Science Talk with Naz

Our special guest is Bolys Sabitbek, a post-doctoral researcher at the Ghent Analysis & PDE Center, Ghent University. We were also honoured to be joined by Mr. Sayasat Nurbek, Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan, who shares his perspective on the growing academic collaboration between Kazakhstan and Ghent University, the skills today's world demands, and what...

Guest: Prof. Dmitri Krysko – an Associate Professor, Head of Cell Death Investigation and Therapy (CDIT) Laboratory at the Department of Human Structure and Repair at Ghent University. Also an elected member of The Royal Academy of Medicine of Belgium since 2023. Sadly, Prof. Krysko passed away in an accident shortly after this interview. We dedicate this episode to his family to honor his legacy,...

Guest: Lotte Baert a Teaching Assistant and PhD researcher at Ghent University. Her research focuses on soil amendments and drought resilience, and explores how different materials such as compost, chitin, and other amendments influence soil water retention under changing climate conditions, combining greenhouse experiments with field studies. Alongside her research, she is actively involved in te...

In this episode, we’re joined by Prof. Francis wyffels and Dr. Andreas Verleysen from AIRO (AI & Robotics), the robotics team within IDLab (Ghent University – imec). Visit 'AIRO IDLab Ghent University - imec' website for more information: https://airo.ugent.be/ More research works:  https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=r2JqQ0oAAAAJ&hl=en https://airo.ugent.be/   Relevant links mention...

Prof. Hans Verbeeck is a Research Professor at Ghent University, and also co-leader of the Q-ForestLab. His work integrates process-based ecosystem modelling, field ecology, and advanced remote-sensing to understand how forests respond to climate change. He has led major international projects working in tropical and temperate forests, He has important activities in the Congo Basin; did a lot of w...

Tobias Augspurger – aerospace engineer, climate scientist, and open-source advocate. Also a founder of OpenSustain.tech, an open platform for free and open climate technology. He also pioneered the application of open source in the German automotive industry within the DHL Group as head of software development for autonomous driving, worked for over 13 years in different remote sensing application...

Nick Krekelbergh is a teaching assistant and PhD student at Ghent University. Nick's research focusses on the dynamics of microplastics in soils from a pedological perspective. Nick is also an active member at the Knowledge centre Viae Caspiae of Eureast Platform    Nick on Linkedin:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickkrekelbergh/ Nick on X: https://x.com/nickkrekelbergh?lang=en ResearchGate: https:...

Rocco Suanno - PhD student at Institut Lumière Matière (Lyon) Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rocco-suanno-71ba2a249/ Instagram: @roccosuanno   00:00 – Intro 01:08 – Spinodal decomposition 03:29 – Implementation of spinodal decomposition & factors impacting 09:40 – Why this process is important across studies 11:44 – The 'Grande Victoria!', 1st-year-PhD experience & personal motivati...

Eduardo Garcia - a PhD specialized in Soil Science, Carbon Sequestration, Agroforestry, and Remote Sensing Research work mentioned in this episode: Garcia-Braga, E., Peñalver-Alcalá, A., Farguell, J., Francos, M., & Úbeda, X. (2024). How long is long? A bibliographic review of what is meant by the long-term effects of fire on soil properties. Spanish Journal of Soil Science, 14, Article 12499....

Guest: Michał Bączyk a PhD Researcher at Utrecht University on consumer-related rebound effects of circular business models Recent publication discussed in the episode:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spc.2024.10.022     00:20 Meet Michal: briefly about his research background 01:13 Circular economy 101 04:04 Why “re-use” is essential today   08:12 Theory vs. reality: examples from real functioning bus...

Guest: Oscar Dufour a PhD at Institute of Light and Matter in Lyon, France   00:00 – Intro: a researcher with a rich and diverse background 04:10 – What is crowd dynamics, and why does it matter: fieldwork at Lyon’s Festival of Lights revealed the science behind crowd behavior 11:47 – Tragedy in South Korea: A look at the Halloween crowd crush that claimed 158 lives 13:52 – The dangers of dense cr...

Guest: Vaibhav Shrivastava, Ph. D. - a Postdoctoral Researcher at Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences For more detailed insights into Vaibhav Shrivastava, Ph. D. work, you can explore: UgentResearch: https://research.ugent.be/web/person/vaibhav-shrivastava-0/publications/en explore the project FERTIMANURE: https://www.fertimanure.eu/en/   00:59 – Exploring linear vs. circular systems in fe...

