I applied for the Early Career Travel Grant to attend the IUSS Centennial Celebration Conference. I discovered the grant through the BSSS website as an early career member. I received £500, which I put towards accommodation costs.
The event celebrated 100 years since the inception of the IUSS (International Union of Soil Sciences). It included presentations by soil practitioners, stakeholders, policymakers, and associations across agriculture, forestry, and the environment. There was also a scientific excursion about soils and art, which I attended.
I presented an e-poster under the Soil Health category for my PhD project titled: Modified Spent Coffee Grounds (SCG) and Biochar Remediation of Heavy Metal Contaminated Urban Soils in Glasgow.
I found this event very useful for my project, both as a learning opportunity in relation to my projects and for networking. I attended most of the sessions on soil contamination but also joined other sessions too. The session on policy and the role of policymakers in soil management was a real eye-opener for me, as I had never quite understood or appreciated the importance of the right policies.
I was in Florence for a whole week, so these funds were essential to cover the cost of my accommodation. I met many researchers working on similar projects to mine, with whom I was able to discuss my work and gain valuable feedback on my research. This proved to be incredibly useful.
I spent a bit of time at the BSSS stand at the conference and had the honour and opportunity of helping the BSSS President, Dr Hannam co-host a session on the role of policy in soil health management. There were a lot of outstanding sessions at the conference but one that stood out for me was a speech by The Honourable Penny Wensley. The biggest and most rewarding outcomes for me were:
- Finally, Soils are at the forefront of dialogue and the realisation that achievement of UN’s Sustainable Developments goals will not be possible without proper soil management strategies.
- There’s has been a lot of progress in soil management, but we are still a long way to go
- There is growing interest in soils science from younger scientists. There is an improved portrayal of soils.
I have always loved soils and attending this conference and learning about where it all began and the future projects, initiatives and policies, reassured me about working in this field. I am very grateful to the British Society of Soil science, my Scholarship funding body the James Mcune Smith for this opportunity. It was an honour to meet and spend some time with our President Dr Jacqueline Hannam. I look forward to attending more conferences.
