Short-term visits to Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
Fahad Ali Kazmi
19 June – 7 July 2023
The purpose of his short-term visit was to participate in an ongoing experiment that involved the use of different fertilizers (in different proportions and ratios) to observe the effects on spinach. The experiment was conducted by Dr. Mireia Plà Castellana (under the supervision of Dr. Clemens Scheer). The experiment involved several chemical analyses after acid trap and flux measurement. The overall goal was to estimate the nitrogen pathways and losses and compare them among different concentrations and proportions of fertilizers used.
Muhammad Kamil Sardar Ali
21 April – 11 May 2024
The primary objective of the visit was to acquire knowledge about automated GHG measurement techniques in incubation experiments and the application of various instruments to determine the chemical composition of soil and water. During the visit, Kamil was part of an incubator system to study ‘Gaseous N losses, N leaching and N-use from different enhanced efficiency fertilizers’ led by Dr. Mireia Plà Castellana, Dr. Clemens Scheer, and Dr. Ralf Kiese. The objective was to enhance nitrogen use efficiency through different urea fertilizers by controlling the slow release of fertilizer and testing the efficiency of a urea-coated fertilizer compared to the inhibitor-applied treatment and the control.
Teo Kien Yung
21 July – 1 September 2025
The primary purpose of the research visit was to conduct soil experiments using fresh Malaysian peat samples collected in July 2025, with the aim of gaining a better understanding of nitrogen cycling in tropical peat soils and comparing and correlating different analytical methods. The analyses included soil core ring incubation, gross nitrification and ammonification, soil pH, gravimetric analysis, and membrane inlet mass spectrometry (MIMS) analysis. Throughout this visit, Teo was led and taught by a team of researchers in KIT (Dr. Elizabeth Wangari, together with Dr. Fawad Khan and Dr. Ricky Mwanake).
Short-term visits to the University of Helsinki (UH)
Reti Ranniku
20 September – 22 October 2023
During this exchange, one of the main focus areas was developing and testing a closed-loop system setup for measuring small-volume gas samples for discrete gas concentration analysis with the LI-COR analysers. This was something that had not been previously done, either in Tartu or Helsinki. Reti visited the Finnish Meteorological Institute, accompanied by the UH team technicians, to review the calibration process for the analysers. They prepared the tube system together with Salla Tenhovirta and a technician, followed by several rounds of tests with synthetic (zero) air to determine the smallest possible volume that can be injected into the system and still be detected, as well as the optimal injection speed. We then tested the setup using gas standards to verify that we obtained accurate readings for CH4, CO2, and N2O concentrations.
Laura Kuusemets
21 May 2024 – 4 June 2024
The primary objectives of her visit were to acquire knowledge, skills, experience, and new techniques necessary for research. Conduct DNA extraction and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) laboratory experiments from tropical peat swamp forest samples under supervision to enforce educational knowledge transfer and spread wetland forest research knowledge. Through the lectures on Finnish forestry, peatlands, and field visits to Finnish peatlands (Torronsuo, Lettosuo), Laura gained a broader understanding of Finnish forestry, mires in Finland, and their utilization and conservation. Visits to agricultural fields and the SMEAR-Agri (Station for Measuring Earth Surface-Atmosphere Relations) provided her with insights into agricultural research and the measurements conducted at the University of Helsinki.
Si Chen
2–9 November 2025
