Evidence in context
Findings are more useful when the sampling site, land use, depth, and season are part of the story. The program asks speakers to make that context visible.
About the symposium
A meeting point for soil evidence and land decisions.
SOILS exists to connect the study of soil life with the choices made above ground. The program is designed for people who collect soil data, people who use it, and people who are still deciding what to ask.
Why the gathering exists
Reading the community is only part of the work
Soil metagenomics has changed how researchers describe microbial communities. Sequence data can reveal who is present, what functions are encoded, and how communities differ between places. It cannot, by itself, explain what a farmer should do differently next season or why a slope is failing.
SOILS was created as a meeting point for people who generate that data and people who apply it. The program pairs molecular evidence with field observation, land management, and engineering practice, so that findings can be tested against the conditions they came from.
The gathering does not promote a single method or product. It creates room for comparison: between sampling designs, between land uses, and between the questions that different disciplines bring.
What the program values
Four commitments
Methods that can be repeated
A result that cannot be reproduced is difficult to build on. Workshops and talks give space to sampling design, controls, statistics, and the practical limits of a study.
Practical relevance
Soil research informs farming, restoration, conservation, and construction. The program keeps those uses in the room rather than treating them as an afterthought.
Open exchange
Questions are welcome, including questions that expose disagreement. Sessions are built to leave time for discussion rather than a sequence of uninterrupted presentations.
Who takes part
A room with more than one kind of expertise
The program brings together people who rarely share a conference program. A soil ecologist may sit beside a drainage engineer; a student may question a policy adviser; a farmer may ask both what a result means for the next planting.
That mix is deliberate. It is also why sessions are asked to explain methods in plain language and to connect findings to a decision, a place, or a practice.
How speakers and proposals are chosen- 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
How the gathering is organized
Formats chosen for different kinds of thinking
The program moves between listening, doing, and testing ideas against experience.
Talks
Framing sessions and evidence from field and laboratory studies, with time for questions.
Workshops
Practical sessions on sampling, sequencing, analysis, and the choices that shape a result.
Panels
Conversations that bring research, land practice, and policy into the same frame.
Posters
Work in progress, methods under development, and questions that are not finished yet.
Field dialogue
A closing exchange about what the program has changed and what still needs work.
Where to read more
Independent background
These public resources are maintained by other organizations. They are listed for background and are not affiliated with SOILS.
FAO Global Soil Partnership
An international platform for soil governance, awareness, and technical cooperation.
Visit the Global Soil PartnershipISRIC World Soil Information
Soil data, maps, and reference collections from an independent research institute.
Visit ISRICGlobal Soil Biodiversity Initiative
A network that connects soil biodiversity science with policy and land management.
Visit the initiativeNext step
Add your perspective to the room.
Registration explains what to prepare. The contact page is open if you need to ask about access, proposals, or participation.