil health indicators in support of policy measures 9.40 – 9.55: Oral Presentation – Lisa Joos (ILVO) The response of the soil microbiome after short-term disturbances: a bio-indicator to reflect the soil health status 9.55 -10.15: Invited Speaker – Giles Colinet (ULiège) Healthy soils, healthy food? A trace metal perspective in kitchen and market gardens 10.15 – 10.30: Oral Presentation – Carlos Wetzel (LIST) Soil bacterial, fungal and diatom biodiversity in Luxembourg
10.30 – 11.00: Coffee + Posters
11.00 – 11.20: Invited Speaker – Martien Swerts (Vlaams Planbureau voor Omgeving) Risk-based thresholds and soil functional indicators in the context of the EU soil health law 11.20- 11.50: Debate What defines a “Good Soil” — Scientific reflections for policymakers
11.50 – 12.10: Invited Speaker – Ellen Desie (KULeuven) Soil health in forest soils – challenges and solutions 12.10– 12.25: Oral Presentation – Lola Leveau (UClouvain) The “earthworm basket” method appears promising for measuring mulch burial in on-farm research 12.25 -12.40: Oral Presentation – Robrecht Van Der Bauwhede (KULeuven) Optimizing screening of rock dusts for acid forest soil restoration 12.40 – 12.45: Closing Remarks
Scope
As we have entered the Anthropocene, the awareness has grown that soils are a vital, though limited, resource, supporting the delivery of many key ecosystem services such as food security and climate regulation. Given the critical role of soils in securing human well-being a range of new policy-making initiatives have been set up recently, such as the EU Soil Health Law. Hence, an exchange between policymakers and scientists is crucial in order to find out what parameters are key in determining a healthy soil. Or in other words, a very important question remains: “What Defines a Good Soil”?
In the light of this question we would like to invite scientific contributions focusing on assessments of either physical, chemical or biological indicators of soil quality and/or soil health. We welcome both oral and poster and presentations covering a wide range of ecosystems, including natural, agricultural and urban environments.
Oral presentation will be followed by a debate on the suitability of a soil health approach in the context of the current EU law making process as well as on how to provide policy makers with scientific information and tools needed to protect our soils and secure the delivery of ecosystem services for future generations.
The DYSS was a success with 37 participants and 14 new members! In total 14 oral presentations and 15 posters, accompanied by flash presentations and lively discussion in interaction with the audience.
Mr. Jacques Kilelawho was awarded for the best oral presentation, entitled “Effect of organic amendment on the physicochemical characteristics of tailing and root development of tree species, fifteen years after planting”.
Ms. Andrea Cecere was awarded best poster presentation, entitled “Impacts of soil conductivity on plant transpiration regulation under drought”
Congratulations to both and to all other high quality presentations. A few more impressions of the day below and we hope to see many of you all next year!
Venue: Royal Academy, Hertogstraat 1, Brussels – The Rubens auditorium (Oral presentations) & The Atrium (Posters & coffee)
Registration
Register for the DYSS 2022 and meet your fellow soil scientists. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to exchange, learn and network.
A full day of talks and poster presentations by young soil scientists
Keynote speaker Jean-Thomas Cornelis – “Pedology, a key discipline if we are to harness all the complexity of soil-root-plant interactions to build resilient ecosystem”
Best oral presentation and best poster receive awards and a priceless 😉 SSSB-knife!
Coffee breaks & sandwich lunch incl. in registration fee
Extra workshop (to be confirmed) on work/life balance
Program: SSSB – Day of the Young Soil Scientists
* 8.30 onwards — Doors Open
* 8.45 – 9.00 — Registration
* 9.00 – 9.15—Welkom
– Prof. Karen Vancampenhout (KU Leuven) – President of SSSB
* 9.15 – 10.30 — Oral Presentations
– 9.15 – 9.30 : Marie Dincher – Importance of particles in the input-output budget of major elements in humus of a beech forest
– 9.30 – 9.45 : Lin Wang – Effects of treated wastewater irrigation on soil quality
– 9:45 – 10:00 : Klara Dvorakova – Improving soil organic carbon predictions from Sentinel 2 soil composites by assessing surface conditions and uncertainties
– 10:00 – 10.15 : Florence Tan – Evaluating the large-scale applicability of hillslope sediment connectivity models
– 10.15 – 10.30 : Mekonnen Getahun – Soils and vegetation of the Afro-Alpine vegetation belts of East African rift valley system: a literature review
– 11.15 – 11.30 : Philippe Roux – Influence of warming on ecosystem elemental budget, an Ecotron experiment.
