International specialists presented a course and symposium on soil science research

Two world-class experts in soil sciences participated in the activities developed for postgraduate students of the Universidad Austral de Chile that were also attended by academics from this house of studies and postgraduate students from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.

They are Dr. Ole Windroth, Heck Professor of Soil Sciences, University of Kentucky – USA, and Dr. Rainer Horn, Professor Emeritus at Christian Albrechts-University, Kiel, Germany.

Researchers have been invited as part of the international collaboration activities of the FONDECYT 1191057 project Evaluation of the effect of physical and chemical quality of volcanic ash soil on pasture productivity and soil resilienceIt is directed by Dr. Jose Dorner, academic in the Institute of Agriculture and Soil Engineering and dean of the College of Agricultural and Food Sciences at UACh.

“This is my third time visiting the university and I have always enjoyed meeting graduate students and sharing what I have learned about agriculture, soil science and analysis. So the main motivation is to interact with young people, learn from them, what they are doing, what questions they have and sharing what I know. In In my opinion, an excellent opportunity to transfer science,” noted Prof. Dr. Ole Wendroth.

For his part, Prof. Dr. Rainer Horn appreciated the students’ interest in learning about topics they may not have heard of before. This is a very good thing for the country and the university, of course, and for them as well. “I am so impressed, I couldn’t help but think it was the perfect time to come back again. I appreciate Brigadier General Dorner’s invitation.”

Meanwhile, for Dr. José Dorner, this was a new opportunity for Professors Horn and Windroth to participate, this time under the topic of Establishing Advanced Topics in Soil Science.

In addition, both of them participated as keynote speakers – opening speakers – in the XIV Congress of the Chilean Society of Soil Sciences organized by this faculty, and during their stay we had the benefit of reviewing the latest results of the FONDECYT 1191057 project to present upcoming publications and collaborative project activities.

Dr. Rainer Horn

advanced activities

Primarily, scholars taught the course Advanced Topics in Soil Sciences They were also invited to conduct the seminar “Importance of Research, Aspects to be Considered”, organized by the FCAA Graduate School and Masters in Soil Science and CISVo-UACh. The researchers’ stay took place between November 20 and December 3.