Rachel Boulderstone heads up the Soil Health and Contaminated Land policy team within the General Environment Directorate of Defra. Rachel has led on soils for the last four years, but with over 20 years’ service at Defra on a wide range of policy areas including waste management, flood management, sustainable drainage systems, environmental targets and now soils. In particular, developing policy for the Flood and Water Management Act 2010, the Agriculture Act 2020 and the Environment Act 2021, the Environment Improvement Plan as well as numerous secondary legislation amendments.

Rachel has a particular interest in surface water flooding due to soil erosion and compaction on both agricultural and urban soil and promotes the importance of encouraging the right practices relevant to soil type and land use that support production, environment and biodiversity.

RJ Cooke leads the Peatland, Soil and Agricultural land Use Planning team within the Environmental Sustainability Directorate of Welsh Government. He has led on the development of the National Peatland Action Programme since 2019.

His wider team covers a wide range of evidence, policy and technical advice including the Soil Policy Evidence Programme, development of a Soil Policy Statement for Wales, and representing soils through the planning systems in Developments of National Significance and mineral extraction cases.

Dr Sarah Buckingham – Senior Consultant, SAC Consulting and Research Fellow, Scottish Government

Sarah is a senior consultant with SAC Consulting (part of Scotland’s Rural College) with expertise in sustainable land management practices for soil health, soil carbon sequestration and agricultural greenhouse gas mitigation. Sarah has 12 years soil research experience before joining SAC Consulting’s Environment Team in 2022. Sarah is currently on secondment to Scottish Government (June 2024- March 2025) working with the Climate Change Adaptation Team on a ClimateXChange funded fellowship called “Securing Scotland’s Soils in a Changing Climate” which aims to develop a routemap for supporting the protection of soil across Scotland.

Soil Health Monitoring for Climate Adaptation [11:45am]

As climate change intensifies, with increasing droughts, heatwaves, and extreme weather events, soil health has emerged as a critical factor in building resilient land use systems. Healthy soils not only support sustainable crop production but also enhance water retention, improve carbon sequestration, and strengthen ecosystem resilience. This presentation explores the pivotal role of soil health monitoring in climate adaptation strategies highlighting innovative soil health monitoring techniques especially in the field of soil life and water holding capacity.  

At Royal Eijkelkamp, we are convinced of the importance of a healthy soil and care for soil life. Since 1911, we have been dedicated to soil research. And in recent years, the focus of our initiatives has shifted to sustainability: how can we contribute to reducing the burden on our planet? With our solutions we hope to offer our clients the tools they need to protect and improve this invaluable resource.

Bob Klein Lankhorst

Expert in soil health and sustainability, with a focus on innovative technologies that help land managers better understand and improve soil health

[12:15pm]

PFAS (per-and poly fluoroalkyl substances) is a chemical family consisting of at least 15,000 individual compounds. They are sometimes referred to as ‘forever’ chemicals because of their persistence in the environment.  These compounds, which are now known to pose serious health risks for humans and animals, have been widely used in industry since the 1950s, for products including non-stick cookware, firefighting foams, food packaging and fabric coatings. This session will outlie the use of granular activated carbon (GAC) for the removal of PFAS from air, soil and water, together with the use of advanced and award-winning thermal reactivation for the safe destruction of the PFAS contaminants and the sustainable recycling of the GAC. 

David Reay is Head of Strategic Partnerships for CPL/Puragen Activated Carbons.  He graduated with a Master’s Degree in Chemistry and has enjoyed a varied and interesting commercial career in a number of industrial sectors, including chemicals, automotive and aerospace.  He has held senior strategy/marketing roles in the activated carbon industry for over 16 years and is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing.  He is passionate about environmental issues and is an experienced public speaker.  He particularly enjoys communicating the numerous applications and benefits of activated carbon purification technology. 

Register for this on arrival

There will be an informal tour of the cricket ground with a discussion of the outfield reconstruction project and the finer points of managing cohesive soils to produce international standard cricket pitches with the associated playability characteristics for the highest level of cricket. The outfield element will consider the issues around the reconstruction and drainage of the outfield which necessarily had to take place over late autumn and winter in South Wales, an area not renowned for its dry weather. Robin Saxton, the Head Sports Turf Manager at the stadium will lead the discussion on the management and preparation of pitches to ICC and ECB First Class standards and Alex Vickers, MI Soil Sci, will lead the discussion of the outfield reconstruction project. 

