Dear Colleagues,

Welcome to the March newsletter of the EGU Soil System Sciences Division! This month, we invite you to learn more about the webinars Soil Literacy in Action: “Digital Tools and Community Engagement for Soil Health”, and A Soil Deal for Europe Mission: “2026 Funding Opportunities & Application Proposal Guidance”, read a new SOIL paper, discover a new interesting SSS Blog post, and learn more about the SSS Division through our Linkedin and Bluesky pages. Moreover, we also have some reminders to attend the 5th Annual Meeting of the International Network on Soil Biodiversity, the 2026 Annual Conference of the Forum for the Future of Agriculture, and nominate someone for an EGU Medal or Award.

Heike Knicker, Division President

Beatrice Giannetta & Sana Boubehziz, ECS Reps

The ECS Team

What recently happened on Soil System Sciences?

On 26 February 2026, held online the webinar “Soil Literacy in Action: Digital Tools and Community Engagement for Soil Health”. Bringing together EU Soil Mission projects, this session presented complementary approaches with a soil literacy mobile app and citizen science features, a community of practice model for engagement in Living Labs, an experiential “Living Soil Workshop” methodology, and digital sensing tools for monitoring abiotic stressors in agricultural systems. A replay of this session is available to learn more about these interesting contributions to awareness, engagement, and informed decision-making.

Watch Presentations Here

On 2 March 2026 was the first SOILL (Support Structure for Soil Living Labs) webinar dedicated to presenting the Horizon Europe Mission "A Soil Deal for Europe" and the funding opportunities to set up Mission Soil Living Labs. Designed for applicants preparing proposals under the Mission Soil 2026 Living Labs topics, this session combined a policy and call funding opportunities overview with hands-on proposal tips, introduced SOILL, its aim, what SOILL activities to consider by applicants in their proposals, and possible support for applicants and future Living Labs. A recording of the webinar is available online.

Learn More Here

Discover: “Mapping the fertosphere's phosphorus availability distribution in a field trial using a novel diffusive gradients in thin-films (fDGT) technique”. By Casey L. Doolette, Euan Smith, Ehsan Tavakkoli, Lukas van Zwieten, Brigid A. McKenna, Peter M. Kopittke, and Enzo Lombi. Which is the first report of the field deployment of a new soil sampling device to investigate phosphorus (P) fertilizer strategies.

Read The Full Article

New SSS Blog Post

Discover the last SSS blog post written by the EGU Guest Blogger Manon Ferdinand on soil quality in conservation agriculture (CA). Minimizing mechanical soil disturbance, maximizing soil organic cover, and diversifying crop species, CA is understudied, with research focused on tillage effects without encompassing the wide range of CA practices. Manon and colleagues addressed these knowledge gaps by comparing four CA-types with a specific experimental set-up. Far from “no-till is always good” and “tillage is always bad” ideas, temporary grasslands emerged as the most decisive factor for soil quality, and CA-type dominated by industrial crops showed lower soil structural stability and quality despite strict no-till management.

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 5th Annual Meeting of the International Network on Soil Biodiversity (NETSOB) will take place onsite in Victoria (Canada) and remotely (via Zoom) on 15 April 2026, within the framework of the Global Soil Biodiversity Conference. This network, being one of the FAO/Global Soil Partnership Technical Networks, promotes the sustainable use and conservation of soil biodiversity, and brings together experts and existing initiatives to contribute to the implementation of the Global Soil Biodiversity Observatory (GLOSOB).

Read More Here

The Forum for the Future of Agriculture (ForumforAg) is the premiere meeting place in Europe to debate sustainable agriculture and environmental challenges. The next Annual Conference of the Forum will take place in Brussels and online on 14 April 2026, and will consist of live broadcasts, moderated panel discussions and dialogues, interactive interventions, networking opportunities and exhibitions.

Register Here

EGU’s collection of medals and awards are available in all the 22 scientific divisions, at different career stages (many of divisions bestowing both regular awards and Early Career Scientist awards). Among the distinctions are the Alina Kabata-Pendias Medal and Philippe Duchaufour Medal for the Soil System Sciences division. EGU also honors service to the geoscience community; champions of equality, diversity and inclusion; science journalism; public engagement; and science for policy. Identify the appropriate award or medal, check the nomination requirements, go to the online form to submit the information, and make sure the nomination is completed by 15 June 2026!

Apply Here