Soils and Global Change - Soil Biogeochemistry and Global Change Ghent University

Overview

Key facts

Increased population pressure, industrialisation and intensive land use are causing depletion of natural resources and are limiting the performance of land with respect to its functions such as biomass production, carbon sequestration, water purification, etcetera. 

The additive effects of climate change and the above-mentioned aspects of global change influence the capacity of soils to regenerate and may even cause soil degradation. The future capacity of soils to support (human) life is at stake.

Programmes have been developed to protect the environment and to increase ecosystem resilience. Numerous directives on soil response to external pressures have been developed and implemented. A wealth of scientific knowledge is available but dispersed due to the specialisation of research groups, which makes it difficult for students to follow a focused curriculum on soils and global change at any individual university.

The academic partners Soils and Global Change - Soil Biogeochemistry and Global Change programme from Ghent University at are complementary, and each have specific expertise in biogeochemical and physical aspects of soils under global change and can thus provide the necessary multidisciplinary approach to cover the complete chain:

All partner Universities work on soils worldwide, which is useful to provide a variety in classroom examples to the students and allows a rich choice in study areas for thesis research;

Aarhus University has a strong profile in soil physics and global change issues in arctic and temperate regions;

The University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (Vienna) has a strong profile in soil microbiology and greenhouse gas fluxes in temperate and tropical soils;

The University of Göttingen has a strong profile in biogeochemistry of agricultural and natural soils of temperate and tropical soils;

Ghent University has a strong profile in physical and chemical soil degradation research and optimal soil & water management worldwide.

Career

Ghent University's Soils and Global Change - Soil Biogeochemistry and Global Change has shown there is a substantial need for soil consultants primarily in the fields of agronomy and pollution. There is a larger need for academics, mainly in the fields of land-use change and greenhouse gas emissions, which strongly proves the need and relevance for the scope of the programme: soils and global change. 

Analysis of alumni from Ghent University of preceding MSc-programs showed that almost 45% of the alumni took jobs in the public sector, mostly in research and partly in education. About 50% of the alumni took jobs in either consultancy, industry or agriculture/agro-industry.