Soil, Social Science and Culture Abstracts

Jo Pearl – Animating Soil Health: Breathing Life into Soil, Campaigning through Stopmotion Film & Ceramics [2:30pm]

Daro Montag – Visualising soil as living organism [2:45pm]

Non Williams – Strengthening bridges between academic research and agricultural practice – taking Welsh farmers with us on the soil carbon journey [3:00pm]

Megan Hudson – For Peat’s Sake – can we use local expert knowledge to generate new land management opportunity maps in lowland peat landscapes? [3:15pm]

Join Jenni Dungait and the editorial team to celebrate the 75th anniversary of EJSS.  Jenni will be speaking about the key achievements of EJSS and also discuss the future direction of the journal.  Jenni and the Team will then join you in a celebration of the journal and there may even be some cake!   

Martina Girvana, Natural Capital Community of Practice Lead at Arcadis

Martina is a Chartered Ecologist with over 25 years’ experience who specialises in biodiversity, ecosystem services and natural capital.  In addition to leading the Ecology and Arboricultural team, her role within Arcadis is to promote the implementation of the natural capital approach to deliver biodiversity and environmental net gain within projects, for clients and different technical disciplines. To this end she works with organisations such as CIEEM, CIRIA and the Green Construction Board to produce guidance, develop and champion events, to promote the use of quality engagement and design including nature-based solutions to deliver climate resilience, social cohesion and enhanced biodiversity, improving quality of life for all.

Sam Bower, Head of Sustainability and Natural Environment at Balfour Beatty

Sam Bower has been working in Nature Conservation for over 20 years. He is a Chartered Environmentalist, member of the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management and Professional Member of the Arboricultural Association. Sam has extensive experience of urban and conservation forestry, ecological and arboricultural mitigation; habitat management and habitat creation and has worked on numerous infrastructure projects, many of which of national significance. Sam is particularly focused on the protection, enhancement and creation of natural capital assets through the delivery of sustainable Blue-Green Infrastructure at all scales. He sits on numerous special interest / practitioner groups working with such organisations as CIRIA, CIEEM, CIHT, IEMA and UKBBF and is a strong advocate for the advancement of best practice industry standards across the construction sector.

Soils, greenhouse gases and mitigation

Soils represent both a source and a sink for greenhouse gases, and hence their management offers a significant opportunity to contribute to the Net Zero challenge. Recent research has improved the way in which we account for greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture, e.g. through the derivation and use of country specific emission factors that better reflect the effects of soils, climate and nitrogen management on nitrous oxide emissions. Further, research is demonstrating potential greenhouse mitigation practices and strategies to protect and increase soil carbon stocks. This presentation will summarise recent research that addresses soil-borne greenhouse gas emissions, quantifying the potential for mitigation and exploring strategies to increase soil carbon sequestration. It will also address the growing concern of extreme weather events, which can significantly impact soil health and potentially lead to increased GHG emissions.

Dave Chadwick is an Agriculture and Environmental Scientist with research interests that include sustainable use of nutrient inputs, diffuse pollution measurements (to soil, air and water) and the testing of mitigation strategies in different farming systems. He is Professor of Sustainable Land Use systems at Bangor University, and led the Defra/Devolved Administrations-funded InveN₂Ory project (AC0116) to improve the nitrous oxide component of the UK’s agriculture greenhouse gas inventory and was PI of the NERC-funded Uplands-N₂O project (NE/M015351/1) to determine factors that control nitrous oxide emissions from urine patches in extensively grazed upland systems. He is Co-I of two of the UKRI (BBSRC)-funded Greenhouse Gas Removal Demonstrator projects and he co-leads the GCRF-funded project, Do agricultural microplastics undermine food security and sustainable development in developing countries? 

Dave has published >300 refereed papers and also contributes to policy and practice. He has contributed to previous sections of RB209 (The Nutrient Management Guide) on Organic Materials, and Grass and Forage Crops. He was a member of Defra’s Nutrient Management Expert Group (2020-2023) and is currently a member of Natural Resources Wales Evidence Advisory Committee.

Soil Health Presentation Session (1)

Luci Corbett – Short and long term impacts of ground preparation on soil carbon in woodland afforestation and reforestation [10:00am]

Khagendra Baral – The effect of slurry treatments and spreading techniques on soil N2O emissions [10:15am]

Wenxuan Shi – Assessing Peatland Emissions of Nitrous Oxide (ASPEN) [10:30am]

Tanya Trott – The impact the Enhanced Rock Weathering (Crushed basalt) has on Soil Hydrology [10:45am]

This session will be led by Dr. Marta Cattin, a Soil Protection Advisor at the Environment Agency. In this seminar, Marta will talk about her journey from academia to industry and share her experience of how the skills developed as a PhD student can be valuable in the workplace.