Bo Vangsø Iversen – Associate Professor in Soil Physics and Hydropedology at Aarhus University Prof. Vangsø Iversen's Research Gate Prof. Vangsø Iversen's at LinkedIn   01:47 Soil Science in the 21st Century 03:57 The International Master in Soils and Global Change (IMSOGLO) – Why this program is particularly relevant today 09:09 IMSOGLO graduates preparing for a reunion 12:05 How IMSOGLO fosters...

Dr. Qiusheng Wu is an Associate Professor and the Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Geography & Sustainability at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He also serves as an Amazon Visiting Academic. Dr. Wu specializes in geospatial data science and open-source software development, with a research focus on utilizing big geospatial data and cloud computing to study environment...

  Jean-Pierre Grootaerd - dedicated voluntary member at the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Ghent University and the Public Observatory Armand Pien. He’s also an active member of the Eurospace Society, the organization founded by astronaut Dirk Frimout to encourage young people’s interest in space exploration. Jean-Pierre is a passionate self-taught-and-made astronomer. His lifelong fascina...

Prof. Kim Calders specializes in Earth Observation and Terrestrial Ecology at Ghent University in Belgium. His research interests include terrestrial and UAV-based LiDAR, the measurement and modeling of full 3D vegetation structure, its relation to airborne or spaceborne remote sensing signals, and radiative transfer modeling.  For more detailed insights into Prof. Calders' work, you can explore:...

Jaya Nepal is a Postdoctoral researcher at the Sustainable Cropping Systems Laboratory at Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. He recently graduated with PhD in Soil and Water Sciences from the University of Florida, also obtained his MSc in International Agricultural Development from the University of Tokyo. He has a broad research experience in the field of soil science a...

Professor Reimund P. Rötter (University of Göttingen) is a distinguished researcher with over 25 years of expertise in agronomy, agricultural systems modeling, and agroecology across Europe, Africa, and Asia. Professor Rötter's work focuses on developing and identifying solutions to the complex challenges presented to humanity such as global food security, increasing resource scarcity and the envi...

Postdoctoral researcher - Enrique Apolo Apolo. Enrique's fields of interest include AI, precision agriculture, proximal plant sensing, satellite imagery, machinery, robotics and electronics.  Enrique's Ph. D. title is “Development and Assessment of AI models based on deep learning algorithms to determine agronomic traits in fruit tree orchards and field crops.” Link to discussed Ph. D. thesis in t...

Çağrı Akyol - a Postdoctoral researcher and project manager at Ghent University, dealing with; Energy and resource recovery from waste streams, Biogas biorefineries, Nutrient recovery and recycling. Also, he shares a lot about renewables and alternative fertilizers on his LinkedIn 🙂   0:00   Intro 01:10   Biogas & biomethane in EU Gas Package / about EU's 35 bcm binding target 04:47   Can Bio...

Angela Guerrero is a robotics engineer at the Soil Steam International AS. Angela did her Ph. D. research on "Variable-rate nitrogen fertilization by using proximal and remote sensing" at Gent University (link below to Angela's Ph. D. thesis work).   00:00  Intro 00:40  What Soil Steam International AS do 03:29  Working as a "Robotics Engineer" 05:31  How robotics are improving agriculture 10:44  ...

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Sophie Zechmeister-Boltenstern is a Soil Science and Soil Microbiology professor at the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences (BOKU), Vienna. Head of Soil Research Institute at BOKU.  Expertise: Biodiversity and function of soil organisms and their interactions; Biology of the Nitrogen Cycle; Climate change and greenhouse gases; Metabolism of gases in soils. Awards: Web of Scie...

Christoph Noller - Ecologist and Soil Scientist. He is a Ph. D. student at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Vienna. Christoph has worked a lot on contaminated soils with heavy metals such as arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), mercury (Hg), lead (Pb), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), etc.    Description of the episode:  In this episode, we discuss heavy metals, their inf...

Episode description: In this episode, we talk about AI & machine learning in Soil Sciences, IMSOGLO, the Past/Future of Soil Sciences & Soil Modelling, Inspirations, Books, Advice, and more topics.  In between the questions, Prof. Finke shares his experiences and always gives simple and funny examples to make his ideas rather deliberate. So, surely you can also listen to this episode to ma...