Meet the WISH-ROOTS Consortium
KULeuven, Belgium
Current Position: Professor in environmental chemistry, KU Leuven, Belgium
Education: PhD in Soil Science, 1993 KU Leuven
Hobbies: research, hiking, cycling and singing!
Bio: I worked in Australia, UK, USA and Vienna, Professor since 2000 in Leuven, leading a team on trace metals and nutrients, mainly phosphate; we link soil chemistry with bioavailability. My PhD was on…nitrate uptake in plants. In the last few years, renewed interest in rhizosphere processes and nitrogen. My favourite? Combine experiments with models!
Role: My role in the WISH-ROOTS project: lead the field trial with the 20 genotypes in Belgium and contribute to N-15 assisted estimates of N-uptake efficiency and to rhizosphere fate of 15N, i.e. discovering biological nitrification inhibition
Current Position: PhD student at KULeuven, Belgium
Education: Master in Environmental Technologies, KULeuven, Belgium
Hobbies: Exploring, swimming, climbing, yoga, readind and cooking.
Bio: After high school, I lived one year in Bolivia where I taught French at University of San Simon and discovered yoga.
I studied bioengineer in Leuven, my thesis was on the transport of cadmium in the cacao plant. I now look forward to contribute to sustainable agriculture and improving nitrogen use efficiency
Role: My role in the WISH-ROOTS project is to develop a in-situ method to detect nitrification in the rhizosphere, with the ambition that this methodology can be applied for root phenotyping in field grown plants.
Current Position: Director at Praktijkpunt Landbouw Vlaams-Brabant, Belgium
Education: PhD Bioscience Engineering, KULeuven, Belgium
Hobbies: Reading, Swimming, Gardening
Bio: Always interested in the mechanics of the natural world, I ended up studying Bioscience Engineering, majoring in corp production and obtaining a PhD in soil science. Since 2017 I work at Praktijkpunt Landbouw Vlaams-Brabant, agricultural research station and extention service with a focus on witloof chicory, grains and non-food crops.
Role: My role in the WISH-ROOTS project, as a subcontractor, is to implement and supervise the Belgian field trials at Praktijkpunt Landbouw.
