VII International Congress of the ECSSS

  2. Scientific Information
  3. Featured Speakers

Featured Speakers


Dr. Rattan Lal

INNAUGURAL PLENARY CONFERENCE (Monday, 08 September)

Title: Soil Science and Global Issues of the 21st Century

by Dr. Rattan Lal, Ohio State University, USA (0000-0002-9016-2972) 


Distinguished Professor of Soil Science and Director of the CFAES Rattan Lal Center for Carbon Management and Sequestration (Lal Carbon Center) at The Ohio State University (OSU), Adjunct Professor of the University of Iceland and the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), India and Visiting Professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso (PUCV), Chile.
Dr. Lal is widely recognized globally as a pioneer in soil-centric agricultural management to improve food security globally and develop climate-resilient agriculture through soil carbon sequestration, sustainable intensification, enhancing use efficiency of agroecosystems, sustainable management of soils, and soil health.
 
Fellow of the American Society of Agronomy (1985), Soil Science Society of America (1986), Third World Academy of Sciences (1992), American Association for the Advancement of Sciences (1996), Soil and Water Conservation Society (1997), Indian Natl. Academy of Agricultural Sciences (1998), and Rothamsted, U.K. (2013).
 
Hugh Hammond Bennett Award of the SWCS (2005), Borlaug Award (2005), Liebig Award (2006), M.S. Swaminathan Award, India (2009), COMLAND Award, Germany (2009), and the Sustained Achievement Award from the Renewable Natural Resources Foundation (2017). Medal of Honor from UIMP, Santander, Spain (2018), Distinguished Service Award from the IUSS in Rio, Brazil (2018); as well as the Alumni Medallist Award (2019) and 422nd Commencement Medal (2019) from OSU, USA.
 
He served as President of the WASWC (1987-1990), International Soil Tillage Research Organization (1988-91), Soil Science Society of America (2005-2007), and the IUSS (2017-18), member of the Federal Advisory Committee on National Assessment of Climate Change-NCADAC (2010-2014), Senior Science Advisor to the Global Soil Forum of IASS, Germany (2010-2012), Steering Committee of the Global Soil Week, IASS, Germany (2012- 2016), Advisory Board of FACCE-JPI of the European Council (2013-2016), Advisory Committee to UNU-FLORES,  Germany (2013-2019), the SPI of UNCCD, Germany (2018-2022); and the United Nations Food Systems Summit Science Committee and Action Track 3 (UNFSS) (2021).
 
He is Chair in Soil Science and Goodwill Ambassador for Sustainable Development Issues of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), Costa Rica (2020), member and Chair of SERDP Scientific Advisory Board of the Department of Defense (2011-2018; 2023-2025), appointed as member to the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development (BIFAD) by President Joe Biden (2022-2025).
Doctor of Science Honorary degrees from the Punjab Agricultural University, India (2001), Norwegian University of Life Sciences (2005), Alecu Russo Balti State University, Moldova (2010), Technical University of Dresden, Germany (2015), University of Lleida, Spain (2017), Gustavus Adolphus College, Minnesota (2018); Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso, Chile (2019); Amity University, India (2020) and IARI, India (2021).
He is ranked #1 globally and in the U.S. among Agricultural Scientists of the world by Research.com (2023, 2024), included on the list of the World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds (2014-2016) and that of Highly Cited Researchers Clarivate/Thomson Reuters (2014-2023). 
 
Professor Lal is laureate of the Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity (2024), Mahatma Ghandi Award for Environmental Protection (2022), Padma Shri Award (2021), World Food Prize (2020), Arrell Global Food Innovation Award (2020), Japan Prize (2019), U.S. Awasthi IFFCO Prize (2019), GCHERA World Agriculture Prize (2018), and Glinka World Soil Prize (2018).
Professor Lal was a lead author for the IPCC (1998-2000) and was awarded Nobel Peace Prize Certificate by the IPCC in 2007.

 


Dr. Claire Chenu

PLENARY CONFERENCE (Monday, 08 September)

Title:

by Dr. Claire Chenu, INRAE-AgroParisTech, France (0000-0001-9054-0489)


Research director at INRAE (French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment) and consulting professor of soil science at AgroParisTech.
Claire Chenu has articulated the importance of soil to our planet and humanity.
 
