Professional summary
Maud is a soil scientist specialising in biochemical interactions and particle transport within a landscape or ecosystem. She has a strong interest and experience in doing research in the Arctic and permafrost soils focused on how complex arctic landscapes have developed over time and continue to change at varying rates and spatial scales. More recently, Maud started questioning the role that scientists play when accessing vulnerable landscapes, like the Arctic, "in the name of science". Is research a justification to travel to places and even take samples, where tourists are being criticized for going to the same places, or can travellers truly become ambassadors of change?
A lot of her work is based at the Plynlimon Research Catchments in mid-Wales, where she contributes to long-term monitoring and novel experiments like Enhanced Rock Weathering Greenhouse Gas Removal and AI4SoilHealth. Her activities take place in the field, laboratory and behind her computer.
Van Soest, M.A.J., Anderson, N.J., Bol, R., Dixon, E.R., Haygarth, P.M. (2022). Landscape variability in soil nutrient pools around Kangerlussuaq (SW Greenland): implications for lake-catchment interactions. European Journal of Soil Science. e13278.
Huisman, D.J., de Kort, J.W., Ketterer, M.E., Reimann, T., Schoorl, J., van der Heiden, M., van Soest, M.A.J., van Egmond, F. (2019) Erosion of Archaeological Sites: Quantifying the Threat using OSL and fall out isotopes, Geoarchaeology, 34(4): 478-494