– 11.30 – 11.45 : Haichao Li – Soil textural control on moisture distribution at the microscale and its effect on organic matter mineralization
– 11.45 – 12.00 : Ine Rosier – Modelling the effects of vegetated landscape elements on the rainfall-runoff behaviour of agricultural catchments
– 12.00 – 12.15 : Jacques Kilela – Effect of organic amendment on the physicochemical characteristics of tailing and root development of tree species, fifteen years after planting
– Prof. Jean Thomas Cornelis (University of British Columbia) – Former president of SSSB
Pedology, a key discipline if we are to harness all the complexity of soil-root-plant interactions to build resilient ecosystems
* 13.45 – 15.00 — Oral Presentations
– 13.45 – 14.00 : Ioanna Panagea – Can we reverse the negative effects on topsoil structure and organic carbon caused by inversion tillage? Analysis of long-term experiments in Europe
– 14.00 – 14.15 : Junwei Hu – Do belowground herbivorous and bacterivorous microfauna influence plant growth independently?
– 14.15 – 14.30 : Lin Lin – Visual assessment of soil structural quality across soil textures and compaction levels – examination of profile walls vs. intact soil cores
– 14.30 – 14.45 : Zimmin Li – Aggregation reduces the release of bioavailable silicon from allophane and phytolith
– 14.45 – 15.00 : Florian Lauryssen – Estimation of the natural background of phosphate in a lowland river using tidal marsh sediment cores
* 15.00 – 15.30 — Coffee Break + Posters
* 15.30 – 16.30 — Workshop : Mental Health
– Merel Ackx – Career Development Advisor KU Leuven
* 16.30 – 17.00 — Closing & Drink
Abstract submission – closed
Scope Any contribution related to soil science Add future challenges dealing with your field of expertise at the end of both your abstract and presentation and present your perspectives
There is no limit to the number of poster presentations! M.Sc. thesis students are warmly encouraged to make a poster on their actual thesis work, with special attention to the research question they are trying to answer + the methods of their research.
Format Title, Authors , Abstract max 400 words – use this template Communication preference (Poster/Oral) Language: English
Deadline: 11/03/2022
Submission: send your abstract to [email protected] use the following template:
After the success of the first edition ‘Geophysics & Agriculture: the perfect match?’ in 2020, we are pleased to give you all a new opportunity to exchange knowledge, good practices, and passion on current trending topics in agrogeophysics.
When applied to agriculture, geophysics targets physical quantities (resistivity, permittivity,elastic moduli …) that indirectly relate to soil and plant properties or hydrological variables. By consequence, Agrogeophysics is a discipline looking for indices to understand the complex interplay between the soil, the plant(s), and the atmosphere.
In the last years, particular attention has been devoted to the development of small-scale studies conducted on a single plant with the aim to translate geophysical observations to state variables governing the soil-plant interactions. On the other hand, we observed a momentum for larger-scale Geophysics using soil proximal to remote sensing in order to map and support agricultural decisions. Yet, although mainly focused on water management issues, agrogeophysics is not limited to and emerging frontiers topics show the potential of geophysical methods to highlight soil processes like carbon and nitrogen cycling.
You can submit any research related to agrogeophysics. We particularly welcome engagement of early-career scientists who are interested to work across groups, scales, and disciplines.
In an hackathon session we will work with those interested in some of the new initiatives in data management, codes integration, and standards in agrogeophysics and will encourage the gathering of pedophysical data.
Key dates and registration
Registration
deadline: February 25th, 2022
fees: 20€ for Phds, 10€ for master students, 40€ for all other cases
🛬 Arrival + conference dinner: Thursday evening March 10th, 2022
📅 Seminar day: Friday March 11th, 2022
Venue: Palace of the Royal Academies, Brussels (Stevinzaal and Troonzaal)
Registration
You want to attend, with or without a contribution? Please register here.
Programme
Thu 10/03
19:00-22:00
Icebreaker conference dinner in Brussels
Fri 11/03 – Palace of the royal academies
9:00-10:00
Oral block I – Conveners Ellen Van De Vijver and Christian Von Hebel 9:00 Evaluating VNIR spectroscopy, electromagnetic induction and gamma spectrometry to predict soil properties at landscape scale – Steigerwald et al. 9:15 Large Scale EMI Survey linking Electrical Conductivity to Soil Type Properties using Machine Learning Classification Methods. – O’Leary et al. (invited) 9:30 Using geophysical sensors to map and improve the characterization of peatlands in Denmark – Adetsu et al. 9:45 Mapping of Agricultural Subsurface Drainage Systems Using Proximal and Remote Sensors – Koganti et al. (invited)
10:00 – 11:00
Coffee and poster session Carrera et al. – Joint inversion approach for soil compaction characterization EMI characterization in mountain catchments: multi-frequency versus multi-coil inversion using EMagPy – Blanchy et al. The potential of geophysics for field phenotyping – Garré et al. Modeling soil structure spatio-temporal dynamics and geophysical signatures of compacted soils – Romero-Ruiz et al. (…contributions to be completed…)
11:00 – 12:15
Oral block II – Conveners Sarah Garré and Alejandro Romero – Ruiz 11:00 Sensing of roots at the field scale using spectral electrical impedance tomography (tbd) – Michels et al. 11:15 Spectral Induced Polarization Characterization of artificial soils with varying water saturation, salinity and clay content – Iván et al. 11:30 Electrical Resistivity Tomography as a monitoring tool for rain-fed agricultural hydrodynamics in southern African Alfisols – Swift et al. (invited) 11:45 Cosmic-ray neutron sensing in support of precision irrigation or: how a fairly simple question yields a puzzling answer – Brogi et al. (invited) 12:00 Electrical resistivity tomography applications for precision irrigation management Vanella et al. (invited)
12:15 – 13:15
Lunch
13:15 – 16:45
Interactive session / hackathon / … – Conveners Guillaume Blanchy and Benjamin Mary
Start: a quick overview of CAGSPhase 1: idea generation to answer the challenges listed below (1/2h) Phase 2: idea development (1h30) ☕ coffee break Phase 3: idea implementation (1h) ☕ coffee break Phase 4: pitch of team results to an expert panel and the public (30-45 min)
16:45 – 18:00
Teams pitch their work and we end with drinks and fingerfood. 🙂
Sarah Garré (ILVO, KULeuven), Benjamin Mary (UNIPD), Ellen Van De Vijver (UGent), Alejandro Romero-Ruiz (Rothamsted Research), Guillaume Blanchy (ULiège, ILVO)
Detection, monitoring and management of soil structure and compaction
Friday November 26th, 2021 9:15-12:30 ONLINE
Please find the full recorded oral presentations and posters and abstracts here.
