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trans4num INSPIRE Hackathon 2026

Jonathan Torp Henschel — Thu, 22 Oct 2026 08:00:00 +0200

Objective

The trans4num INSPIRE Hackathon 2026 brings together different perspectives to explore the future of agriculture in the Limfjord region.

Over two days, participants will work in interdisciplinary teams to imagine how the agricultural landscape could evolve to reduce nitrogen losses while maintaining productive and economically viable farming.

The aim is to look at the landscape as a system, bringing together agriculture, nutrient management, biodiversity, climate, Nature-Based Solutions, digital innovation and the needs of farmers and rural communities.

The hackathon is not about finding one perfect solution. It is about exploring what could work, why it could work, and what would be needed to make it happen.

PhD defence: From soil microsites to city landscapes: Understanding soil greenhouse gas fluxes in urban greenspaces

Camilla Brodam Galacho — Fri, 23 Oct 2026 09:00:00 +0200

During his PhD studies, Xiao Bai researched greenhouse gas emissions and nitrogen cycling in urban greenspaces in Aarhus, Denmark. Urban soils play important roles in the exchange of carbon and nitrogen between the land and the atmosphere, yet the processes controlling these exchanges remain poorly understood. Xiao Bai studied how greenhouse gas emissions vary across different urban greenspaces and seasons, how environmental conditions and management practices influence these emissions, and how soil oxygen dynamics regulate nitrous oxide production.

His research findings improve our understanding of the importance of different types of urban greenspaces as sources and sinks of greenhouse gases, as well as sources of nitrate loss to groundwater.

The PhD study was completed at Department of Agroecology, Faculty of Technical Sciences, Aarhus University.

This summary was prepared by the PhD student.

Time: Friday, 23 October 2026 at 09:00
Place: Building 1171, room 230, Department of Agroecology, Aarhus University, Ole Worms Allé 3, 8000 Aarhus
Title of PhD thesis: Greenhouse Gas Fluxes, Environmental Drivers, and Management Effects in Urban Greenspaces: A Case Study of Aarhus, Denmark
Contact information: Xiao Bai, e-mail: xiao.bai@agro.au.dk, tel.: +45 5036 5721
Members of the assessment committee:
Associate Professor Jesper Riis Christiansen, Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Professor Suzanne Jacobs, Institute of Landscape Ecology and Resource Management, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany
Senior Researcher Anne Grete Kongsted (chair), Department of Agroecology, Aarhus University, Denmark
Main supervisor: Professor Klaus Butterbach-Bahl, Department of Agroecology, Aarhus University, Denmark
Co-supervisor:
Professor Per Lennart Ambus, Department for Geoscience and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Professor Zhisheng Yao, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
Language: The PhD dissertation will be defended in English

The defence is public.
The PhD thesis is available for reading at the Graduate School of Technical Sciences/GSTS, Ny Munkegade 120, building 1521, 8000 Aarhus C.

PhD defence: Machine learning enables scalable optimisation of agroecosystem management

Camilla Brodam Galacho — Fri, 23 Oct 2026 13:00:00 +0200

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture while maintaining crop yield and soil health requires an improved management of thousands of fields. However, running traditional process-based crop models for this many fields is both time-consuming and computationally intensive, making it impractical on a large scale. Meshach Ojo Aderele's PhD tackled this bottleneck head-on. He developed a machine learning surrogate of the process-based modelling framework LandscapeDNDC called Machine Learning LandscapeDNDC (mLDNDC) to predict nitrous oxide emissions, nitrate leaching, crop yield and changes in soil organic carbon. mLDNDC enabled an optimisation approach to be taken across fields covering 90% of Danish croplands. This approach found optimal management options that reduced nitrous oxide emissions and nitrate leaching while improving crop yields and soil organic carbon stock in over 60% of fields. This research advances the development of machine learning methods for implementing sustainable agricultural management on a national scale. It gives policymakers and farm advisors a tool with which to test strategies in practice rather than just in theory.

The PhD study was completed at the Center for Landscape Research in Sustainable Agricultural Futures (Land-CRAFT), Department of Agroecology, Faculty of Technical Sciences, Aarhus University.

This summary was prepared by the PhD student.

Time: October 23, 2026. 1PM
Place: Room 230, Building 1171, Ole Worms Allé 3, 8000 Aarhus
Title of PhD thesis: Integrating Machine Learning into Process-Based Modelling to Identify GHG Mitigation Potentials of Cropping Systems in Denmark
Contact information: Meshach O. Aderele, e-mail: meshach.aderele@agro.au.dk, tel.: +45 50387058
Members of the assessment committee:
Professor Masahiro Ryo, Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), Germany
Research Director Catherine Hénault, Department of Environment and Agronomy, French National Institute for Agriculture, France
Senior researcher Fiona Hay, Department of Agroecology, Aarhus University, Denmark
Main Supervisor: Professor Dr. Klaus Butterbach-Bahl, Department of Agroecology, Center for Landscape Research in Sustainable Agricultural Futures (Land-CRAFT), Aarhus University, Denmark.
Co-supervisor: Dr. Jaber Rahimi, Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research, Atmospheric Environmental Research (IMK-IFU), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
Language: The PhD dissertation will be defended in English

The defence is public.
The PhD thesis is available for reading at the Graduate School of Technical Sciences/GSTS, Ny Munkegade 120, building 1521, 8000 Aarhus C.