News 2019
Highly Cited Researchers 2019
Congratulations to Johan! He has been included in the list of «external page Highly Cited Researchers 2019». The list of "Highly Cited Researchers 2019" comprises the approximately 6,200 scientists worldwide whose publications are among the top one percent of the most frequently cited papers in their field.
The Sustainable Agroecosystems team contributes to the OLMA in St. Gallen
The soil is alive
In one teaspoon of soil there are about 1000 billion bacteria, several meters of fungal hyphae, thousands of protozoa and hundreds of nematodes. Most soil microorganisms are invisible to the eye and their diversity is huge. A diverse soil life fulfills important functions in the agroecosystem, e.g. providing nutrients for plant roots, protection against harmful organisms and reducing water stress, removal of residues from pesticides usage and regulation of greenhouse gas emissions. The soil microbiome is absolutely essential to the functioning of our planet.
At our OLMA stand, we used an augmented reality app to show the implications of common agricultural practices on microbial soil processes and explained how new genetic methods help us to study soil microorganisms.
Karl Voglmeier to receive the ETH medal for his PhD thesis
The D-USYS Doctoral Board has decided to award the thesis of Karl Voglmeier, entitled „Hot spots and more: Multi-scale measurements for a better understanding of gaseous emissions from grazing systems“ with the ETH medal for Phd theses. Congratulations to Karl!
Article on Agricultural Drainage Infrastructure in Nature Sustainability
Michael Castellano, while being on sabbatical in the Sustainable Agroecosystem Group, worked together with Johan Six on a external page perspective just published in Nature Sustainability about the need to revamp agricultural drainage infrastructure to ensure a sustainable intensification of future crop production. A summary of the article is available external page here.
Interview with Johan
In an interview by ETH Globe, Johan talks about a transdisciplinary approach to the food crisis and the approach of RUNRES. Find out more Download here. (PDF, 716 KB)
RUNRES activities feature in one of Rwanda's leading newspapers
The New Times, one of Rwanda's leading newspapers, reports about the positive feedback that the planned activities of our project RUNRES elicit among local farmers in Rwanda. The full article can be read external page here.
From rural to urban and vice versa: RUNRES investigates circular economies in Africa
The project RUNRES, led by researchers of the Sustainable Agroecosystems Group and the Transdisciplinary Lab of ETH Zurich will be working in four different African countries and on four different food value chains: coffee, cassava, banana and vegetables. The goal of RUNRES is to close the nutrient cycle in city regions and build so-called circular economies, where nutrients from waste are recycled to be used in food production.
Deutscher Planspielpreis 2019 (German simulation game award)
Third prize goes to Manuel Stamm for his BSc thesis project, conducted as part of the “Edible Research” outreach program
Congratulations to Manuel Stamm for being awarded the third prize of the German simulation game award on June 27, 2019 for his BSc thesis project “Role-playing games as an educational tool – Adapting and evaluating the CoPalCam role-playing game on the issue of palm oil with secondary students”.
Congratulations to Kenza, Braida and Luzian!
As part of the ArtSci exhibition this year Kenza Benabderrazik, Braida Thom and Luzian Messmer participated in an installation called “on Field …”. They won the "public price" for capturing the farmers they work with in beautiful portraits. The event was supported and funded by the World Food System Center Ambassador Program and the Mercator Foundation Switzerland.
Highly commended scientific photograph by Matti Barthel
Matti Barthel's photograph "Nyiragongo" was commended in a contest for the best scientific photographs of Switzerland by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) in the category "Places and Tools". To read more about the contest, follow this external page link.
How to save our topsoils
The World Food System published a short video on the PhD project of Viviana Loaiza Puerta - NORGS (Nitrogen cycling in integrated organic farming systems in Switzerland)
The SAE team contributed to a film series on Tef
Have a look at the film series here
BBC Article: The "miracle mineral" the world needs
Johan and Janina's research features in an interesting article on phosphorus - external page The "miracle mineral" the world needs.
Johan is a member of the Science and Impact Advisory Board of Rothamsted Research
external page Rothamsted Research is an independent charitable company, governed by a Board of non-executive Trustee Directors. The Institute has convened an international group of experts to help it evaluate the quality of its science and assess the benefits of its research.