During this webinar, participants will delve into the dynamic world of healthy soil, exploring its essential role in plant disease control, nutrient cycling, water filtration, and climate change mitigation. They will gain insight into the vital role of soil health in achieving SDGs #2, 3, 6, 13, 15, and 17, and understand the challenges posed by costly and time-consuming wet chemistry measurements. Discoveries will include the revolutionary potential of soil spectroscopy, exemplified by CIFOR-ICRAF's cutting-edge laboratory, renowned for housing one of the world's largest soil spectroscopy libraries.

Attendees will learn about the laboratory's 20-year specialization in spectral methods, positioning it as a global leader and key reference for over 20 regional labs worldwide. The webinar will also uncover the robust protocols, capacity-building initiatives, and global partnerships that make ICRAF's Soil-Plant Spectral Diagnostics Laboratory a pioneering force in soil analysis. Participants will gain insights into its pivotal role in the GLOSOLAN global spectral library initiative with the FAO and witness the transformative impact of its successful worldwide demonstrations utilizing soil spectroscopy to determine soil properties.

Throughout the session, attendees will have the opportunity to join an in-depth demonstration, providing further insights into the laboratory's operations and showcasing its potential to revolutionize soil health monitoring on a global scale. Don't miss this opportunity to unravel the secrets of soil and plant diagnostics with CIFOR-ICRAF's state-of-the-art laboratory and use this platform to build our network, find fantastic new colleagues, and foster collaborations that transcend borders.

Speakers:

Zampela Pittaki is a soil scientist at ICRAF Kenya, specializing in soil spectroscopy.  She gained her Ph.D. degree in Soil Physics at Aarhus University. During her Ph.D., Zampela significantly contributed to advancing the use of visible−near-infrared spectroscopy (vis−NIRS) for predicting soil properties, including those related to hydraulic behavior.  In her role as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, U.S., Zampela worked on spectral transfer models across instruments and laboratories. Her goal was to develop robust calibration and validation models, facilitating the scaling of soil spectroscopy. Her vision extends to furthering the development of soil spectral methods for rapid, effective, and low-cost predictions of soil properties. Moreover, she has implemented the capacity building of the Sub-Saharan African governments on soil health restoration using soil spectroscopy. Zampela, as a woman herself, is deeply committed to promoting gender equity in research and advancing the role of women in science and communities.

Elvis Weullow is a Senior Laboratory Enterprise Manager at the CIFOR– ICRAF Soil Plant Spectral Diagnostic Laboratory. He is an Analytical and Environmental Chemist and has worked in different technical and management capacities in the laboratory at GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals for 3.5 and ICRAF for the last 23 years. He is one of the pioneer staff who engaged in the development of dry spectroscopy methods for soils and land health monitoring methods at ICRAF. He provides strategic and technical leadership for the laboratory on spectroscopy capacity development within Africa and across the globe.  He is also one of the focal persons for CIFOR-ICRAF at the Food and Agricultural Organisation’s Global Soils Partnership, and Global Soil Laboratory Network (GLOSOLAN).

Dickens Alubaka Ateku is a Senior Laboratory Manager at the CIFOR-ICRAF Soil and Land Health Theme Laboratories and has over 23 years’ experience of research laboratory workflow processes. His role includes overseeing the day-to-day running of the CIFOR-ICRAF Soil and land Health laboratories operations including enforcing quality assurance and quality control checks of sample handling and analysis. His background is Analytical Chemistry and Environmental Science and has been involved in the development of CIFOR-ICRAF Infrared Spectroscopy analytical methods since 2003 and the Laboratory Information Management System currently used in the CIFOR-ICRAF soil theme laboratory.