Plant Nutrients in Agroecosystems - Recent Advances in Plant and Soil Analysis
PhD School at the Faculty of SCIENCE at University of Copenhagen
This is a specialised course where 50% of the seats are reserved to PhD students enrolled at the Faculty of SCIENCE at UCPH and 50% of the seats are reserved to other applicants. Seats will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis and according to the applicable rules.
Anyone can apply for the course, but if you are not a PhD student at a Danish university (except CBS), you will be placed on the waiting list until enrollment deadline. After the enrollment deadline, available seats will be allocated to applicants on the waiting list.
Aim and Content
• The course will provide a theoretical foundation for conducting robust mineral and carbon analyses of soil and plant samples, including quantitative and semi-quantitative, destructive and non-destructive methods and strategies for field sampling, field analyses, sample preparation, sample analysis and data interpretation.
• The course includes hands-on field sampling and laboratory training.
• The course will focus on interpretation of analytical results with respect to understanding the processes in plant production systems that determine soil and plant health in a changing climate, including nutrient acquisition and utilization by plants and the turnover and bio-availability of plant nutrients in soils and fertilizers.
The course will utilize in-house expertise from a range of different fields, including analytical chemistry, biotic and abiotic plant stress factors, nutrient use efficiency and food quality. Additionally, there will be guest lectures from leading commercial companies with plant and soil testing (e.g. FOSS, Agreena and FLEX fertilizer system).
Learning outcomes
Intended learning outcome for the students who complete the course:
Knowledge
• Cutting-edge techniques for plant and soil analyses. There will be a focus on understanding the value of data quality and how to obtain robust analytical results.
• How plant and soil analyses can be used to determine the utilization of plant nutrients and how their bio-availability in soils and fertilizers are affected by various biotic and abiotic stress factors.
Skills
• The students will be skilled at planning and executing plant and soil testing, including hands-on experience with all the crucial steps needed for a robust analysis of mineral nutrients. They will also be skilled with respect to how to integrate the classical concepts and methodologies of plant nutrition and soil fertility, with the most urgent challenges related to food security and food quality.
Competences
• The students will be competent with respect to choosing and applying the most feasible methods of plant and soil testing. They will also be competent with respect to integrating these data into concepts and theories for a sustainable use of plant nutrients
Target Group
International and Danish PhD students, with a particular interest in plant and soil analysis in the context of producing high quality plant-based foods in a changing climate.
The course is relevant for students in Agriculture, Biology, Biotechnology, but should also attract students from programs related to natural resources, environmental and analytical chemistry.
Recommended Academic Qualifications
Master degree and currently enrolled as a PhD student.
Research Area
Plant production faces a number of urgent challenges related to sustainability, plant and soil health and food quality. As the correct determination of the mineral composition of plants and soil materials is key to more sustainable agricultural production, precise and reliable analyses of biological materials has a central role in formulating strategies for the green transition of plant production. The course will have a focus on cutting-edge methodologies for plant and soil analyses, including considerations and hands-on training regarding field sampling, choice of analytical methods and interpretation of results. The course will also introduce strategies on how to address the current challenges facing agricultural plant production in a climate change context. As such, the course has an emphasis on how plant and soil analyses can provide a platform for designing fertilizer and management practices, to improve the climate resilience of plant-based production systems.
Teaching and Learning Methods
Each teacher will give lectures interspaced with discussions. Each lecture will relate to given literature. There will also be smaller group works and theoretical exercises.
Two of the teaching days will be dedicated to practical work (one day of field sampling/drone-based field analysis and one day with sample preparation and analysis, mainly ICP-MS and IR-MS).
All students will collect samples, prepare these for analysis and execute a plant and/or soil analysis. They will analyze the acquired data and present these as a project report, which is due two weeks after the end of the on-site teaching period.
Type of Assessment
Finalization of a project report and active participation (>80%) in the on-site teaching. The report will be independently evaluated by two in-house researchers, both with expertise in the chosen topic.
Literature
Mainly peer-reviewed articles, provided by each teacher. All literature will be available to the students 4 weeks before the onset of the course.
Course coordinator
Daniel Pergament Persson, Associate Professor, dap@plen.ku.dk
Guest Lecturers
Salif Azim, drone specialist
Gry Lyngsie, analytical specialists at FOSS
Kasper Borg Damkjær, analytical specialists at FOSS
The non-university affiliated guest lecturers will give insights on the most relevant analytical techniques currently on the market, and provide a commercial aspect of these techniques, i.e. which parameters that are needed for a technique to be both practical, reliable and commercially viable.
Dates
Full-time, mandatory on-site teaching all of week 20; 11-15th of May 2025.
18th to 29th of May 2026: Two weeks of preparing and submitting a project report
Preliminary schedule:
Monday:
• Introduction to methods for analyzing mineral nutrients in plants and soil
• Quantitative methods
• Semi-quantitative methods
• Field methods, including drone-based methods and portable analytical instruments
Tuesday:
• Field work at the UC research station in Taastrup
• Demonstration and testing of drone-based methods
• Sampling, drying and homogenization of plant and soil samples
Wednesday:
• Visit to FOSS, one of the leading companies for plant and soil analyses
• Analysis of plant and soil samples collected in the field
• Two or three lectures from leading scientists at FOSS within the field of plant and soil analysis and data treatment
Thursday:
• Analysis of phosphorous (P) availability
• Preparation of total concentration of mineral nutrients in plant material
• Start with project work
Friday:
• Lectures
• Project work
Closing seminar, summary of main results and project reporting
Course location
University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Science, PLEN, Thorvaldsensvej 40, 3rd floor, meeting room R323
Course fee
• PhD student enrolled at SCIENCE: 0 DKK
• PhD student from Danish PhD school Open market: 0 DKK
• PhD student from Danish PhD school not Open market: 4800 DKK
• PhD student from foreign university: 4800 DKK
• Master's student from Danish university: 0 DKK
• Master's student from foreign university: 4800 DKK
• Non-PhD student employed at a university (e.g., postdocs): 4800 DKK
• Non-PhD student not employed at a university (e.g., from a private company): 13.440 DKK
Cancellation policy
• Cancellations made up to two weeks before the course starts are free of charge.
• Cancellations made less than two weeks before the course starts will be charged a fee of DKK 3.000
• Participants with less than 80% attendance cannot pass the course and will be charged a fee of DKK 5.000
• No-show will result in a fee of DKK 5.000
• Participants who fail to hand in any mandatory exams or assignments cannot pass the course and will be charged a fee of DKK 5.000
Course fee and participant fee
PhD courses offered at the Faculty of SCIENCE have course fees corresponding to different participant types.
In addition to the course fee, there might also be a participant fee.
If the course has a participant fee, this will apply to all participants regardless of participant
type - and in addition to the course fee.