We explored how to characterize and monitor soil structure and treat the challenges around the widespread problem of soil compaction and soil structural loss: prevention, detection, monitoring and management.
Soil compaction is one of the main physical threats to soil and largely results from the use of agricultural machinery, often in combination with wet soil. Halting soil degradation was put forward by the United Nations as one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 15). The phenomenon not only has negative consequences for rooting, nutrient uptake and consequently crop yield, but also compromises good water management. A compacted soil, after all, prevents the proper drainage of water in wet periods and makes it difficult for moisture to rise from deeper layers in dry conditions.
During this thematic day, we explored ongoing research on prevention, detection, monitoring and remediation of soil structural loss and compaction and its underlying processes.
Keynote talk by Alejandro Romero-Ruiz / Methods for Field-Scale Characterization of Soil Structure
Alejandro is a postdoctoral scientist at Rothamsted Research (UK). He obtained his PhD from the University of Lausanne in 2021, in which he studied the impact of soil compaction on soil hydraulic and mechanical properties at the plot scale by combining hydrological modeling and field monitoring of geophysical data. His current research focuses on the impacts of soil compaction in grasslands resulting from animal treading.
Programme
9:15
Welcome
9:30-11:20
ORAL PRESENTATIONS
9:30
Romero-Ruiz
Rothamsted/ETH
Keynote: Geophysical method for field-scale soil structure characterization
10:00
Lin
UGent
Assessment of soil structural quality across different textures with visual and soil physical analysis methods
10:20
Anseeuw
VIVES
Towards a common VSA standard for Flanders
10:40
Vanderhasselt
ILVO
Remediation of subsoil compaction by subsoiling and deep rooting crops
11:00-11:20
coffee break
11:20-12:25
SHORT PRESENTATIONS OF POSTERS
11:20
Hardy
CRAw
The QuantiSlake test : a new simple method to evaluate soil structural stability
11:30
Pirlot
GxABT
Monitoring the temporal evolution of the soil structure of three innovative production systems in the field
11:40
Ten Damme
SLU
Accounting for traction effects for improved assessment of the risk of soil compaction
11:50-11:55
short break
11:55
Vandekerckhove
BDB
Remediation of subsoil compaction by deep tillage
12:05
Mendoza Veirana
UGent
A theoretical improvement of soil pedophysical permittivity models
12:15
Peiten
UA
Ecological and hydrological functioning of compacted and non-compacted topographical depressions in agroscapes
Op vrijdag 23 april organiseert de Nederlandse Bodemkundige Vereniging een webinar ‘Kijken in de bodem: inspiratie en technieken’. De webinar vindt plaats via Microsoft Teamsvan 14 – 16 uur. Tijdens deze webinar delen drie boeiende sprekers hun verhaal over hoe je op een creatieve manier bodems kunt laten zien en hoe je erover kunt communiceren naar een breed publiek.
Wordt geïnspireerd door Karen Vancampenhout (KU Leuven) die via ‘story telling’ het verhaal achter een bodem
overbrengt, Stephan Mantel (ISRIC) die kan uitleggen hoe je een
bodemmonoliet maakt (en het verschil met een lakprofiel) en wat het
belang is van de collectie in het ISRIC Wereld Bodem Museum, en Christina Eickmeier (CHRITH
architects) die vanuit het project ‘Kijken in de grond’ (https://www.chrith.com/projecten/kijken-in-de-grond/) op een creatieve manier de
grote verscheidenheid aan bodems toont.
Je kunt je opgeven door op deze onderstaande te klikken of via
www.bodems.nl/themadagen. Stuur deze uitnodiging gerust door naar andere geïnteresseerden.
