Topic 2 - Data-based solutions for sustainable agriculture
The Center for Geographical Research of the Romanian Academy, Iasi Branch is interested in joining collaborative research projects focused on data-driven and digital solutions for sustainable agriculture, particularly on the following topics:
- Soil survey, soil classification, and soil mapping, including conventional and digital soil mapping approaches
- Soil properties, pedogenesis, and soil quality assessment, with applications to agricultural productivity and environmental sustainability
- Digital mapping and spatial modeling of soil and climate variables using geostatistical methods, machine learning techniques, and multi-scale spatial analysis
- Land suitability assessment and digital mapping for agricultural crops, including perennial crops such as vineyards
- Assessment of climate change impacts on agricultural land suitability, crop productivity, and soil–climate interactions
- Evaluation and spatial modeling of natural hazards and risks affecting agriculture, including soil erosion, landslides, and terrain-related constraints
- Applications of artificial intelligence and data-driven methods for the development and optimization of tools in soil mapping, land evaluation, and agricultural decision support
- Analysis of soil carbon stocks and spatial–temporal dynamics, with relevance to land management and climate mitigation strategies
- Integration of remote sensing data with GIS and field observations for environmental and agricultural research
- Satellite- and UAV-based remote sensing applications for precision agriculture, crop monitoring, and land resource assessment
The Center for Geographical Research of the Romanian Academy, Iasi Branch, has a rich expertise in soil science research, including soil survey and mapping, the evaluation of land suitability for crops, applications of GIS, geostatistical and machine learning techniques for mapping various soil, climate and other relevant variables for agriculture. The research infrastructure includes:
- Drones: multispectral and thermal drones
- Soil sensors: humidity, pH
- Professional photographic devices
- pXRF
- workstations
Our researchers are experienced in advanced GIS software (ArcGIS, QGIS, GRASS, SAGA-GIS, TNTmips), scientific programming (Python, JavaScript), statistical and geostatistical tools (R, XLSTAT, Statistica, SoLIM, Vesper, Variowin), and in the programmatic handling of open Earth observation datasets and platforms (Copernicus, Google Earth Engine).
Websites
Research project: Modelling current and future land suitability for crops in Romania under climate change scenarios - https://rocrop.ro/
ORCID links of research staff
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4970-0860
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5878-7932
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3368-6662