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2. December 2019: my PhD Defense! "Nutrient recycling, and testing methods for diverse fertilizers" The crowning of 5 years of work at BOKU's Institute of Soil Research. Looking back, it's been such a rewarding time. The research was exciting, and it's been so enriching to work in a team for 5 years: my supervisors, the master, bachelor and trainee students, the rhizosphere ecology (Rhizo) group, the FERTI-MINE project team, and all other the people I've worked or interacted with.  The defense ended well (!) with french cider, chocolate truffles & salted butter caramels. Big thanks to all who attended, and those who prepared this great wish card & present!  I am now part of the LEX4BIO, Horizon 2020 project at BOKU! "Optimizing bio-based fertilisers in agriculture”. EU Horizon 2020 project to provide a knowledge-base on bio-based fertilisers, collect regional nutrient stock, flow, surplus and deficiency data, assess technological solutions, and develop a toolkit for use of bio-based fertilisers and for their environmental impacts. Objectives are to optimise the usage of bio-based fertilisers from nutrient-rich side-streams, ensure their safety, build evidence-based trust in their usage and develop the legislative framework.  Funny interview with Bill Gates reinventing the toilet
Making plans for my upcoming 3-week travel to India this fall. On the program: 24-28 October 2017: 7th international conference on Silicon in Agriculture in Bangalore.  9-11 November 2017: 19th Organic World Congress in Delhi, where I will present a paper on the use of recycling fertilizers from wastewater in organic agriculture.  Between both conferences I'll have a free week to visit interesting people and friends. One main aim is to visit the Solitude farm in Auroville, Tamil Nadu where I have already been in 2004. There are several exciting activities going on there, among which experiments with Natural Farming which is a form of no-tillage organic agriculture following the do-nothing philosophy of Masanobu Fukuoka from Japan.  I'll also visit friends who live a 2 h drive west of Madurai, at the feet of the Eastern Ghats hill range.
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