We were delighted to welcome members, sponsors and supporters to a sold-out Annual Conference at Glamorgan Cricket Club in Cardiff at the start of December. If you attended, thank you for supporting the event; we hope you enjoyed the conference and found it useful. It was fantastic to see so many delegates from across the UK and further afield at the event, and participating in the sessions. We hope that the conversations and learnings from the conference will spur further research and development within soil science.
The conference featured a rich programme including: a Policy session, 2 panel sessions, 2 keynotes, 25 oral presentations, 8 quickfire presentations, 55 posters, 6 parallel sessions, an Art and culture exhibition, Venue tours, an Early Career Networking event, Scientific and Cultural Tours, and a talking soil bench.
Keynote Sessions
We were delighted to hear from several expert speakers and panels within soil science and its allied disciplines. Following opening remarks from Naomi Matthiessen, we kicked off the conference with a policy session around land use and planning with representatives from all the devolved nations including DEFRA, Welsh Government, Scottish Government and AFBI (NI). Later on we had a session around soil health and sustainable agriculture featuring Abi Reader, NFU Cymru Deputy President, Richard Anthony from Tythegston Farm, and Dr Non Williams from Farming Connect. To close the first day, we had a session around soil health in planning and Environmental Impact Assessment featuring Martina Girvan from Arcadis, Aydin Zorlutuna from Arcadis, and Mark Nason from CIEEM. Day 2 began with our Invited Speaker, Prof. Dave Chadwick from Bangor University who spoke on Soils, Greenhouse Gases and Mitigation. Later in the day, we had our technology keynote from Jack Connolly from Manchester University who spoke about the Signals in the Soil project.
Parallel Sessions
This year, we added to the programme by featuring parallel sessions for delegates to hear from industry experts in interdisciplinary sectors. This included: Soil Health Monitoring for Climate Adaptation from Royal Eijkelkamp, PFAS ‘Forever Chemicals’ – Search, Capture & Destroy from CPL/Puragen, Celebrating 75 Years of the European Journal of Soil Science from Jenni Dungait, Environmental science careers outside of academia from Marta Cattin, How does peer review work and how to get involved from Gareth Jenkins, and Forest Soils – A Vital Carbon Store curated by the Institute of Chartered Foresters featuring Dr. Elena Vanguelova, Dr Andrew Weatherall MICFor, and Clive Thomas FICFor.
Oral and Poster Presentations
We were pleased to showcase 55 posters and hear from 25 oral presentations within the themes of: Soil Health, Soils for Net Zero, Nutrient and Water Management, Technology and Innovation, and Soil, Social Science and Culture. It was fantastic to see and hear about all the new and innovative research being conducted by BSSS members and supporters alike. Each poster and presentation helped us to explore the wider conference theme of ‘Sustainable Soils for People and Planet’, and we look forward to hearing developments from this over the coming year.
Art and Culture Room
A new theme that the conference explored was ‘Soil, Social Science and Culture’ and as part of this, we were delighted to feature an Art and Culture room at the venue for delegates to engage with. This featured paint demos, artworks, films, ceramics and ‘Singing Compost’. Many thanks to all the exhibitors and contributors including: Daro Montag, Phil Lambert, Paul Granjon, Anna Colin, Ros Gray, Jo Pearl. If you are interested in seeing more, you can see some of their their work at the upcoming Soil Exhibition at Somerset House in London from 23 January.
Gala Dinner
On Wednesday 4 December, we held our Conference Gala Dinner at Cardiff Castle. Following a drinks reception in the Library, we were led into the Undercroft where we were treated to a three course meal and fabulous music and singing as part of the Welsh Banquet Experience. The opening remarks were provided by special guest, Prof. Steve Ormerod, Deputy Chairman of Natural Resources Wales. We also presented our Outstanding Society Contribution Award (OSCA) which this year went to Past-President, Dr. Bruce Lascelles.
Tours
On Friday 6 December, we went on our scientific and cultural tours. The scientific tours took place at Castell Nos and Crymlyn Bog. At Castell Nos, delegates heard about about the site’s history, the peat resources and restoration, the Lost Peatland Project, and other research activities at the site. At Crymlyn Bog, delegates learnt about the site’s soil and peat resources, the ongoing LIFEquake project, and other current initiatives. Many thanks to Natural Resources Wales for their support in the organisation of the tours. Our cultural tour, led by Cardiff Bay Tours, took us through the highlights of Cardiff. During the conference, we were also pleased to include a venue tour and presentation at Glamorgan from BSSS member, Alex Vickers, and Head Groundsman, Robin Saxton.
Thank You to our Sponsors and Exhibitors:
Thank you to our conference headline sponsors: Elementar and the European Journal of Soil Science.
Thank you also to our fantastic exhibitors and session sponsors: Cranfield University, Royal Eijkelkamp, CPL/Puragen, SciMed and NRM.
Thank You to BSSS President, Prof. Jack Hannam
We paid tribute to Prof. Jack Hannam to thank her for her outstanding leadership and service as President of the Society for the past 2 years. It has been fantastic to have her as President and we look forward to welcoming Prof. Paul Hallett as our next President from January 2025.
Next Year
At the end of this year’s conference, Executive Director, Andy Morris, announced that we plan to host our 2025 Conference in Manchester. Next year also sees the return of our bi-ennial Early Careers Conference, which we plan to hold prior to our Annual Conference. Further details including abstract submissions and tickets will be released in due course.
