Dear Colleagues,

Welcome to the January newsletter of the EGU Soil System Sciences Division! This month, we invite you to learn more about the King Bhumibol World Soil Day Award and the recipient of 2025, the entry into force of the EU Soil Monitoring Law, read new post-fire soil erosion-related and SOIL papers, and learn more about the SSS division through our new SSS Blog post and the Linkedin and Bluesky pages. Moreover, we also have some reminders to attend the 1st European Soil Biodiversity Monitoring symposium, the European Forum for Agricultural and Rural Advisory Services (EUFRAS) 2026 general assembly and apply for the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP)-EGU mentoring scheme.

Heike Knicker, Division President

Beatrice Giannetta & Sana Boubehziz, ECS Reps

The ECS Team

What recently happened on Soil System Sciences?

The French Soil Science Society (AFES) received the 2025 King Bhumibol World Soil Award. This distinction honoring creative and inclusive initiatives raising awareness of soil health acknowledges the event “Soil Week in Normandy” co-organized in 2024 by AFES and other major French soil networks. About 950 participants explored how soil data and information can support decision-making, planning and environmental action during this 7-day program through workshops and conferences.

Read More Here

The Soil Monitoring Law entered into force on 16 December 2025. Being part of the EU Soil Strategy for 2030 conceived to protect and restore soils in the current context of soil degradation, this law will address key soil threats. This includes soil erosion, loss of organic matter, contamination and sealing, for forest, agricultural and urban soils. This will rely on supporting farmers and soil managers, implementing decontaminations, monitoring, assessing and improving knowledge about soil health.

Learn More Here

Discover: “Global estimation of post-fire soil erosion”. By D. C. S. Vieira, P. Borrelli, S. Scarpa, L. Liakos, C. Ballabio and P. Panagos. They present a global assessment of post-fire soil erosion, considering cumulative wildfire-driven geomorphological changes over the last two decades. They estimate global trends of post-fire soil erosion using a global database on wildfire occurrence and fire severity, and the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation model together with the recovery of those burned landscapes by remote sensed data.

Read Paper Here

Discover: “ Illuminating soil's hidden dimensions, a decade of progress and future directions in agrogeophysics research”. By Alejandro Romero-Ruiz, Dave O'Leary, Dongxue Zhao, Yuxin Wu, and Sarah Garré. They present an overview of advances in Agrogeophysics in the last decade and discuss how the contributions to the Special Issue “Agrogeophysics: Illuminating soil’s hidden dimensions” help addressing agricultural and environmental challenges.

Read The Full Article

In addition, you can now read interesting updates of the Soil System Sciences Division and related topics on LinkedIn and Bluesky pages.

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Upcoming Events and Deadlines

Aiming to discuss monitoring standards and long-term targets for soil biodiversity, a first European Soil Biodiversity Monitoring symposium is organized by EUSO on 2-3 February. Part of the on-site sessions will be livestreamed, offering discussions on overlaps and divergences among large-scale monitoring projects; methodological standards; and cross-validation, soil bioindicators and roadmap for implementation.

Register Here

 Partner of the STRATUS EU-funded project dedicated to accelerating knowledge creation and sharing on integrated fertilization management, the European Forum for Agricultural and Rural Advisory Services (EUFRAS) will be holding its 2026 Annual General Assembly from 25 to 26 February in Mosonmagyaróvár (Hungary). More information to come soon on their website.

More Information Here

The Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) is offering one place to join a 12-month mentoring scheme supported by EGU. This year-long mentoring will provide early and mid-career scientists with the opportunity to gain valuable hands-on experience and insights into how IEEP members interact and share information with Europe’s policy community. In addition, an opportunity to attend IEEP meetings and the EGU General Assembly in 2027 will be offered to the selected candidate. Apply by 13 February 2026.

Apply here