Welcome to the EJP SOIL Advisory Board

The Advisory Board provides independent advice to the EJP SOIL strategic research roadmap. The members are active at international level and have a broad vision of the challenges facing agriculture, food and environment. The Board members are experts in a diversity of disciplines, creating a board composed of scientific experts and representatives of scientific and stakeholder organisations.

From left to right – upper row: Chair Prof. dr. Katharina Helming, Vice Chair: Dr. Bram Moeskops, Dr. Elena Havlicek, Prof. dr. Giuseppina Crescimanno, Dr. Edoardo Costantini, Prof. dr. Taskin Oztas, Prof. dr. Pete Smith, Dr. Carmen Vela Olmo, Prof. dr. Steven Van Passel, Prof. dr. Eva Lini Wollenberg, Ronald Vargas, M.Sc.. Lower row: Prof. dr. Pandi Zdruli, Prof. dr. Barbara Baarsma, Dr. Deborah Bossio, Dr. Rainer Baritz, Dr. Kirsten Dunlop, Edgars Linde, B.Sc., Nenad Peric, M.Sc, André Leu, B.Sc., Dr. Rolf Sommer, Patrick Worms, M.Sc.

8 October 2020 by Line Carlenius Berggreen

The Advisory Board serves as the key forum for scientific and stakeholder organisations to interact with the EJP SOIL by providing input on both the strategic and operational levels. The Board will support the scientific excellence, societal relevance and impact of the EJP SOIL. The composition ensures that a wide diversity of relevant stakeholders’ perspectives is provided and that these perspectives are considered and integrated in the entire work cycle of the EJP SOIL.

The Advisory Board counts 21 members. They have been selected for their outstanding scientific and/or professional record at international level. The Board is chaired by Professor dr. Katharina Helming, professor of sustainability assessment, Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) in Germany. Dr. Bram Moeskops, Research & Innovation Manager at IFOAM Organics Europe in Brussels, is the Vice-Chair of the board. Read more about each Advisory Board member.

The role of Advisory Board

The Advisory Board is consulted about the EJP SOIL strategic research roadmap and updates thereof. More specifically, tasks include:

Provide analysis of research gaps from scientific and stakeholders perspective
Provide advice on further alignment of EJP SOIL activities with its Roadmap;
Provide advice on identification, evaluation and impact of the EJP SOIL activities;
Review of the scientific outputs of EJP SOIL;
Act as a key dissemination channel for project outcomes thereby expanding the professional and geographical coverage of the EJP SOIL and maximizing its impacts.

The Advisory Board members and the EJP SOIL Coordination met for the first time on 1^st September 2020. At this meeting, the Advisory Board was given a warm welcome and was introduced to the EJP SOIL programme, starting with the policy challenges of climate change, land and agricultural management relevant to EJP SOIL as well as its current and planned activities. In addition, this meeting was an opportunity to get to know each other, ask questions about the programme and to understand the important role and responsibility of the Advisory Board.