AC: Agriculture and Climate

Marie Spohn is a Professor of Biogeochemistry of Forest Soils at SLU, Uppsala, Sweden. In her research, she explores cycling of carbon, phosphorus, and nitrogen in terrestrial ecosystems. Marie is specifically interested in the interactions between different element cycles. In order to gain a better understanding of the element cycles and their interactions, she uses a large range of methods, including soil chemical analysis, isotopes as well as microbiological tools. 

Yolima Carrillo is an Associate Professor of Biogeochemistry at the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Australia. Her group focuses on carbon and nutrient cycling and their regulation by plant-root-microbe interactions and global environmental change. She employs a variety of methods from microbial and ecosystem ecology, as well as stable isotope applications, in controlled and field settings. The impact of her work ranges from advancing mechanistic understanding to providing information for the management of natural and agricultural systems. She earned her PhD in Ecology from the University of Georgia, USA, and was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Wyoming, USA, and the University of Sydney, Australia.

Olubukola Oluranti Babalola, a Visiting Professor at Imperial College London, the Vice-President of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) and Vice-President of the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD) (Africa region), is a B2 NRF-rated Scientist. After a PhD with a Fellowship from the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and OWSD, she had postdoctoral experiences at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, and the University of the Western Cape, South Africa. At the North-West University, South Africa, she investigates plant health with respect to drought stress, fertilization, and root parasitic weeds. Her effort for SDG#2, “Zero Hunger” on the continent of Africa for food security and sustainable agriculture, is helping farmers, women, and all food lovers. 

Katie Field's research spans 500 million years of land plant evolution, focusing on the interactions between plants and the soil around them, including below-ground microorganisms. In particular, she is interested in how diverse soil fungi, including arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and Mucoromycotina ‘fine root endophytes’, influence plant nutrition, ecosystem dynamics, carbon and nutrient cycling, and how they contribute towards shaping plant communities. Her research also seeks to improve sustainability in agriculture through the application of mycorrhiza-forming fungi to improving crop nutrition and reduce chemical inputs.

Laura Lehtovirta-Morley is an Associate Professor and has been at the University of East Anglia since 2017. Prior to starting her independent research group, she was a PhD student and a postdoc at the University of Aberdeen and also spent some time working at the Oregon State University and the University of Alberta. She had a Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship from 2016 until 2024. She was awarded an ERC Starting Grant in 2019 to work on ammonia oxidation. Laura will be taking up a position of Professor of Environmental Microbiology at the University of Warwick in September 2025. Her research interests focus on the physiology, ecology and biochemistry of biogeochemical nitrogen cycling, and particularly microbial ammonia oxidation. The work in her lab combines culture-dependent and culture-independent approaches to link mechanistic insights to complex microbial communities and process rates in the environment.

Corné Pieterse is a Professor in the Faculty of Science at Utrecht University, where he serves as Chair of the Plant-Microbe Interactions group and Scientific Director of the Institute of Environmental Biology. His research group investigates how the plant immune system protects plants against microbial pathogens, and how beneficial microbes in the root microbiome stimulate plant growth and immunity. Current research in his group is focused on discovery of plant-beneficial functions that are encoded by the root microbiome and the role of plant genes and metabolites that aid in maximizing profitable plant growth and health functions from the root microbiome. With his research he aims to contribute to grand societal challenges, such as food security and sustainable agriculture.

Eva Oburger is a group leader at the Institute of Soil Research, BOKU University in Vienna, Austria. Her research focuses on deepening our understanding of plant-soil-microbe interactions and the role of root and rhizosphere traits in enhancing soil health and crop production. She has a particular interest in root exudation, recognizing it as a key driver of many rhizosphere processes. In addition, she is strongly committed to advancing experimental methodologies and integrating approaches from multiple scientific disciplines.