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The University of Southampton
Engineering

International award praises advanced modelling of soil processes

Published: 19 April 2021
Professor Tiina Roose
Professor Tiina Roose is a leading expert in the modelling of soil processes.

Professor Tiina Roose from the University of Southampton has been honoured with the international Rien van Genuchten Award for outstanding contributions to the understanding of transport processes in soils.

The Professor of Biological and Environmental Modelling has established herself as a leading expert in plant-soil interactions by combining theory, computational modelling and experimentation.

The biennial Rien van Genuchten Award is selected by the International Soil Modelling Consortium (ISMC) for outstanding scientific achievements in the field of soil and vadose zone sciences. The prize will formally be presented at this May’s 3rd ISMC Conference for Advances in Modelling Soil Systems.

In particular, the ISMC has praised the ‘broad and innovative’ scope of Professor Roose’s work, highlighting the extension of her work to the field of biophysics and modelling phenomena such as the growth of tumours.

Professor Roose, of the Bioengineering Science Research Group, says: “I am beyond pleased and very excited to be awarded Rien van Genuchten Award. Those who work in the area of soils of course know how important van Genuchten has been for the entire field and a particular highlight of my career has been to be able to meet him personally couple of years ago. I am so pleased to be associated with him.”

Professor Roose is the current holder of a European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant and a Royal Society Wolfson Fellowship. Her research interests cover the development of modelling technologies and methodologies to deal with branched biological systems such as blood and lymph vessels, plant roots in soil and lung system. In all projects she collaborates with the leading experimentalists in their field across the world to ensure speedy uptake of models by the user communities.

Within the Southampton ‘Rooty Group’, Professor Roose oversees a range of ground-breaking research projects. Three Southampton engineers were named among the 10 finalists in the highly competitive International Fertilizer Society Early Career Awards this winter.

Postdoctoral researcher Chiara Petroselli was the overall winner of the Brian Chambers International Award for a high-resolution investigation of phosphorus release from fertiliser granules. Southampton’s Daniel McKay Fletcher was one of three runners-up in the competition for a maize model that calculates the best time to apply nitrogen fertiliser for any given growing season.

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