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?

On 19 January held in Brussels (Belgium) the EU Soil Policy Dialogue: Aligning European and National Soil Strategies. This high-level policy dialogue aimed to align EU and national strategies for healthy soils with lived realities, and explore how emerging EU soil legislation can be meaningfully implemented at national level. Recording of this interactive policy workshop is available online.

Learn More Here

Committed to sharing relevant knowledge on the sustainable use and management of soil and land, the European knowledge platform on soil and land management (SOILveR) organizes a webinar series on the integration of soil health in decision-making processes at various scales. In this context held online on 13 February the 3rd webinar “Engineered soils for territorial resilience: advancing Technosols/ Neosols in sustainable land management”. Recording of the webinar is available online to learn more on technical soils for increased territorial resilience.

Watch Presentations Here

Discover: “ Living cover crops alter the fate of pesticide residues in soil: influence of pesticide physicochemical properties”. By Noé Vandevoorde, Igor Turine, Alodie Blondel, and Yannick Agnan. They present an evaluation to what extent pesticide residues with contrasting physicochemical properties are affected by living cover crops.

Read The Full Article

New SSS Blog Post

Discover the last SSS blog post dealing with the interview of Katerina Georgiou, recipient of the 2025 EGU Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award in Soil System Sciences! In her research, she pays particular attention to the processes that control carbon persistence and how these insights can improve predictive models. Katerina was asked about her scientific path, interests, and how bridging detailed process understanding with larger-scale modelling can inform climate-resilient land management, prior reflecting on her experience as an early career scientist, and sharing advice.

Consult The SSS Blog

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

Follow us on LinkedIn

Follow us on Bluesky

Upcoming Events and Deadlines  

The workshop “iCOSHINE: Soil literacy approaches in Living Labs” will take place remotely on 19 March, from 12:00 to 15:00 CEST via Zoom. Organized by the members of the Horizon Europe project iCOSHELLS, this interactive session will aim to connect project members and selected external participants to reflect on soil literacy approaches in Living Labs, and share best practices in soil literacy.

Register Here

Attend an online Campfire meeting organized by the EGU Soil System Sciences (SSS) Division for early-career researchers and Ph.D. students! On 25 March, two confirmed interesting presentations, a third one in progress, and exchange times are planned with the idea to discuss the effects of fires on soil, of the relationship of agricultural management and drought on microorganisms, and even more. Registration link to come. Follow the SSS  LinkedIn and BlueSky pages for updates.

Participants registered for the General Assembly can take part in the EGU annual photo competition by submitting up to three original photos and one moving image related to the Earth, planetary, and space sciences. The best 10 photos and one moving image will be exhibited in an online gallery during the General Assembly, and participants will vote for their favorite photos. 3 winning images will be announced online on the last meeting day, and winners will receive a free registration to the EGU27 General Assembly. Submit your photos to Imaggeo by 8 April!

Apply Here