Scope

Microbial communities are vital to life on Earth. These “invisible creatures” catalyze global elemental cycles, regulate climate, and support human and environmental health and thereby play a critical role in mitigating climate change, ensuring sustainable food and energy production as well as sustainable industrial production.

This one-week course explores the dynamic interplay between microbiomes and their environments, focusing on their contributions to sustainability. Participants will tackle critical questions: How do microbial communities influence climate regulation, nitrogen and carbon cycling, and how they play in mitigating or exacerbating climate change? How can microbiomes support sustainable agriculture by enhancing soil fertility and health, improving crop resilience, and reducing reliance on chemical inputs? What potential do microbial ecosystems hold for sustainable energy production, while minimizing environmental impacts? How can microbiome science be applied to solve challenges in waste management and resource conservation? How can we steer microbiomes to reach these goals? It may not give clear answers, but lots of new ideas, insights, perspectives, friends and research directions, we expect. More than enough reasons to participate in this course!

Course set-up

The course is composed of a series of lectures, subsequent discussions, working group activities, and poster sessions. The course will start on Sunday in the late afternoon (4 PM) with welcome drinks, a dinner, and poster pitches.