The scientific strategy of LSE aims to answer the issues raised by the major anthropogenic pressures on soils, leading to their increasing artificialization. Are concerned, major environmental issues such as the preservation of biodiversity, the supply of biomass, or even the restoration of the quality of environments often degraded by (multi) contamination. The result is the necessary development of soil sciences in highly anthropized environments - methods and tools for the diagnostic of soil quality based on knowledge of their functioning and their evolution - and of an agronomy of highly anthropized environments - optimization of culture based on a better knowledge of the interactions between soils, plants and organisms (microflora and soil fauna). The applied part of the research carried out by LSE calls for the development of treatment processes for highly anthropized environments. These processes depend from both geosciences applied to the environment (soil engineering - soil construction) and agronomic engineering (plant engineering - phytomanagement, agromining, urban agriculture). The activities of LSE also contribute to the development of tools for taking soil into account in land planning strategies, the objective being to have functional soils able to provide ecosystem services.

At 1 January 2024, the Soil and Environment Laboratory had around 40 employees. The research unit is located on two sites at Université de Lorraine, at the Graduate School of Agronomy and Food Industries (Ensaia) in Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy and at the IUT of Thionville-Yutz. The research unit is part of the AgroEcoSystem Division of the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE) and depends on the INRAE Grand-Est Center. LSE is a member of the (OSU) OTELo - Observatory of Earth and Environment of Lorraine at Université de Lorraine. It is part of the Ressources21 Excellence Laboratory and is part of the Lorraine University of Excellence (LUE) project. It is also a partner of the ICÉEL Carnot Institute. LSE is the founder of the Groupement d’Intérêt Scientifique sur les Friches Industrielles (GISFI). At international level, LSE forms since 2016 the Ecoland International Joined Lab with the Key Lab Environmental Pollution Control and Remediation Technology of Sun Yat sen University (SYSU, Canton, China), association extended in 2023 to a new partner : the South China Agricultural University (SCAU). Proof of its openness to the socio-economic world, the unit has given rise to the creation of three startups: MicroHumus (2007), Econick (2015) and Sol & co (2019).

Our research is structured around 5 themes in order to meet current and future challenges:

1. Characterisation and inventory of SUITMA (Soils of Urban, Industrial, Traffic, Mining and military Areas). The primary aim of the research is to contribute to the description, classification and mapping of SUITMA. A second challenge is to observe and understand the relationships between the physico-chemical properties of soils and biodiversity, particularly in terms of taxonomic and functional diversity.
2. Dynamics of SUITMA constituents. The aim of this area is to gain a better understanding of the composition, reactivity, arrangement and dynamics of SUITMA constituents. The aim is i) to characterise the reactivity of SUITMA constituents based on typological approaches that have already been initiated, and ii) to assess the availability of compounds of interest (Cd, Zn, Ni, PAHs, HCTs, rare earths, P) in relation to the challenges of closing biogeochemical cycles (C).
3. Functioning of plant/fauna holobionts in SUITMAs. SUITMAs often have specific chemical and physical constraints that can limit the establishment and development of plant cover. Research in this area aims to understand and optimise the functioning of soil plant and fauna holobionts in the face of the specific characteristics of these environments.
4. Development of ecological engineering. It is essential to optimise the ecosystem services provided by soils in all areas, including urban, industrial, mining and traffic areas. In particular, the implementation of Nature-based Solutions (e.g. phytomanagement and soil engineering) will enable degraded soils to be refunctionalised and renaturated.
5. Taking account of SUITMAs in regional planning. The aim of this area is to continue our research into the establishment of an ecosystem services metric adapted to SUITMAs, based on the link between soil indicators => functions => soil cover/use => ecosystem services.