Soil Organisms: Deciphering the Life Beneath Our Feet

Moonisa Aslam Dervash, Ph.D., Post Doc., has obtained her Ph.D. from Division of Environmental Sciences, SKUAST-K, India. Her specialization is in environmental monitoring, environmental awareness, ecology, soil biology, wetland restoration, and carbon sequestration. She has authored 7 books with International publishers, has published more than 60 scientific research articles/book chapters in the journals/books of international reputation. She is recipient of many prestigious awards and felicitations for her dedicated accomplishments. Her focus has remained on many facets of society especially on environmental conservation and women empowerment. She has been felicitated by state government (J & K Department of Ecology. Environment and Remote Sensing) for her outstanding contribution in mass environmental awareness and conservation through electronic media. So far, she has extended nine years of dedicated service towards Environmental Awareness and conservation through a weekly radio programme "Soun Aoundh Pukk" on All India Radio (2015 till date). She was recently awarded Postdoctoral Fellowship by Ministry of Education (ICSSR), Government of India (2022-2024). Currently, she is working in a project on "Identification of potential Rainwater Harvesting sites using Geospatial technologies in Kandi region of Punjab" funded by Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) at Punjab Agricultural University - Regional Research Station, Ballowal Saunkhri, SBS Nagar, Punjab.

Abrar Yousuf, Ph.D., pursued his Ph.D. from Department of Soil and Water Engineering, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. Presently, he is working as a Scientist (Soil and Water Engineering) at Punjab Agricultural University - Regional Research Station, Ballowal Saunkhri, SBS Nagar, Punjab. His field of specialization is watershed hydrology, soil erosion modeling, watershed management, remote sensing and GIS, rainwater management, and dryland agriculture. He is involved in continuous monitoring of runoff and sediment yield from various watersheds located in Kandi region of Punjab. He has been involved in several research projects funded by various funding institutes such as; ICAR New Delhi, DST New Delhi, GIZ New Delhi, IPRO consult Germany, Drpartmrnt of Soil and Water Conservation, Govt. Of Punjab and SERB, New Delhi. He is working on ex-situ management of rainwater in farm ponds and its judicious use through micro irrigation systems. He has constructed farm ponds in various adopted villages. Dr. Abrar has authored a number of many research articles in journals of national and international repute, technical bulletins, and two books. He is a member of several scientific associations and actively participates in scientific conferences, workshops, summer and winter schools, training programs for building up high scientific temper and technical skills. Recently, he has been felicitated with "Best Thesis Award" for his doctoral research work by Soil Conservation Society of India, New Delhi.

Dr. Mohammad Amin Bhat, PhD., received his B.Sc (Agriculture) degree from SKUAST-Kashmir and M.Sc and PhD in Soil Science from CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar. He was awarded ICAR-Junior Research Fellowship during Masters' programme and fellowship from University Grants Commission, New Delhi during doctoral programme. Dr. Bhat is working as Soil Scientist at Regional Research Station, Punjab Agricultural University, Ballowal Saunkhri, Punjab. He has authored/co-authored more than 30 articles in refereed Journals of National and International repute and several technical bulletins, book chapters and popular articles. His field of specialization is soil chemistry and soil fertility. Presently, he is working on soil fertility management under dryland agroecosystems of Northwest India. He is member of various scientific societies and an active participant in conferences, seminars, workshops summer and winter schools. Moreover, he is involved in teaching soil science to undergraduate students at PAU-College of Agriculture, Ballowal Saunkhri, Punjab.

