AB: Agriculture and Biodiversity

Tom Bennett has been a group leader at the University of Leeds since 2016. His research focuses on the mechanisms that plants use to optimise the root and shoot growth both with respect to prevailing environmental conditions, including the presence of other organisms in the rhizosphere, and with respect to internal feedback from developing organs, mediated by long-distance hormonal signals. He did his PhD at the University of York (2002-2006) working with Dame Professor Ottoline Leyser, before undertaking post-doctoral research at the University of Utrecht (2007-2010) and University of Cambridge (2010-2016).

Dr. Mabel Delgado is a Forestry Engineer with a Ph.D. in Natural Resource Sciences. She is currently a researcher at the Soil-Plant Interaction and Natural Resource Center within the Scientific and Technological Nucleus in Biorecursos at the University of La Frontera (BIOREN-UFRO). Her research focuses on the physiological mechanisms that enable native plants from southern South America to thrive in phosphorus-deficient soils with high aluminum availability. Since 2020, she has been a member of the Editorial Team for the Journal of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition (Springer Nature).

Marcel van der Heijden is professor for Agro-ecology and Plant-Microbiome Interactions at the University of Zurich (Switzerland) and heads the Plant-Soil Interactions Group (app. 25 members) at the Swiss Federal Research Institute Agroscope (Zurich, Switzerland). In addition, he is extraordinary professor in Mycorrhizal Ecology at Utrecht University (the Netherlands). His research group performs a mix of basic and applied research with the overall aim to develop more sustainable agroecosystems. We explore microbial diversity and  specifically investigate how different agricultural management practices, pesticide use, soil microbial diversity and mycorrhizal fungi influence plant productivity, soil health and ecosystem functioning.

Angela Sessitsch is Head of the Bioresources Unit at the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology. She studied biochemistry at the University of Technology in Graz, holds a PhD in Microbiology from the Wageningen University, the Netherlands, and is habilitated at the Vienna University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences. She has pioneered plant-associated microbiomes and is interested in understanding the interactions between plants, microbiomes and the environment as well as to develop applications. Her team explores the diversity and functioning of plant microbiota by applying a range of molecular approaches, interaction modes between plants and model bacteria, colonization behaviour of endophytes as well as various application technologies for biocontrol and crop enhancement applications. Together with her group A. Sessitsch published more than 250 peer-reviewed publications and is co-inventor of several patents.

Doris Vetterlein is working on diverse aspects of rhizosphere research with a focus on integrating findings from soil physics, microbiology and chemistry. In doing so here interest in recent years was on identifying spatial and temporal patterns in the rhizosphere and linking them to system properties.

Mette Vestergård is intrigued by plants’ interactions with soil microorganisms and microfauna. She explores how plant genetics and plant specialized metabolites regulate the root microbiome and vice versa how root microbiomes support plant resilience against abiotic stress - notably drought - as well as pathogens and parasitic nematodes. Her ultimate aim is to guide the breeding of high-yielding crops fit to draw maximum benefits from interactions with stress-alleviating microbiota. She holds a PhD from University of Copenhagen and is Head of Section for Plant Pathology and Microbiology at Aarhus University.

Jianbo Shen is professor for Plant Nutrition and Rhizosphere Interactions at China Agricultural University (CAU). He is director of the Rhizosphere Nutrition Committee of Chinese Society of Plant Nutrition and Fertilizer. He has been engaged in studies on plant-soil-microbial interactions, root-root interactions and rhizosphere interventions for intensive cropping systems that are aimed at enhancing nutrient use efficiency and food security, particularly focusing on root/rhizosphere biology, nutrition and management for improving nutrient use efficiency and crop productivity. He explores rhizosphere management strategies for maximizing the efficiency of root and rhizosphere with less fertilizer input towards green sustainable crop production.