Dr. Marta Cattin, Soil Protection Advisor at the Environment Agency

Marta has a PhD in Soil Science from Lancaster University and has been with the Environment Agency for the past three years. She started out as a Soil Health Advisor, working with farmers on an EU LIFE project in the North East of England aimed at improving soil management practices.

During her time as Soil Health Advisor, Marta ran a soil health monitoring program in the Northumberland catchment area, helping farmers understand their soil health and encouraging them to adopt better practices. She’s also set up two field experiments—one looking at cover crops as green manure and another testing composted pig FYM as a soil bio-stimulant—to show farmers practical ways to improve soil management on their land.

How does peer review work and how do you get involved? 

What happens after you submit your paper to a journal? How does the peer review process work and how can you get involved? This session will shed light on the inner workings of the peer review system and how it benefits both authors and reviewers. There will also be plenty of time for questions and discussions. 

Gareth Jenkins is a full-time editor at Wiley, based in the UK. His PhD is in Aquatic Ecology – it focussed on trophic networks, particularly in freshwater ecosystems, and their response to multiple stressors, such as acidification and temperature. Gareth was Editor-in-Chief of Ecology & Evolution between 2017 – 2024, and has recently moved to Executive Editor on the title, as well holding the same role on the Journal of Biogeography since 2023.  Within research publishing, he has a particular interest in open data and code.

Register for this on arrival

There will be an informal tour of the cricket ground with a discussion of the outfield reconstruction project and the finer points of managing cohesive soils to produce international standard cricket pitches with the associated playability characteristics for the highest level of cricket. The outfield element will consider the issues around the reconstruction and drainage of the outfield which necessarily had to take place over late autumn and winter in South Wales, an area not renowned for its dry weather. Robin Saxton, the Head Sports Turf Manager at the stadium will lead the discussion on the management and preparation of pitches to ICC and ECB First Class standards and Alex Vickers, MI Soil Sci, will lead the discussion of the outfield reconstruction project. 

With our climate changing and pressure increasing from land use and intensification, forest horizon scanning has revealed that soil health will become an ever increasing priority within the next 50 years. Through integrating trees into farming systems, to afforestation and restocking decisions, what impact can the forestry sector have in achieving our net zero ambitions and beyond through carbon sequestration? This debate with sector specialists aims to address the varied opinions around carbon sinks in forest management and woodland creation.

Dr Elena Vanguelova is a senior biogeochemist and the lead of the Soil Sustainability Research in Forest Research. Her research over the past 20 years covers forest soil functions and health with particular focus on forest and soil carbon and nutrient storage, stability and cycling as well as soil biodiversity and soil health indicators.

She has led and collaborated in numerous UK and EU based projects, initiatives and research networks and she is the lead of the UK BioSoil forest monitoring network, part of EU ICP Forests. She has been sitting on the EU forest soil expert panel for over 20 years and leads the Forest soil condition and health monitoring network as part of the tNCEA (Terrestrial Natural Capital Environmental Assessment Programme).

Dr Andrew Weatherall MICFor is the Principal Policy Officer of Woodlands and Forestry for the RSPB.

Andrew grew up in a place with more lamp posts than trees. He has a forestry degree from Aberdeen University, a PhD on nutrient cycling in (Sitka spruce) forests, from the Macaulay (now James Hutton) Institute, he led the Forest Management degree at the National School of Forestry in Cumbria and developed the Woodland Ecology and Conservation degree. He contributed to the Woodlands chapter of the British Ecological Society’s report on Nature-Based Solutions and led a working group defining Climate-Smart Forestry in a European funded research collaboration. He now leads woodlands and forestry policy for the RSPB and is a member of the ICF’s Environment Special Interest Group.

Clive Thomas is Soil Association’s senior adviser for forestry, leading on regenerative forestry advice including the integration of trees and woodland management into farming systems, as well as policy development in response to voluntary carbon and natural capital markets. Clive is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Foresters and has worked in private and state forestry sectors during a 30+ year career managing forests and developing forest policy. As well as his advisory work, Clive is an experienced forestry trainer, delivering courses and workshops on a wide range of topics under the Soil Association’s regenerative forestry theme, including agroforestry, FSC® accredited courses and responsible forest management capacity building for partners in the UK and around the world.

Nutrient and Water Management Presentation Session

Stephan Haefele – Grain P concentration as an indicator of fertilizer requirements in winter wheat [4:15pm]

Rose Boyko – Green shoots from blue growth: promoting the circular blue-to-green economy through repurposing aquaculture by-products to remediate wastewaters and create sustainable soil amendments [4:30pm]

Hannah Walling – Influence of phosphorus fertiliser on soybean nitrogen fixation and production [4:45pm]

Castell Nos is located on the upland plateau above Maerdy (East of Swansea). Named for the ancient monument which stands on the shoulder of the valley to the west, the site was previously afforested (that’s areas where forestry once was but has now been felled and sold), with large erosion features. The blanket bog is as deep as 4m, and a wide range of specialist bog species were identified during baseline surveys.

