Welcome Reception | Gallery, Level 1, Hilton Adelaide

Welcome to the 2019 SOM Symposium! This is the first social opportunity to catch up with your colleagues and sponsors and exhibitors of the Meeting.  The welcome reception also provides a great opportunity to meet delegates who are attending the symposium for the first time.

Welcome to Country

Rod identifies as a Kaurna man and devotes much time to helping other Kaurna people identify with the language and culture. He is an active member of the Adelaide Aboriginal community, volunteering his time as a Board member on a number of committees which include the Kaurna Warra Karrpanthi Aboriginal Corporation, Kaurna Yerta Aboriginal Corporation and Kura Yerlo Inc. [full biography]

Opening Speaker:

Dr. Abad CHABBI, is a plant ecologist and soil biogeochemist. He worked at the Louisiana State University, USA; the Faculty of Environmental Science in Cottbus, Germany; the University of Pierre & Marie, Curie (UPMC), France; and the INRA research council where he has been leading the National Observatory for Environmental Research-Agro-Ecosystems, Biogechemical Cycles and Biodiversity since 2009.  [full biography]

Plenary:

Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Ingrid Kögel-Knabner studied geoecology at the University of Bayreuth, where she also obtained a doctorate in soil science (1987) and habilitation (1992). In 1991 she received a professorship for soil science and soil ecology at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum. Since 1995 she serves at the Chair of soil science of the Technical University of Munich TUM. Since 2011 she is Carl von Linde Senior Fellow at TUM Institute of Advanced Study. [full biography]

Keynote:

Budiman Minasny is a professor in Soil-Landscape Modelling at the University of Sydney. His research and contribution to the discipline of soil science have been on discovering the causes and controls of soil distribution over space and time. This knowledge is crucial for soil security which is central to managing climate change, food, water, energy security and maintaining biodiversity. [full biography]

Keynote: 

Associate Professor Kerrylee Rogers is a coastal ecogeomorphologist and recent ARC Future Fellow in the School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences at the University of Wollongong (UOW). Between 2005, when she graduated with PhD from UOW, and 2012 she was appointed as an environmental scientist with the New South Wales Government, before returning as a research associate at UOW in 2012. [full biography]

Keynote:

Carlos A. Sierra is a research scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in Jena, Germany, where he leads a group on Theoretical Ecosystem Ecology. The group, funded by the German Research Foundation through the Emmy Noether Programme, focuses its research on the mathematical understanding of the global carbon cycle, particularly on the time-scales of carbon storage and how global change modifies process rates in the terrestrial biosphere. [full biography]

Keynote:

Louis Schipper is a Professor at the University of Waikato investigating soil biogeochemical processes at landscape scales and how they might be manipulated to achieve improved environmental performance. He has led teams determining changes in carbon stocks of pasture soils at paddock to national scales. They have provided data and understanding that has been central to developing a national picture of New Zealand’s carbon budget.  [full biography]

Early Career Researcher Networking Event

Come along to meet and network with fellow early career scientists and hear career insights from leading international scientist Prof. Ingrid Kögel-Knabner, the President of Soil Science Australia Assoc. Prof. Luke Mosley, and Superstar of STEM Dr Samantha Grover.  Drinks and nibbles to follow!

The event is being sponsored and organised by Soil Science Australia.  Interested students and early career researchers should indicate attendance during the symposium registration process.

Plenary:

Dr. Joshua Schimel is a Professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology at UC Santa Barbara. His research has focused on the intersection of microbial ecology and biogeochemistry, with emphases on N-dynamics in Arctic soils, and on the role of drought on soil organic matter dynamics, focusing on Mediterranean-climate ecosystems in California.  [full biography]

Keynote:

Dr Lynne Macdonald, a senior research scientist with CSIRO Agriculture & Food (Adelaide Australia. Integrating methods of spectroscopic characterisation with process level biogeochemistry, her research interests lie in understanding and managing organic matter to support soil function in agro-ecosystems.  [full biography]

Keynote:

Franciska de Vries is Professor of Earth Surface Science at the University of Amsterdam. Franciska did her PhD in Wageningen, the Netherlands, and then spent 10 years in the UK at Lancaster University and The University of Manchester, before she returned to her home country for a full professorship at the Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics in 2019.  [full biography]

Keynote:

Marie Spohn is a scientist at the Bayreuth Center of Ecology and Environmental Research at the University of Bayreuth. She leads the group Soil Biogeochemistry, which is funded by the German Research Foundation through the Emmy Noether Programme. [full biography]

Keynote:

Cynthia Kallenbach is an Assistant Professor at McGill University, Quebec, in the Department of Natural Resource Sciences Faculty of Agricultural and the Environmental Science. She received her Ph.D. from the University of New Hampshire in Earth and Environmental Science, M.Sc. degrees in International Agriculture Development and in Soil Biogeochemistry at the University of California-Davis, and her B.A. in Geography from Sonoma State University.  [full biography]

Symposium Dinner | National Wine Centre, Adelaide

The National Wine Centre of Australia, Adelaide is a truly special place to experience in its unique surroundings, nestled in the heart of the city’s Botanic Gardens.  As the home of the nation’s wine collection, the Centre offers wine lovers an unparalleled opportunity to learn more, and enjoy the rich diversity of varieties produced in Australia.

Plenary:

Francesca Cotrufo is Professor and Associate Head at the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, and Senior Scientist at the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, at Colorado State University.  She earned B.Sc. from the University of Naples, Italy and Ph.D. from Lancaster University, UK. Dr. Cotrufo is internationally recognized for her work on litter decomposition and soil organic matter formation, and for the creative use of isotopic methodologies in these studies. [full biography]

Keynote:

Johanna Pausch is a junior professor for Agroecology at the University of Bayreuth and a member of the Bayreuth Center of Ecology and Environmental Research. After she earned a diploma in Geoecology (2009) and a Ph.D. in Agroecosystem Research (2012), she worked as an academic assistant at the Department of Soil Science at the Georg-August University of Goettingen. [full biography]

Keynote:

Prof. Berhe is an Associate Professor of Soil Biogeochemistry at the Life and Environmental Sciences unit, University of California, Merced. Prof. Berhe received her Ph.D. in Biogeochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley; M. Sc. in Political Ecology from Michigan State University, and B. Sc. in Soil and Water Conservation from University of Asmara, Eritrea. [full biography]

Keynote: 

Soil monitoring and mapping can be achieved through a number of approaches. My work focusses on optimising sensing approaches (remote sensing, soil spectroscopy) and developing new methods (soil profile image analysis). The integration of sensory data with existing, legacy survey data allows us to carry out improved mapping of soil properties. [full biography]

Keynote:

Dr I. Basile-Doelsch. MSc in Geology (ENSG, Nancy, France), PhD in Geochemistry for paleoclimatic reconstructions (Vostok ice core, Antarctica), Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches in geochemistry of soils and weathering systems in the critical zone. She is specialized in organomineral interactions in soils. She has been an Aix-Marseille University lecturer since 1998 (France), and a junior member of the prestigious “Institut Universitaire de France” from 2011 to April 2015. As of May 2015, she became a Director of Research at the French INRA institute(CEREGE). [full biography]

Keynote: Biofunctionality of soil organic matter
Professor Dr Ellis Hoffland, Wageningen University and Research

Ellis Hoffland is from the Soil Biology Group of Wageningen University, The Netherlands. The keyword describing her research is “soil fertility” in a broader sense. She regards soil fertility as the result of biogeochemical cycles of carbon and nutrient elements. Her motivation to study these cycles is their relevance to primary production. [full biography]

Keynote:

Jennifer Soong is a postdoctoral fellow at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. She earned her PhD in Ecology from Colorado State University and her B.A. from Oberlin College. Dr. Soong’s research focuses on biogeochemistry and ecosystem ecology with an emphasis on how terrestrial ecosystems function under natural and human-influenced environmental conditions. [full biography]

Plenary:

Jeff Baldock is a soil scientist working in CSIRO at Adelaide, Australia.  His research has focussed on measuring the amount and composition of organic matter in soils and other terrestrial (native and plantation forests) and aquatic environments (coastal and open ocean).   [full biography]

Optional Field Tours

We are seeking expressions of interest for a range of tour activities to take place in the final day of the conference, Friday 11^th October. The Local Organising Committee (LOC) have proposed the following provisional itineraries that will be developed in response to delegate interest.  We will endeavour to update this page regularly. Further suggestions on tours can be proposed to anna@conferencedesign.com.au.

• Adelaide Hills, Mt Lofty and Cleland Conservation and Wildlife Park (1/2 day)
• A tour of vineyard soils and vineyards in the Barossa Valley or McLaren Vale (1/2 day)
• Dryland cropping systems and their soils (3/4-full day)
• Escape to the outback, encompassing the historic town of Burra, Red Banks Conservation Park, return via the Clare Valley (full day)

Please indicate your interest during registration or by emailing mail@conferencedesign.com.au.
Interest will determine which tours are run.  There will be a small fee of approximately $25 to cover a pack lunch.