ProfessorAlex McBratney

Alex leads one of the strongest university-based research groups on soil resource assessment internationally, working on the basic theoretical, methodological and applied aspects. Methodologically, he has developed new approaches for numerical soil classification and mapping of soil classes, particularly using the theory of fuzzy sets. The group has also been instrumental in developing methods of spatial analysis for describing and predicting field soil attributes based on geostatistics and generalised linear and non-linear models. Most recently, his research group has developed new methods of spatial sampling including spatially-constrained Latin hypercube sampling and random toposequences; and new models for soil inference using pedotransfer functions and infrared spectroscopy. These methods have been eagerly adopted by research groups and practitioners worldwide. These developments have been applied in two major areas; namely, precision agriculture and digital soil assessment. Applications in precision agriculture have focused on developing systems for on-farm implementation by designing new methods of experimentation and proximal soil sensing. These have been adopted by several hundred farmers across Australia. I pioneered in the development and formalised the concept of digital soil mapping. This has become the fastest growing area of research into providing quantitative spatial soil information. Digital soil assessment applications spans scales from catchments to the globe. Our methodology, which includes novel sampling, measurement, spatial and temporal prediction and modelling techniques, is the basis for a truly international global digital soil map proposal (www.globalsoilmap.net) which is going to be funded by the Gates Foundation as well as for collaborative work with state and federal agencies in Australia. All the theoretical and applied work so far developed can now be brought to bear to powerfully tackle the challenging problem at hand.

Alex's research aligns with the Faculty of Science Research Strengths - Understanding Our Planet, Food Security, Future Foods.