This August saw three members of the STARS CDT make the trip to Rio de Janerio for the 21st World Congress of Soil Science. The conference-held once every four years is the largest gathering of soil scientist from all over the world. This year Hannah Cooper, Dan Evans and Jasmine Burr-Hersey made up part of the 4234 participants.
Jasmine Burr-Hersey pitching her poster ‘Using X-ray computed tomography to assess how plant roots can remediate compacted soils via reorganisation of the rhizosphere.’ in Division 1: Soil Space and Time: C1.1- Soil morphology and micromorphology: C1.1.2- Structural indicators of soil quality using X-ray computed tomography.
Sunday afternoon and evening saw the conference registration open and the halls of the conference were quickly filled in anticipation for the opening ceremony. The two and a half hours saw welcome talks including one from the current president of the International Union of Soil Science- Rattan Lal. Additionally the results of the soil judging competition were announced which saw both individual and team awards for those dubbed the best at classifying soil- this year America came out on top scooping a number of awards. The opening ceremony was closed by an interpretive light dance display which highlighted the importance of the passage of time – past, present, future- which was a motivational concept when considering its application to soil science for the week to follow.
