Dr. Maria Pilar Bernal has been a Research Professor at Spain’s Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) since 2011, specialising in soil chemistry and environmental technologies for organic waste treatment and remediation of trace-element contaminated soils. Her research focuses on recycling organic wastes within the soil-plant system to enhance soil protection and sustainability. Prof. Bernal has significant expertise in the transformation of organic wastes through composting, as well as strategies for remediating soils contaminated with trace elements. She is dedicated to utilising organic waste resources for ecological purposes. With extensive experience in managing research projects and international collaborations, she has contributed significantly to the scientific community through numerous publications and the supervision of graduate students, fostering the next generation of researchers in soil chemistry and environmental technology.

Professor Pil Joo Kim developed soil management strategies to improve soil quality after his PhD in soil science in 1998. He served as a soil scientist at the National Institute of Agricultural Science (NIAST), Korea, up to 2000 and researched the impact of global warming on soil carbon dynamics at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama (2008-2009).

He was appointed an assistant professor at Gyeongsang National University, Korea in 2001 and a full professor and department head since 2008. He published over 200 peer-reviewed journal articles, mainly focusing on improving soil fertility and minimizing greenhouse gas emissions from arable soils. He supervised 41 MS and 31 PhD for the last 25 years. Professor Kim has worked on the editorial boards of several reputed journals such as Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, Geoderma, Frontier in Microbiology, and Agronomy.

Professor Pil Joo Kim was vice-chairperson of Division 2, IUSS from 2010-2014, and contributed to the success of the 20th WCSS as Editing & Academic Committee chair. He was the director of the Institute of Agriculture & Life Science (IALS), Gyeongsang National University from 2015 to 2024. He worked as the president of the Korean Society of Soil Science and Fertilizers in 2024. As the organizing president, he succeeded in the 8th International Symposium of Soil Organic Matter in 2022. Recently, he has been working as a specialist to improve agricultural productivity and construct Agricultural Training Centers in Senegal, Africa.

Luis Sánchez joined the European Commission Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development (DG AGRI) in January 2023 and is Head of Sector at Unit F.2 ‘Research and Innovation’, where he coordinates the EU Mission Soil team. He started working in the European Commission at DG Research and Innovation in 2016, in the design and implementation of the European Innovation Council (EIC) and the EIC Fund until 2022. Before joining the Commission, he worked for almost 20 years in agricultural policy and R&I in the Madrid Regional Government, as Director General of Agriculture and Rural Development or Managing-Director of the Madrid Institute for Agricultural and Food Research (IMIDRA), among other senior management positions. Luis is Agricultural Engineer and holds a PhD in the field of water and nutrient management in arable crops.

Dr Oscar Schoumans has been working at Wageningen University and Research (Netherlands) in the field of nutrient management (soil and water quality) and environmental impact for 40 years. He has a strong international network and has coordinated many national and international programmes and projects related to the EU Nitrates Directive, the EU Water Framework Directive and the Circular Economy. Oscar is a senior scientist his research over the past 10 years focused mainly on closing agricultural nutrient cycles, valorisation of organic waste materials and surplus manure, and the agronomic and environmental impacts of using these products. He coordinated the European innovation project SYSTEMIC where industries and SME’s implemented and demonstrated innovative nutrient recovery and reuse technologies on large scale biogas plants. In addition, Oscar had been the leader of work related to the production of tailor-made fertilisers of the European FERTIMANURE project, which has just been finalised. Both projects demonstrated and evaluated the latest techniques for valorising organic waste materials into valuable agricultural fertiliser products.

Dan is Professor of Soil Science (Emeritus) at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon USA.  He specializes in matching organic inputs to crop needs.  He has worked with composts and many other organic inputs for field production of vegetable, fruit, grain and forage crops.  He began his academic career in the “waste recycling” era where the problem is too much of a good thing (nutrients and organic matter).  Since the dawn of the new millennium, he has worked primarily under the umbrella of organic agriculture, where organic materials are viewed differently: as scarce, expensive commodities that need to be used efficiently.  As an Extension Specialist, he is attuned to real problems faced by commercial growers. He has produced many online Extension publications on nutrient and organic matter management in a variety of contexts.  He currently makes his home near Portland, Oregon where soccer is taken seriously.

John is Principal Soil Scientist with ADAS and is recognised as an International specialist on soil and nutrient management and the mitigation of agricultural diffuse pollution of the air and water environments. He is a Chartered Scientist and provides strategic policy advice to Government and industry bodies on manure and nutrient management. He has over 30 years’ experience of leading large collaborative research projects focusing on improved nutrient management and the environmentally sustainable recycling of organic materials to land. John was Chair of the Organising Committee for the RAMIRAN 2023 conference.

Kari Ylivainio is a Principal Scientist at the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke). He holds an MSc in agricultural chemistry and physics (University of Helsinki) and a PhD in Environmental Soil Science (University of Helsinki). Kari’s career has focused on plant nutrition and related processes in soils, particularly optimizing phosphorus fertilization using bio-based fertilizers produced from various nutrient-rich side-streams, as well as minimizing potential nutrient losses. He has coordinated a Horizon 2020 project (LEX4BIO), which aimed to optimize the use of bio-based fertilizers in crop production while minimizing environmental risks, ensuring food and feed safety and supply, and protecting human health. He is also leading several other EU-funded projects related to circular economy and soil health, such as AI4SoilHealth and GREENHOOD.