This year, a professor at the Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ganlin Zhang, wins the 2025 Glinka Prize in recognition of his outstanding contributions to soil research and related policymaking, his support for soil science education, and his achievements in soil surveys and digital soil mapping.

Zhang has dedicated almost 40 years to soil research and education to protect this precious resource and support its sustainable use. He has delivered over 200 lectures on soil science, provided oversight on 30 research projects, collected tens of thousands of soil samples and prepared over 300 soil monoliths. His area of expertise includes soil genesis, classification, mapping and land evaluation. He has edited two popular science books, Silent Soils and Soils – the skin of the earth, which have been sold more than 50 000 copies in China. He also serves as an editorial board member of several peer-reviewed journals, including National Science Review. Taken together, his efforts both foster collaboration and promote knowledge exchange on healthy soils for all: scientists, researchers and farmers alike.

This array of achievements has contributed to food security, climate change adaptation and mitigation, and sustainable development at global and local scales. China faces the challenge of feeding 18 percent of the world's population with only 8 percent of global arable land. On a local scale, Ganlin Zhang has been a leader in tackling this challenge to food security. He serves as the chief technical leader for China’s Third National Soil Survey, guiding the design of national technical protocols and travels extensively to train surveyors and liaise with policymakers.

Importantly, he co-established a diagnosis-based soil classification system (Chinese Soil Taxonomy), and edited the landmark 30-volume Soil Series of China, which together serve as the foundation of soil resource inventory in China. As a pioneer in digital soil mapping, Zhang and his team established the first version of China's National Soil Information Grids, now widely used for sustainable soil management (SSM) by researchers, farmers, governments and industrial sectors, serving almost 20 000 users to date. The production of this essential dataset has served over 120 institutions and universities, accumulating more than 400 000 page views. This dataset represented a major advance in smart agricultural machinery and has been adopted or cited across more than 20 provinces in China. Beyond this strong local impact, these soil mapping models have also been widely adopted or cited in over 30 countries.

On a global scale, Zhang has also worked closely with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and its Global Soil Partnership (GSP) to build effective policy on SSM. From 2013 to 2017, he served as a founding member of the Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils (ITPS), during which tenure he significantly expanded major global efforts like the Status of the World’s Soil Resources report, the Global Soil Organic Carbon Map (GSOCmap) project, the Global Black Soil Distribution Map (GBSmap) project, and the Soil Atlas of Asia project. In this way, Zhang's dedication to soils has advanced international collaboration towards the goal of ending global hunger.

In addition to his own research, Zhang has taken an active role in academia. He has mentored numerous students, supporting the next generation of soil scientists. For these efforts, along with more than 200 lectures, he received the “Excellent teacher” and “Excellent course” awards at his university. He has organized numerous academic conferences and a series of international conferences, including the Fourth International Conference on Urban Soils - Soils of Urban, Industrial, Traffic, Mining and Military Areas (Nanjing, 2007). Hundreds of young soil scientists have benefited from his lectures and become qualified soil surveyors. By nurturing the curiosity and expertise of future soil researchers, Ganlin Zhang has reinforced his global commitment to building a more sustainable world. It is in this spirit that he receives the Glinka Prize.