Talk
What Do We Mean by Soil Quality and Soil Ecosystem Services

Bio
Dr. Nicholas Comerford attained his academic degrees in Forestry from the University of Illinois, the University of Minnesota, and the State University of New York/Syracuse. He has worked for the Department of Natural Resource/State of Washington as a Forest Soil Specialist. He spent 37 years as a Faculty Member with the University of Florida; first as a professor, and then as the Director of the North Florida Research and Education Center for the university. He finished his academic career as the Dean of the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resource with the University of Hawaii. He is a Fulbright Scholar and past-President of the Soil Science Society of America. Currently, he is retired and an Emertius Faculty Member with the University of Florida. His research and teaching were in the areas of forest soil fertility, soil carbon, and soil nutrient bioavailabilty.

Talk
The Importance of Soil Microbial Communities in SQ, SES, and Remediation of Contamination

Bio
Dr. Paola Grenni has a PhD in Environmental Science and is a Senior Researcher at the National Research Council of Italy, Water Research Institute (CNR-IRSA), Rome. ORCID: 0000-0002-7136-603X Expert in microbial ecology of contaminated environments, in ecotoxicology and in bio-assisted remediation processes. Involved in national and international projects on ecosystem contamination (pharmaceuticals; antibiotics and resistance genes; pesticides, their transformation products and fertilizers; PCBs; anionic surfactants; metals; mixture of chemicals). Member of the SETAC Europe, SETAC Italian Language Branch (SETAC ILB, President May 2015–May 2017); Co-chair 2018 SETAC EU Meeting in Rome (at La Nuvola); Steering Committee of GSIG (SETAC Global Soil Interest Group, 2020–present); member of SETAC group on Pharmaceuticals; member of WG2—NORMAN Network. Editorial board, Specialty Chief Editor (Frontiers in Microbiology, Section—Terrestrial Microbiology) and Guest Editor (Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management) of various peer-review Journals. Author of more than 200 publications (papers in peer-reviewed journals, book chapters, and meeting proceedings; total citations: 3633; h-index: 29; i10-index: 52. Google Scholar accessed 24/10/22).

Talk
Sensing Technologies for Characterizing and Monitoring SQ and Soil Functions

Bio
Dr Dongxue Zhao is a Research Fellow within the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation at the University of Queensland, Australia. Her research aims to contribute to sustainable gains in crop productivity by improving our understanding of how crop–soil interactions determine crop and root growth, water and nutrient uptake, and final yield. In her research, she combines innovative proximal and remote sensing techniques of crops, soils, and roots, with predictive modelling and artificial intelligence tools. These include integrating electromagnetic induction (EMI) techniques and drone and satellite imagery to monitor crop root growth and water use dynamics over time; 3D mapping of soil properties and sub-soil constraints to map resource constraints; time-lapse imaging of soil wetting and drying cycles for applications in irrigated cropping; developing new hyperspectral libraries for the rapid estimation of plant, crop and soil properties; data fusion and machine learning in the landscape mapping of soil carbon, plant water, and nutrient availability.