Author: Maria Rodrigues

Soil – A Hidden World of Life

At the Researcher’s Day held at the Nature Park House in Längenfeld, in the Ötztal valley of Tyrol, numerous children, teenagers, and interested adults immersed themselves in the fascinating world of soil. Elena Catharina Barth and Heribert Insam, from the Interreg project CEDRIC, particularly inspired the young “mud explorers.”

The incredible diversity of soil organisms was revealed not only under the microscope but also in homemade Winogradsky columns, which the children created themselves. These columns make microbial diversity impressively visible over the course of several weeks. And perhaps, among these curious young explorers, future scientists are already on their way.

For more pictures, please access our photo gallery here.

In a small podcast series, scientists present the background and goals of the CEDRIC project

They aim to spark interest in the question of what microorganisms have to do with climate change. The series not only highlights their role as producers and consumers of climate-relevant gases, but also explores how microorganisms can be used to help plants—and therefore agriculture—become more climate-resilient.

Episode 1: Sounds of Science

🔗 Listen on Spotify

In this first episode, Anna Greissing talks with Heribert Insam and addresses the growing public skepticism toward science. The CEDRIC project is briefly introduced, along with efforts to bring it to a wider audience through new communication formats such as Sounds of Science (https://www.soundsofscience.at/) and MikroMondo (https://www.mikrobalpina.org/). These formats aim to foster enthusiasm for science—especially for the fascinating world of microorganisms.

Stay tuned for upcoming episodes as we dive deeper into the invisible world of microorganisms and their powerful role in shaping our climate and future agriculture!

We would like to inform all CEDRIC friends about the interesting webinar taking place on the 24 September 2025 at 6:00 MDT, 8:00 EDT, 13:00 BST, 14:00 CEST.

Soil biodiversity plays a vital role in driving the ecosystem processes that sustain life on Earth. Yet, uncovering and measuring this vast, hidden network of organisms beneath our feet has long been a complex and time-consuming challenge. Recently, artificial intelligence (AI) has rapidly transformed how we study soil biodiversity by streamlining and improving methods, models, and data analysis. In this webinar, discover how AI is being harnessed to measure soil biodiversity through tools such as automated species identification, spatial analysis, and more. Join us to learn from leading experts in the field on the successes, challenges, and pitfalls of using AI to measure soil biodiversity.
Moderated by Wim van der Putten (Netherlands Institute of Ecology, Netherlands). Panelists are Doina Bucur (University of Twente, Netherlands), Denis Willett (North Carolina State University, USA), Miklós Dombos (Center for Agricultural Research Institute for Soil Sciences, Hungary), and Alexandre Wadoux (James Cook University, Australia).
REGISTER HERE
You can catch all the past webinars on the GSBI YouTube channel.

Soil Inoculation: Does it work?

We would like to inform all CEDRIC friends about the interesting webinar “SOIL INOCULATION: DOES IT WORK” organized by GLOBAL SOIL DIVERSITY INITIATIVE. This initiative is very much in line with the research and initiatives carried out by our CEDRIC project. We will not miss it!

Register here.

Save the Date for the 4th Global Soil Biodiversity Conference in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada from April 12-15 2026!

Deadline extended: Call for symposia proposals for the 4th Global Soil Biodiversity Conference are now open. Proposals are due March 31st, 2025. Proposals must be submitted using GSB2026 template.  Please complete all details and send the proposal to info@globalsoilbiodiversity.org.

On February 27th and 28th, the CEDRIC project team held the M12 coordination meeting at the Palais Claudiana (Innsbruck, Austria), marking an important step in collaborative project development. This meeting brought together all partners to review progress on each Work Package (WP) and outline upcoming actions, with presentations from project partners highlighting key achievements, ongoing challenges, and future goals.

The agenda was dynamic and interactive, featuring multiple group sessions that allowed partners to discuss the green house experiments and the field trials, the online forum of discussion and the best practices to develop throughout the project’s lifespan.

The gathering included many different moments, besides the project presentations and discussion, such as:

• a keynote presentation: “Bio-design in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: Deep Green” by Xiao Wang (collaborating with the University of Innsbruck and the EcoloecoLogicStudio);
• a presentation by our Partner at University of Bolzano Youiry Pii – Harnessing Microbial and Protein-Based Biostimulants for Stress-Resilient Crops;
• a slot called the “quick share sessions” in which participated 7 students from all the universities participating in the project. They were master or PhD students involved in the CEDRIC or related works, and had in this way the opportunity of presenting their work towards an audience of specialists on their field.

We look forward to the next project meeting, which will take place in Bolzano between September and October 2025!

The first CEDRIC survey is available now!

You can participate by accessing it through this link or by scanning the QR code below. The survey will take approximately 5 minutes to complete and aims to determine public interest in the themes of the CEDRIC project, as well as to identify common points of contact and shared concerns among various stakeholders.

The CEDRIC Project focuses on creating a sustainable, cross-border agroecosystem by leveraging root microbiome biodiversity. As part of this mission, we are particularly interested in understanding the perceptions of diverse actors on environmental sustainability, especially regarding soil protection and agricultural practices.

Your responses will provide crucial insights to guide our upcoming activities, helping us tailor them to enhance stakeholder engagement and foster active participation in the CEDRIC platform.

Thank you for your valuable input!

On September 30th and October 1st, 2024, the CEDRIC project team held the M6 coordination meeting, marking an important step in collaborative project development. This meeting brought together all partners to review progress on each Work Package (WP) and outline upcoming actions, with presentations from project partners highlighting key achievements, ongoing challenges, and future goals.

The agenda was dynamic and interactive, featuring multiple group sessions that allowed partners to brainstorm and address potential project risks, plan communication activities, and identify best practices to develop throughout the project’s lifespan.

The gathering included a project dinner and concluded with a scientific seminar by Dr. Christian Rinke, one of our esteemed partners, who presented his latest research on superworms as a model system for plastic biodegradation.

We look forward to the next project meeting, which will take place in Innsbruck at the end of February 2025!