About us

The Soil Research Centre (SRC) is a cross-disciplinary Centre of Excellence that brings together researchers to explore the challenges of a key resource - the soil. Our purpose is to deliver the soil research needed to support secure and sustainable societies, by informing policy and practice and by inspiring and training the next generation.

The SRC is built on a long legacy of soil research at the University of Reading over the last 100 years. Our expertise includes biogeochemistry, ecology, hydrology, plant sciences, microbiology, palaeoecology, archaeology, geography, earth observation, modelling, economics and social sciences. This diversity reflects the multiple challenges of understanding the dynamic processes within the Earth's 'critical zone'. Soil is part of Earth's natural capital, where interactions between climate, geology, plants, organisms, water and humans control the supply of ecosystem goods and services, such as food, water and climate regulation, which make human life possible.