Dr. Munir Ozturk, PhD., D.Sc., received his B.Sc. (Biology-Chemistry) degree from Sri Partap College-Kashmir; M.Sc. from Postgraduate Department of Botany- Jammu & Kashmir University at Hazratbal- Kashmir; PhD and D.Sc. from Ege University, Izmir- Turkiye. He has served at the Ege University-Turkiye for more than 50 years in different positions and has been Founder Director of the Centre for Environmental Studies, Ege University, and Chairman of the Botany Department as well as Director of the Botanical Garden. Sideritis ozturkii and Verbascum ozturkii are 2 newly recorded endemic plant species from Turkiye in his name. His fields of scientific interest are pollution and biomonitoring, plant eco-physiology, biosaline agriculture, and medicinal-aromatic plants conservation. He has published almost 60 books with international publishers; more than 80 book chapters & 200 papers in international journals (120 with impact factor); has presented 125 papers at the international and 85 at the national meetings. Dr. Munir has served as a guest editor for more than 13 international journals and holds many Memberships of "Institutions and Professional Bodies". He has received fellowships from the globally recognized Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Japanese Society for Promotion of Science and National Science Foundation of the USA. He has worked as consultant fellow at the Faculty of Forestry, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia; as Distinguished Visiting Scientist at International Centre for Chemical and Biological Sciences, ICCBS- TWAS, Karachi University, Pakistan; as "Vice President of the Islamic World Academy of Sciences" from 2017 to 2022; and is a "Fellow of the Islamic World Academy of Science" as well as "Foreign Fellow Pakistan Academy of Science."

Moonisa Aslam Dervash 博士，博士後研究員，於印度 SKUAST-K 環境科學部獲得博士學位。她的專業領域包括環境監測、環境意識、生態學、土壤生物學、濕地修復和碳封存。她已與國際出版社合著七本書，並在國際知名期刊和書籍上發表了超過 60 篇科學研究文章和書章。她因其卓越的成就獲得多項著名獎項和表彰。她的重點一直放在社會的多個面向，特別是環境保護和女性賦權。她因在電子媒體上對大眾環境意識和保護的傑出貢獻而受到州政府（J & K 環境與遙感部）的表彰。迄今為止，她已在全印度廣播電台的每週廣播節目「Soun Aoundh Pukk」中，為環境意識和保護提供了九年的專注服務（2015年至今）。她最近獲得了印度政府教育部（ICSSR）頒發的博士後獎學金（2022-2024）。目前，她正在進行一項名為「利用地理空間技術識別旁遮普 Kandi 地區潛在雨水收集地點」的項目，該項目由科學與工程研究委員會（SERB）資助，於旁遮普農業大學 - Ballowal Saunkhri 區域研究站進行。

Abrar Yousuf 博士，於旁遮普農業大學盧迪亞納的土壤與水工程系獲得博士學位。目前，他在旁遮普農業大學 - Ballowal Saunkhri 區域研究站擔任土壤與水工程科學家。他的專業領域包括流域水文學、土壤侵蝕建模、流域管理、遙感和 GIS、雨水管理以及乾地農業。他參與了對位於旁遮普 Kandi 地區的多個流域的徑流和沉積物產量的持續監測。他參與了多個由各種資助機構資助的研究項目，如 ICAR 新德里、DST 新德里、GIZ 新德里、德國 IPRO 咨詢公司、旁遮普政府土壤與水保護部門及 SERB 新德里。他正在進行農田池塘的雨水外部管理及其通過微灌溉系統的合理利用。他在多個採用的村莊建設了農田池塘。Abrar 博士在國內外知名期刊、技術公報及兩本書中發表了多篇研究文章。他是多個科學協會的成員，並積極參加科學會議、研討會、工作坊、夏季和冬季學校以及培訓計劃，以提升科學素養和技術技能。最近，他因其博士研究工作獲得了印度土壤保護學會頒發的「最佳論文獎」。

Mohammad Amin Bhat 博士，獲得 SKUAST-Kashmir 農業學士學位，並在 CCS 哈里亞納農業大學獲得土壤科學碩士和博士學位。在碩士課程中，他獲得了 ICAR 初級研究獎學金，並在博士課程中獲得了新德里大學資助委員會的獎學金。Bhat 博士目前在旁遮普農業大學 Ballowal Saunkhri 區域研究站擔任土壤科學家。他在國內外知名的同行評審期刊上發表了超過 30 篇文章，以及多篇技術公報、書章和流行文章。他的專業領域是土壤化學和土壤肥力。目前，他正在研究印度西北部乾地農業生態系統下的土壤肥力管理。他是多個科學社會的成員，並積極參加會議、研討會、工作坊、夏季和冬季學校。