Professor Phil Brookes
Head of Soil Microbial Biomass Group, Sustainable Soils and Grassland Systems Department, Rothamsted Research
Phil was a speaker at the Soil Carbon Sequestration Summit co-hosted by the US Studies Centre and the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Sydney in February 2011.
Phil heads the Soil Microbial Biomass group in the Sustainable Soils and Grassland Systems Department at Rothamsted. His current research interests include the role of the soil microbial biomass in nutrient cycling, and research into soil organic matter dynamics. His group is especially interested in the abiotic and biotic factors controlling organic matter mineralisation. They have developed a new hypothesis to account for the paradoxical nature of this process. Other work involves soil biochemistry and the interactions between soil microbial activity and biochar addition to soil. The group is also studying the chemistry and biology of soil inorganic and organic phosphorus.
Phil is in the top 1% of Most Highly Cited Researchers in the Web of Science. He has an H factor of over 40 and he is the author of more than 270 publications, about half in refereed scientific journals. He holds an honorary Professorship in soil science at Coventry University, UK and also similar positions in five top Chinese universities, where he teaches soil microbial ecology and other aspects of soil science every year.
