On August 19, the Earth and Life Institute is delighted to welcome Dr. Mathieu Delandmeter for an ELI Sustainability Talk entitled "Soil-crop modelling for climate change adaptation and mitigation".

The guest

Dr. Mathieu Delandmeter is an agroecologist and mathematical engineer.

In 2018, Mathieu Delandmeter completed a Master degree in Applied Mathematics at UCLouvain, which followed a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering at the same university.

He then completed in 2021 a Master degree in Agroecology at ULiège and University of Brussels (ULB). 

In June 2025, he completed a PhD in Agronomy and Biological engineering in Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech (ULiège), as a F.R.S.-FNRS Research fellow. During his thesis, he completed two research internships, each lasting a few months, at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS, Brazil) and at Michigan State University (MSU, USA). 

In September 2025, he will start a post-doctoral research at MSU with Prof. Bruno Basso. 

After this postdoctoral position abroad, he would like to return to Belgium to continue investigating scenarios at the intersection of agricultural and food systems, incorporating human diet scenarios under current and future climate change conditions. His focus might span regional (Wallonia), national (Belgium), and international (Europe, USA, etc.) scales. 

Abstract

Long title: "Soil-crop modelling of ecosystem services in diversified and integrated crop-livestock systems for climate change adaptation and mitigation". 

Using different soil-crop models, this PhD thesis aimed at investigating the impacts of introducing various agroecological levers within cropping systems, encompassing a spectrum of changes. 

At one end are efficiency improvements, such as reducing nitrogen fertilization, while at the other are complete agricultural system redesigns. This redesign gradient goes from substituting fallows with cover crops to increasing crop diversity and even integrating pastures and livestock grazing into the crop rotation. 

He evaluated the effects of such agroecological levers on a wide spectrum of indicators: productivity and profitability, soil carbon sequestration, nitrate leaching, greenhouse gas emissions, and the stability and resistance of yields to extreme climatic events. 

The different crop rotations, contrasting by their use of agroecological levers, were examined across various pedoclimatic conditions, under historical and future climate change scenarios. 

This included single-site studies conducted in Lonzée and Gembloux (Belgium) and in São Miguel (Brazil), as well as large-scale studies spanning millions of hectares in Belgium and the US Midwest.

Practical

You are cordially invited to take part in this seminar, to be held on August 19 from 16:15 to 17:15 in room B.059 of the Carnoy building (Croix du Sud, Louvain-la-Neuve).

After the seminar, participants are invited to join the de Serres building Cafeteria for a complimentary drink and meal. 

Please note that registration is required, to help us estimate the right amount of food. Please register by accepting the Teams invitation that has been sent to you.