We are the largest group of soil scientists in the UK, with expertise spanning basic soil physics, chemistry and biology; to soil management and conservation; to soil informatics and resource evaluation. We have world-class facilities for soil research and teaching, and are home to national and international soil datasets.

Our expertise covers the following sub-disciplines:

Soil systems science

Soil, crop and water management

Soil informatics

Our doctoral training centres

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Example projects

Working with us

We have a broad base of collaborators in other universities and research institutes in the UK and internationally, as well as in industry and government. We are always keen to expand this base.

Our facilities

We have world-class facilities for soil research. These include two of the four UK Government-sponsored Agri-tech Centres: Agri-Epi (Agricultural Engineering Precision Innovation Centre) and CHaP (Crop Health and Protection), with over £13 million of new infrastructure since 2017; the Wolfson Field Laboratory for studies of soil carbon and gas emissions; and one of the UKCRIC Urban Observatories. We are the UK National Reference Centre for soil, and hold national and international soil reference data and samples in the  (LandIS) and the World Soil Survey and Archive Catalogue (WOSSAC). We also host the NERC Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM).

Clients and partners

We work with a range of partner organisations, including:

  • BBSRC
  • NERC
  • Innovate UK
  • Various industry partners