Global food production has tripled over the past 60 years, largely driven by fertilizers, plant breeding, and pesticides. While these advances have strengthened food security, they have also contributed to soil degradation and increased greenhouse gas emissions. One of the central challenges facing modern agriculture is therefore to increase productivity while maintaining healthy, resilient ecosystems. Improving soil health is essential not only for long-term agricultural sustainability but also for climate change mitigation.
In response, global and EU initiatives increasingly promote soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration as a means to enhance soil structure, biodiversity, and ecosystem functioning. However, significant knowledge gaps remain, particularly regarding the quantification of total SOC and its stable and labile fractions under regenerative agricultural practices. Although such systems aim to improve soil health, they often still rely on chemical inputs, raising concerns about agrochemical residue accumulation and their potential impacts on soil biodiversity within so-called “soil health–enhancing” frameworks.
The Soil Health Research Group addresses these challenges by advancing knowledge in soil health and sustainable soil management through the development of innovative methods to assess soil carbon dynamics, agrochemical residues, and soil biodiversity. Our research focuses on the interactions between soil organic carbon fractions, chemical inputs, and soil biological communities under regenerative systems, with the goal of understanding how management practices influence overall soil functioning.
We apply an integrated, interdisciplinary approach that combines state-of-the-art analytical chemistry, soil spectroscopy, and biological assessment methods. By linking carbon dynamics, residue monitoring, and biodiversity assessment, our work supports the development, monitoring, and scientific grounding of agricultural practices that genuinely enhance soil health.

Prof. Dr. Erika Michéli Institute of Environmental Sciences University Professor Research keywords: Soil, genesis, classification, organic carbon

Dr. Márta Fuchs Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics Associate Professor Research keywords: soil organic carbon, pedology, soil classification, pedometrics, soil data correlation, soil monitoring

Dr. Tamás András Szegi Institute of Environmental Sciences Associate Professor Research keywords: soil organic carbon, carbon sequestration, land use, spectroscopy

Dr. Ádám Csorba Institute of Environmental Sciences Associate Professor Research keywords: artificial intelligence, soil spectroscopy, spectral library, spectral modelling

Dr. Éva Várallyay Institute of Plant Protection Research Advisor Research keywords: small rna, hts, virome, vsr, virus, grapevine, fruit tree, weed

Dr. Mátyás Cserháti Institute of Aquaculture and Environmental Safety Associate Professor Research keywords: mycotoxins, biodegradation, PGPR

Prof. Dr. András Székács Institute of Environmental Sciences University Professor Research keywords: pesticides, mycotoxins, organic microcontaminants, environmental safety, genetically modified (gm) plants

Dr. Szandra Klátyik Institute of Environmental Sciences Research Fellow Research keywords: ecotoxicology, pesticides, toxicology, terrestrial ecotoxicology, aquatic ecotoxicology, environmental fate of pollutants, environmental monitoring, food safety