Life at small scale
Microbial communities drive nutrient flow, carbon storage, and the resilience of soil systems. The program looks at who is present and what their activity makes possible.
Soil science and microbial life
The ground is a living archive.
SOILS brings researchers, land stewards, and students together to examine what soil organisms do, how land use changes them, and why those answers matter beyond the field.
A gathering for soil metagenomics, ecology, and practical land care.
Three threads
What the gathering keeps in view
Land in use
Farmers, advisers, and conservation teams bring questions shaped by real fields and real constraints. Their experience gives molecular findings a place to land.
Methods that travel
Sampling design, sequencing, and analysis need to work beyond a single lab or region. Sessions compare notes on what is repeatable and what still needs care.
Why soil metagenomics
A whole ecosystem, mostly out of sight
Soil holds one of the densest communities of life on land. Bacteria, fungi, archaea, protists, and invertebrates share a crowded architecture of pores, roots, and mineral surfaces. Their activity influences how carbon is held, how nutrients move, and how land responds to stress.
Metagenomics gives researchers a way to read that community without isolating every organism. When those readings are paired with careful field observation, they can inform conservation, farming, restoration, and civil works.
SOILS is built around that pairing: molecular evidence on one side, practical land questions on the other.
Read about the symposiumFocus areas
Six ways into the soil
The program crosses disciplines without losing the thread. Each area below connects a research question to a land or engineering decision.
Soil ecology and microbial communities
Who is present, how communities assemble, and what changes when land use shifts.
Fertility and nutrient cycling
The biology behind nutrient availability, organic matter, and plant nutrition.
Conservation and erosion control
Practices that keep soil in place and protect the life within it.
Soil formation and classification
How parent material, climate, organisms, and time produce distinct soils.
Geotechnical behavior
What soil structure and biology mean for stability, drainage, and construction.
Measurement and analysis
Sampling design, sequencing, statistics, and the limits of inference.
How the days are shaped
Five formats, one conversation
No single format carries the whole program. Talks set out evidence, workshops slow the method down, and panels test what the evidence means for land.
See how the program fits together
Talks
Invited researchers frame the questions that cut across fields.
Workshops
Small groups work through methods, from sampling plans to sequence analysis.
Panels
Researchers and land practitioners compare evidence, constraints, and outcomes.
Posters
Early career researchers and teams present work in progress and take questions.
Field dialogue
Structured discussion about what evidence is useful, what is missing, and what comes next.
Who takes part
Different expertise, shared ground
The program is written for people who work with soil at different scales. Sessions assume curiosity about soil science, not specialist knowledge in every topic.
- Soil and microbial ecologists
- Farmers and land managers
- Conservation and extension staff
- Students and early career researchers
- Engineers and contaminated land specialists
- Policy and program staff
What to expect
Evidence with context
Talks are expected to connect findings to the conditions in which the samples were taken.
Room for questions
Sessions leave time for discussion, including disagreement about methods and interpretation.
A shared vocabulary
The program helps field specialists, lab scientists, and decision makers understand one another.
Practical answers
Before you plan
Four questions that come up most often. The full list covers proposals, accessibility, and changes to registration.
Read all questionsSOILS is a symposium about soil metagenomics and the practical questions that surround soil life. The program links molecular research with land management, conservation, and soil engineering.
Researchers, students, farmers, advisers, conservation teams, engineers, and policy staff who work with soil. Sessions assume curiosity about soil science rather than specialist knowledge in every topic.
Start with the registration page. It explains the steps, the information we ask for, and how to prepare an abstract or poster proposal.
The program page describes the session formats and themes. Confirmed speaker and schedule details are published there as they are finalized.
Take part
Bring a question from your field.
Join the next SOILS gathering and add your evidence, experience, and curiosity to the conversation.