Castell Nos has a long and varied history of land use which has changed the habitat significantly. The site is dominated by huge amounts of Molinia caerulea (purple moor grass) with the specialist bog species we love (sphagnum moss) limited to the flattest, wettest areas on site. The site also has a history of wild grass fires which damaged the vegetation on site.

The Lost Peatlands Project, is a Lottery Heritage Funded partnership project that aims to restore peatlands in the most southerly interconnected upland deep peat resource of any significant size in Wales – and one of the largest areas of its type in the UK – providing a unique biogeographical stepping-stone in the overall distribution of blanket bog in southern Britain. Restoration work at Casell Nos has been carried out by the partnership, with contracts managed by Natural Resources Wales to raise the water tables through a series of peat and timber dams. 

Swansea University is a key partner and various research projects are ongoing across the Project sites. The combined research will help address evidence needs on peat chemistry, carbon dynamics, vegetation community change and water levels – all of with in the context of ‘Forest to Bog’ restoration.

The site, managed by Natural Resources Wales, offers insight into upland peat restoration activities of afforested sites in Wales and ongoing research in this area. During the visit you will learn about the site’s history, the peat resources and restoration, the Lost Peatland Project, and other research activities at the site.

Crymlyn Bog is the largest lowland fen in Wales and its extensive reed and sedge beds are home to a wide variety of wetland plants, birds and insects. Crymlyn Bog is one of the most important wetland sites in Europe, is a National Nature Reserve and RAMSAR site, and an important carbon store with peat deposits up to 6+m deep. Strictly speaking Crymlyn Bog should be called Crymlyn Fen. Bogs are fed solely from rainwater, while fens are also fed by streams and groundwater. A number of streams feed into the ‘bog’, producing a rich habitat much more typical of East Anglia’s fenland than South Wales. But historically Crymlyn was christened a ‘bog’ and the name has stuck.

Its survival is remarkable considering its location next to industrialised Swansea. Over the years, its neighbours have included an oil refinery, power station and rubbish tip, together with numerous coal mines and other industrial works, and yet the bog has remained largely intact. Crymlyn Bog is part of the LIFEquake project, a five-year project which started in 2022 and aims to restore peatland, quaking bogs and their wider supporting wetland landscapes to favourable conservation status. The site, managed by Natural Resources Wales, offers a fascinating glimpse into its rich history and the unique challenges of overseeing a large nature reserve in a semi-urban setting. During the visit you will learn about the site’s soil and peat resources, the ongoing LIFEquake project, and other current initiatives.

LIFEquake is funded by EU LIFE and supported by Welsh Government and delivered in partnership by NRW, Eryri National Park, Pembrokeshire Coast National Park and National Trust.

There will also be a walking tour round Cardiff led by Cardiff Bay Tours. 

ITINERARY

CARDIFF CASTLE – Roman walls, Norman keep, Bute family Victorian mansion and famous animal wall. 

CIVIC CENTRE – Portland stone neo-classical buildings including the National Museum of Wales, City Hall, University, Temple of Peace and Health and many more. Compared to Washington D.C. and set around beautiful gardens and tree-lined avenues.

PRINCIPALITY STADIUM – 72,500 seater world famous multi-purpose stadium. Official home of the Welsh Rugby Union and spiritual home of Welsh football.

PARKS AND GARDENS – Bute Park – Parkland, arboretum and river Taff trail. Gorsedd Gardens and ceremonial stone circle. Friary Gardens and statue of  3^rd Marquis of Bute. Alexandra Gardens and Welsh National War Memorial.

OLD TOWN WALL AND  CANAL QUARTER – Step back in time to imagine “Olde Cardyfe”.

ARCADES – Victorian and Edwardian shopping arcades.

CARDIFF MARKET – Indoor Victorian market – sample some Welsh food!

OLD BREWERY QUARTER – Traditional and modern pubs and bars – sample the City’s famous “Brains” beer.

DAVID’S SHOPPING CENTRE AND ST. DAVID’S HALL – Variety of shops set around the National Concert Hall of Wales.

OLD LIBRARY & CARDIFF STORY MUSEUM – Discover the history of Cardiff.

ART AND SCULPTURES – Traditional to modern artworks.

JOHN’S CHURCH – 15th Century perpendicular style church.