Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

The KU Leuven is partner in the CONNESSA consortium through its Division of Soil and Water Management, in turn part of the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences. KU Leuven is an autonomous university, founded in 1425. KU Leuven is a research-intensive, internationally oriented university that carries out both fundamental and applied research.  

The main mission of the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences is to carry out state-of-the-art scientific research with respect to the functioning of geo- and ecosystems at different spatial and temporal scales, including the interaction between humans and the environment and the sustainable management of natural resources. The department aims at providing attractive academic training at an international level in the fields of Bio-engineering, Geology, Geography and Tourism. The department aims at making an important contribution to the scientific understanding of societal issues such as environmental pollution, food production, climate change, nature and landscape management, soil and water management, exploitation of underground resources, rural and urban development, international development collaboration and tourism.

The Division of Soil and Water Management has a long-standing experience in integrated (tropical) soil fertility management as well as in the environmental issues related to excessive fertilization in regions with intensive animal husbandry. Both seemingly contrasting research domains share one common challenge: how to unequivocally determine biological availability of nutrients to plants or biota? Specific research efforts encompass both basic process research unravelling the driving variables of bio-availability as well as more applied research targeting the adoption of improved soil fertility management techniques in farming communities. Current projects relate to the diagnosis of P deficiency in soil, the identification of missing micronutrients in low-input systems in Africa, the development of new formulations of fertilizers and the bioavailability of P in freshwater systems.