Dominik Bittner

Profile

My bond with nature began at an early age, growing up on a farm with its woodlands. I have witnessed firsthand the challenges faced by farmers due to deteriorating soil health, leading to a strong motivation to advance sustainable agricultural practices. Fully in line with UN Sustainable Development Goals, I am particularly invested in helping regions where support is urgently needed, such as in sub-Saharan Africa, where farmers heavily depend on the health of their soils.

My PhD combines biophysical process models, machine learning and expert knowledge into a hybrid soil engine, used to assess how nature-based solutions can restore degraded soils and support smallholder farmers in Ethiopia. Earlier work looked at eye tracking and deep learning for adaptive learning systems, and computer vision for forestry and wildfire prevention.

Research interests: Supporting farmers in LMICs, hybrid AI, soil health, sustainable agriculture, environmental modelling, machine learning.

Most recent

October 2026 – The summer concluded with attendance at the International Soil Modeling Consortium Conference (ISMC 2026) in rainy Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where I presented my research on hybrid modelling of soil organic carbon dynamics. The conference offered an excellent opportunity to exchange ideas with researchers from around the world, and I was honoured to receive the Best Oral Presentation Award for my work. After that, I visited the fascinating Pantanal and Amazon regions. Truly breathtaking.

August 2026 – Following the fieldwork, I attended a summer school on Earth Observation Summer School Istanbul, Türkiye. The programme provided valuable insights into how satellite data can be used to predict soil properties across large areas while also highlighting the limitations and uncertainties associated with these approaches. The experience reinforced the importance of combining remote sensing technologies with field observations to generate reliable information for soil management.

August 2026 – One of the highlights this summer was a field trip to Ethiopia, where we tested practical soil health assessment tools with local farmers. Rather than simply telling farmers how to manage their soils differently, we provided tools that helped them observe and understand the effects of management practices for themselves. The response was overwhelmingly positive. Several farmers noted that they had never previously been given such simple ways to evaluate soil health and understand the links between management decisions and soil health. During the visit, we also introduced an early version of a soil health app designed to support on-farm decision-making, which is now being further refined and improved based on feedback from users.