She is actively involved in the science-policy-practice interface and member of the Scientific and Technical Committee of the 4 per 1000 initiative and of the ITPS. She coordinates the EU H2020 European Joint Programme SOIL: “Towards climate-smart sustainable management of agricultural soils”.
 
Claire Chenu has provided intellectual leadership in the development of soil bio-physics as an interdisciplinary research field. Chenu’s achievements help bridge the gap between soil physics and microbially controlled processes. She is internationally recognised for her great contributions to soil science in terms of understanding the biogeochemistry of soil organic matter, including the biology, effects on soil structure, modelling, and persistence in soil. She greatly contributed to our understanding of soil structure and its implications for the soil as a microbial habitat, in turn affecting major element cycles in soils.
 
She is a member of several committees, such as the steering committee of the Swiss National Science Foundation Research Program on soils, the scientific committee of the German Biodiversity observatories, and the scientific advisory board of the Joint Programming Initiative on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change. She was Vice-Chair of the “Conseil Scientifique du Patrimoine Naturel et de la Biodiversité”, Ministery of Ecology (France).
In 2015, she was nominated Special Ambassador of the UN-FAO and awarded with the Philippe Duchaufour Medal in 2019 for outstanding research in the field of soil science, with special emphasis on pioneering conceptual work on the microbial-mineral interactions and organic matter dynamics in soil. In 2024 she was Doctor Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, Spain awarded her an honorary doctorate “Honoris Causa” in recognition of her methodological and conceptual contributions to the understanding of the complex interactions between living organisms and the organic and mineral components of soil.

 


Dr. Laura Bertha Reyes Sánchez

PLENARY CONFERENCE (Tuesday, 09 September)

Title: Educating for a sustainable future: environmentally livable, economically viable and humanly equitable 

by Dr. Laura Bertha Reyes Sánchez, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico (0000-0001-7729-5626)


Dr. Reyes Sánchez holds a PhD in Natural Sciences for Sustainable Development and is Professor of General Chemistry and Soil Science in the Department of Agricultural Engineering and Structure of Matter at FES-Cuautitlán-Universidada Autónoma de México. 
 
She has contributed decisively to a better understanding of the soils from the American Continent. She coauthored FAO’s “Soil Atlas of Latin America and the Caribbean” (2014), FAO´s Global Soil Partnership (GSP) Action and Implementation Plans of Pillar 2 (2015 and 2016), and the book “Green Chemistry Principle by Principle” (2024).
 
One of her priorities has been to promote the soil sciences among young children. She has authored several books and educational materials about soil sciences for kids; three children’s books co-published with FAO in 2021, 2022 and 2023, ten chapters in Green Chemistry and Soil Science books. Author and co-editor of the works: “White Paper: Soil Treatment in Compulsory Secondary and Baccalaureate Education Textbooks” (2016), “Edaphological Approaches to Advancing Sustainable Development Goals: an educational perspective to build a citizen preservation culture” (2018), “Soil Sciences Education: Global Concepts and Teaching” (2020), “Sustainable soil management as a key to preserving soil biodiversity and stopping its degradation” (2022), “The IUSS Genealogy” (2024), and “Soil is a Source of Life, Water and Food” (2024).
 
In 2018, she became the first woman to be elected by general vote as President of the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS) for the period 2019-2024.
 
She has received several prestigious awards, including the “Latin American Soil Science Award” (2014), the “Álvaro Barsellos Fagundes Medal” from the Brazilian Society of Soil Science (2018), and the Fellowship Award from the Chinese Society of Soil Science and the East and Southeast Soil Sciences Asia Federation Award (2022). She is also honored as an Honorary Member of the Soil Science Societies of Costa Rica, Spain, Poland, Guatemala, and Chile.

 


Dr. Peter Schad

PLENARY CONFERENCE (Tuesday, 09 September)

Title: The Soils of Our Planet – A Fascinating Resource

Dr. Peter Schad, Technical University of Munich, Germany (0000-0001-9620-6676)


Peter Schad is a renowned soil scientist, Professor and Chair of Soil Science at the Technical University of Munich, Germany and since  2003, he is a guest professor at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.
 
His research interests include the soil classification, Revision of the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB). From 2002 to 2010 he was the Vice-Chair and from 2010 to 2022 the Chair of the Working Group World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB) of the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS). 
 
