In the international sustainability competition, researchers were recognized whose scientific achievements can contribute to solving global environmental challenges. Gábor Szatmári, a researcher of the ELKH Centre for Agricultural Research (ATK) examined the changes in organic carbon stocks stored in soils in his award-winning publication.
The competition was announced by the Frontiers Research Foundation, established in Lausanne, Switzerland. The nonprofit organization considers its main mission to be supporting the development of scientific solutions that enable a healthy life.
The applications of the program's participants, which involved 233 universities and 13 national scientific academies from six continents, were evaluated by an independent international jury of 100 experts. The committee was chaired by Johan Rockström, a professor at Stockholm University. As is known, Professor Rockström and his research colleagues identified the planetary boundaries of the Earth in nine areas in their highly influential article titled 'Planetary Boundaries,' published in 2009.
The 20 so-called "National Champions" were announced on Earth Day, April 22, whilst the International Champion will be selected on May 1st.
Gábor Szatmári
The winner from among the Hungarian candidates, Gábor Szatmári, was selected by the international jury based on the recommendations of the Presidential Committee for Sustainable Development of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Gábor Szatmári is a senior research fellow at the Institute for Soil Sciences of ATK, with his main areas of expertise being geostatistics and soil science.
The researcher explained that he was able to participate in the competition thanks to an article he published in 2021, which examined the changes in organic carbon stocks stored in the soils of Hungary at different scales using modern statistical approaches. According to both Hungarian and foreign judges, this is what qualified him to be among the best.
Gábor Szatmári said, "Soil is the largest terrestrial organic carbon stock, making it a site of distinguished significance in the biogeochemical carbon cycle. At the same time, its role is two-faced, as it is both a sink and source of greenhouse gases. Therefore, the role of soils and the organic carbon stored in them is crucial in mitigating climate change."
Further information about the competition and the winners can be found here.
Source: mta.hu