Dr. Maud van Soest

Maud is a soil scientist specialising in particle interactions and transport mechanisms that shape water movement and sediment dynamics within landscapes. Her expertise in soil hydrological processes directly informs strategies for natural flood management, particularly in understanding infiltration, runoff, and erosion control. She has extensive experience in Arctic and permafrost soils, where she has investigated how complex landscapes evolve and respond to climate change. This knowledge of soil structure, stability, and water retention under shifting conditions underpins the development of sustainable land management approaches relevant to flood mitigation.  

At UKCEH, Maud contributes to large-scale field experiments at Plynlimon, including enhanced rock weathering trials that assess impacts on soil-water interactions, and to the AI4SoilHealth initiative, which develops scalable soil health indicators across Europe. By integrating physical soil processes with broader ecosystem and human dimensions, Maud provides evidence that supports the design and evaluation of NFM interventions, ensuring they are both scientifically robust and practically applicable.