Physical Land Resources - Land Resources Engineering Ghent University

Overview

Key facts

The Physical Land Resources - Land Resources Engineering programme at Ghent University targets all candidates that aim at acquiring a profound knowledge and understanding of physical land resources, and soils in particular, for agricultural and non-agricultural applications. For awarding study grants, we particularly target well-qualified candidates from developing countries with a background relevant to the domain of physical land resources and employed at universities, research institutes, extension agencies, and (non-)governmental organisations, without penalising early career candidates that have just graduated. Additionally, candidates aiming to work in developing countries and/or be employed in projects/programmes of international organisations are targeted. 

Learning outcomes

The programme particularly aims at forming experts that are able to answer questions such as:

• how was it formed and how will it evolve under specific circumstances;

• which factors and properties determine the soil suitability for both agricultural and non-agricultural purposes and how is this established;
• how can soil be improved to suit specific applications;
• how can land degradation and desertification be addressed;
• how can we manage and protect the land in a sustainable way;
• what is the impact of the factor soil in the dynamics of natural ecosystems and how can we use this knowledge for nature conservation;
• what do soils teach us about current environmental issues;
• how can soil and water management contribute to sustainable agriculture;

• how can we manage our scarce water supplies.

Those critical problems all need global and local solutions now, and they only get harder to manage if action is postponed. With soils (i.e., the pedosphere) forming the interface between atmosphere, biosphere, and surface and groundwater, these challenges are strongly linked to management and engineering of soils and physical land resources in general. 

The challenges thus offer opportunities for education and research in physical land resources, and to develop and apply evidence-based solutions (i.e., based on a sound scientific approach).