Peter Schad has taught soils of the world and their use, management and conservation to generations of students not only in Germany but also at universities around the world, such as Singapore, Mexico, Spain, Ecuador, and Brazil. He has developed and decisively promoted the international soil classification system World Reference Base (WRB). For this, Peter has interacted with many soil scientists at all levels and guided numerous scientific field expeditions around the globe. This have greatly contributed to the advance of general soil knowledge, its comprehensive classification and the acceptance, understanding and use of the WRB as a world soil classification system. 
He has co-authored relevant reference books on soils of the world, such as the “Essentials of Soil Science” (English) and “Soils of the World” (German and English).
 
Awarded for 'Good University Teaching', granted by Bavarian State Minister of Science, Research and the Arts (2009) and with the IUSS Guy Smith Medal for a life-term outstanding contribution to the development of soil classification (2022).

 


Dr. Heike E. Knicker

PLENARY CONFERENCE (Wednesday, 10 September)

Title: Biochar a Magic Soil Amendment or How Does it Affect Soil Biochemistry?

by Dr. Heike E. Knicker, Instituto de la Grasa (IG-CSIC), Spain (0000-0002-0483-2109)


Research Professor at the Instituto de la Grasa (IG-CSIC), Spain, Dr. Heike Knicker is an organic geochemist that has contributed to the Earth and soil system sciences through accurately analysing, understanding, and modelling the impact of external factors like fire on soil organic matter. Her research has made significant contributions to our understanding of the nature and stability of pyrogenic soil organic carbon and nitrogen. Additionally, she has greatly enhanced our knowledge of the formation and stabilization of soil organic matter and humic materials, as well as the stabilization and sequestration of nitrogen in soils and sediments.
 
She was a pioneer in the field of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, contributing significantly to its development and applications in geochemistry and soil sciences. Notably, she recorded the first 15N NMR spectra of soil organic matter in mineral soils, sediments, and coals. Her research involved collaboration with colleagues from USA, South America, Australia, and throughout Europe. Moreover, she has contributed considerably to the formation of new research initiatives and has promoted knowledge exchange by organising meetings and encouraging participation of many research teams in joint projects.
 
In 2016 she was awarded with the EGU “Philippe Duchaufour” Medal for outstanding research in the field of soil organic matter, in particular on the impact of fire on humic materials, and for furthering the knowledge of the origin and properties of pyrogenic soil organic carbon and nitrogen.

 


Dr. Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo

CLOSING PLENARY CONFERENCE (Thursday, 11 September)

Title: Soil Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function Under Global Change

by Dr. Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo, Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología de Sevilla (IRNAS-CSIC), Spain (000-0002-6499-576X)


He holds a PhD. In Sciences by the Pablo de Olavide University (UPO), Spain. Actually he leads the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning Laboratory (BioFunLab) at Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología (IRNAS-CSIC), Spain, and the BioFun R&D Unit of the UPO-CSIC, Spain. He is also an honorary researcher at UPO, am honorary researcher at Western Sydney University, Australia (WSU) and a Visiting Scholar at Colorado State University, USA. 
 
His research focuses on providing innovative knowledge about the soil biome - the set of ecosystems characteristic of an area - in a context of global change. To do so, it uses a multidisciplinary approach that encompasses the study of environmental microbiomes, soil biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, global change and historical legacies in natural, agricultural and urban ecosystems on a global scale.
 
He is listed as Highly Cited Researcher Clarivate/Thomson Reuters (2021-). He holds the UPO Extraordinary Doctorate Award (2013), the “Andaluces del Futuro” Award (2018) and the “Real Maestranza de Caballería de Sevilla” Research Award (2021), the “Cadena SER Losada Villasante” Award (2023) for his work “Soil, a fundamental non-renewable resource for humans” and the “VIII Banco Sabadell Foundation Award” for Science and Engineering (2024) for its “scientific contributions and innovative knowledge of the soil biome in general and of farmland in particular to promote sustainable agriculture.”
 
In 2020 Dr Delgado Baquerizo was honored with the National Research Award for young researchers “Ángeles Alvariño” in the area of sciences and technologies of the natural resources, for his studies of the soil biome as a key element for health and, ultimately, for life, in a scenario of global change. This is the most important recognition in Spain in the field of scientific research. The award highlights the science that is done in our country thanks to the work of researchers with exceptional careers, who dedicate their lives to generating knowledge and transferring it into applications for society.