Soil Ecology in Practice

The aim of the conference is to connect policy and practice with cutting-edge soil ecology research, placing the practitioner at the heart of the focus. The overarching question that the conference will address is: How can we use our knowledge and networks to deliver on the major needs of soil ecology policy and practice in the next 3-5 years?

We will begin with three sessions, each linked to a specific theme: 1. Soil agroecology for food and soil security; 2. Degraded soils and restoration; 3. Conservation and soil functional ecology at scale. Each session will start with a keynote speaker that has a deep insight into policy and practice relating to soil ecology. Within their talk, we will ask that they outline the main challenges they face and how the scientific community could address this. The keynote will be followed by shorter, solicited talks from researchers focused on soil ecology whose research links to the main challenges outlined by the keynote speaker. Each session will close with a facilitated discussion around the themes proposed by the keynote, and the responses gained from the research talks. These discussions will feed into the workshops on Wednesday. One poster session will run throughout the two days to give the participants multiple opportunities to discuss their research. The posters will link to the themes of the three sessions.