Prof. Marcel van der Heijden

Marcel van der Heijden is Professor of Agroecology and Plant-Microbe Interactions at the University of Zurich (Switzerland), Head of the 25-person Plant-Soil Interactions Research Group at Agroscope Swiss Federal Research Institute (Zurich, Switzerland), and Emeritus Professor of Mycorrhizal Ecology at the University of Utrecht (The Netherlands), and former President of the International Mycorrhizal Society. His research group conducts both basic and applied research, in particular on the impact of soil management and agricultural systems (ploughing, no-tillage, organic farming, conventional farming) on soil health, crop yields and ecosystem functioning. It will also investigate the impact of soil biodiversity and mycorrhizal fungi on crop productivity, with a particular focus on whether mycorrhizal soil inoculation can contribute to more sustainable production.

Marcel is a world-leading researcher on soil-microbiome-plant interactions and a leading expert on the interaction between the soil microbiome and the One Health theory.