The University of Nottingham in collaboration with University of Zambia has initiated a new research project themed “Towards transdisciplinary understanding of inherited soil surveys: an exploratory case study in Zambia”. The project was recently approved for funding by the Arts and Humanities Research Council of UK as part of the Global Challenges Research Fund programme. It is a multidisciplinary project involving historians, social scientists and soil scientists from UNZA, University of Nottingham and Zambia Agriculture Research Institute (ZARI). The first meeting was held at the University of Zambia from 25 – 27 November 2019. The purpose of the inception meeting was to concretise objectives that each Working Group would work on in more detail and agree on the approach or methodology that would be used to achieve the set objectives. Overall, the project focuses on understanding inherited soil surveys in a multidisciplinary context of pedology and soil mapping; the history of the soil surveys in Zambia and the social issues that have influenced the soil surveys and related soil management practices. This understanding is fundamental given that the soil information is used for planning and implementation of almost all agricultural and land based related projects.
Published on January 21, 2020
