King Carl XVI Gustaf Professorship in Environmental Science at SLU

Professor Keith Paustian from the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Colorado State University, has been awarded the King Carl XVI Gustaf Professorship in Environmental Science for 2022–23. The Department of Ecology at SLU Uppsala will be the host.

Professor Keith Paustian is a world-leading researcher in systems ecology, with particular focus on climate issues relating to forestry and agriculture. He uses both laboratory and field studies to look at the processes that regulate carbon sequestration and carbon gas exchanges between soil and the atmosphere. He takes the outcomes of these studies to develop, test and validate simulation models for generalising and extrapolating the results.

During his time in Sweden, Keith Paustian will compare and adapt such models to Swedish conditions, using long-term experiments. SLU’s agricultural long-term experiments are a valuable resource for this purpose. The models that will be tested are significant when evaluating how the climate and cultivation methods affect carbon sequestration and gas exchange between the ecosystem and atmosphere.

Keith Paustian will be hosted by SLU’s Department of Ecology however he will also be involved with the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry as a guest lecturer. Paustian has existing ties to SLU. In 1987, he was awarded his doctorate and then remained at the university as a researcher at the former Department of Ecology and Environmental Protection until 1989.

Professor Paustian is the 27th holder of the King Carl XVI Gustaf Professorship in Environmental Science.

The King Carl XVI Gustaf Professorship in Environmental Science was established in 1996, in conjunction with the 50th birthday of HM King Carl XVI Gustaf. The purpose of the visiting professorship is to bring together Swedish higher education institutions and leading international researchers who will contribute to the revitalisation of Swedish environmental science.