NSRI Research

NSRI staff are engaged in active research programmes across a number of inter-linked thematic areas covering Soil Conservation and Management, Soil Resources, Soil Systems and Agricultural and Environmental Engineering. With this, as well as our ownership of national and international soil data sets and other assets, NSRI is widely recognised as THE ‘national authority on soil resources in England and Wales’. Our profile as a leading European institute specialising in soil management and protection is high due to our membership of the European Soil Bureau Network (ESBN), and our engagement with a series of key European research projects including the coordination of the seminal EU Environmental Assessment of Soil (ENVASSO) project and involvement in key projects e-SOTER, ISIS, CREW, iSOIL, PROTERRA and SOWAP.

The Agricultural and Environmental Engineering research area has a strong pedigree of its own. Coming originally from Cranfield’s Silsoe campus, the name ‘Silsoe’ carries weight in agricultural machinery circles not just within the UK but worldwide. Silsoe has also been a recognised stronghold for work on soil erosion and conservation but, thanks to investment by Cranfield, other areas such as soil microbiology and biology, both in terms of staff and resources, are now also paying dividends.

Our strong track record of strategic and applied research for Government (NSRI is a recognised Defra Research Commission holder) and industry allow us to improve our research rating and this has enabled us to attract and retain high class specialists to further strengthen our research profile.

 

Scientific footprint
NSRI has traditionally worked within the following broad topic areas.

  • Soil resources – characterisation, monitoring, sustainable management and protection;
  • Soil as a component of the environment – soil functionality/ecosystem services, soil processes and the atmosphere and water resources, soils and climate change mitigation/adaptation, soil contamination, soil and the management of waste;
  • Agriculture and the environment – diffuse pollution of water, interactions between soil and land use and management, integrated soil and water management;
  • Land use – land classification and suitability, land use policy, development planning;
  • Soils and machines – the machine:soil interface, precision soil/crop management systems, off-road vehicles.

Located in Cranfield’s School of Applied Science, within the Department of Environmental Science and Technology, NSRI takes the lead on areas of work that are primarily focused on soils and their protection and management, complementing other themes in the wider Department in water sciences, energy supply, risk management and automotive engineering. For NSRI, this translates into the following programme areas:

  • The physical, chemical and (micro)biological nature and quality of soil resources (soil mapping and monitoring) and research into mapping, monitoring and analytical techniques;
  • Soil biogeochemical processes and the functions that they support;
  • Threats to soil, namely contamination, compaction, erosion, sealing and loss of biodiversity, and the mitigation of their impacts;
  • Soil-related geohazards assessment and soil-related peril modelling;
  • Soil management, protection and conservation techniques for the sustaining, optimisation and/or restoration of soil functions;
  • Machine:soil interactions;
  • Sports surface science and technology;
  • Soil and environmental information systems, GIS and remote sensing;
  • Soils education and awareness.

To achieve these objectives, NSRI staff work in close collaboration with colleagues from the other Cranfield centres, contributing to parallel and complementary themes including:

  •  Integrated land and water management as an input to river basin management, flood management, water resource management etc.;
  • Work on ecosystem services and functional mapping as inputs to spatial planning in rural and urban landscapes;
  • Aspects of work on sustainable development;
  • Aspects of geographical information management and earth observation.