SUITMA seminar on January 13th 2023

On January 13th, 2023, the fourth SUITMA international didactic-scientific seminar was held at the Faculty of Earth Sciences and Spatial Management at UMK in Toruń, organized by members of the EF Microbiology, Soil science, Food quality and Agricultural genetics (OBSIDIAN) – Piotr Hulisz and Przemyslaw Charzyński.  The formula of this meeting was hybrid. A total of more than 60 scientists from Poland, South Korea, Morocco, India, Iran, Mexico, Mongolia, Pakistan, Slovenia, Spain, Indonesia, Algeria, Malaysia, Czech Republic, Niger, and Romania participated.

The purpose of the seminar was to present the latest trends and exchange experiences related to the study of soils of urban, industrial, traffic, mining and military areas (SUITMA). Of particular interest was the key-note lecture entitled 'SUITMA and soil security' delivered by Prof. John Kye Hoon Kim (chairman of the SUITMA working group within the International Union of Soil Science, Seoul University, South Korea). Prof. J. Kim's stay was financed by the EF International Partnerships project within the framework of the "Excellence Initiative - Research University" program, coordinated by Dr. hab. Piotr Hulisz, prof. at NCU.  It concerns the development of bilateral cooperation in the field of research on urban environmental hazards with particular emphasis on identifying problems associated with plastic accumulation in soils. In addition, papers were also presented by participants from Poland, Mongolia, Mexico, the Czech Republic, and India.     

The achievements of Toruń's technogenic soil research center are recognized not only in Poland, but also abroad, and the SUITMA seminar, as a cyclical and at the same time unique proposal of international scientific and didactic meetings, emphasizes the rank of our center and is part of the idea of the functioning of the Nicolaus Copernicus University as a leading research university in Poland.