One of our most precious resources on Earth is the focus of a new research centre at Lancaster University.

From the food we eat to flood mitigation, carbon storage and water quality, soil is essential to our lives and ecosystems across the planet.

Full of a myriad of microbes and animals, soil is the most biodiverse habitat on Earth. But soil is largely out of sight and mind, under-studied, damaged by humans, and sometimes even seen as waste.

Based in Lancaster University’s Faculty of Science and Technology, the ‘Centre for Sustainable Soils’ brings together experts from a wide range of disciplines and expertise, each providing applying their own perspectives on soils and how they can be protected and managed for the future.

The Centre has membership of more than 60 researchers. These include more than 40 from across Lancaster University as well as more than 20 from its partner, the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH), which has office and research space at the Lancaster Environment Centre.

“We have great strengths in soil science spanning soil physics, chemistry and biology both here at Lancaster University and with our key partner UKCEH,” said Jess Davies, Professor of Sustainability at Lancaster University and one of the Centre’s Co-Directors.

“We hope to make the Centre for Sustainable Soils globally unique by bringing together not only our soil scientists, but also those working on other areas of the environment, engineering, plant science, physics and mathematics, along with social sciences, business and arts and humanities scholars.

“The Centre will host a community with a truly diverse set of expertise and perspectives looking at big questions surrounding how soils function, the role they play in our lives, and how we can ensure soils will stay healthy and provide for us, and wider ecosystems, into the future.”

The Centre will focus on three themes related of soils:

• Functional soils – processes that underpin soil change and how soils interact with the wider environment.
• Changing soils – impacts of human activities on soils, past and present, and consequences for people and the planet.
• Recovering soils – developing approaches to build healthy, resilient soils to support food, biodiversity, and climate mitigation.

A £1.5 million investment, including funding from the University and a £500,000 donation from the Fort Foundation, has helped refurbish and equip new laboratory facilities.

The laboratory includes a broad range of equipment that will provide soil scientists with the capability to look for physical, chemical and biological properties within soils.

Sustainable Soils lab

Researchers at the Centre will also benefit from technologies in AI and data science, remote sensing, advanced manufacturing and quantum technologies across the faculty, as well as a mobile laboratory that can be deployed in the field to monitor and measure the release of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane from soils.

Richard Bardgett, Distinguished Professor of Ecology at Lancaster University, is also Co-Director of the Centre. He said: “Soils are fundamental to life and yet there is still so much we have yet to learn about them. As the world is rapidly changing around us, it is increasingly important for us to understand what these changes mean for soils and their many roles they perform, and how we can best manage soils in the future to support people and the planet.

“The new Centre, and the researchers it brings together, will look into key issues around how people use and view soils, how they can be protected and how damaged soils can be regenerated to help tackle sustainability challenges such as sustainable food production, climate mitigation and adaptation, and biodiversity protection, and provide many other roles that soils play.”

UKCEH Associate Science Director, Professor Jeanette Whitaker, who is a member of the leadership team for the Centre for Sustainable Soils, said: “UKCEH and Lancaster University have been collaborating on soil-related research for more than 25 years, building breadth and depth in our complementary expertise. Through this interdisciplinary Centre, we are building on this shared history to generate the evidence and solutions needed to protect soils for food security, climate resilience and nature recovery. I am excited to be a part of this, supporting and promoting the importance of soil sustainability for the future.”

More information about the Centre for Sustainable Soils, which was recently launched at an event held in the Lancaster Environment Centre, can be found at its website here: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/centre-for-sustainable-soils/