Ylva Bellander

My interest in soil chemistry and properties of metals was sparked during my high school thesis on the subject of arsenic uptake in lettuce. It has then followed me through my MSc in Water and environmental engineering as well as working with risk assessments of environmental contaminants as an environmental consultant, to my current position as a PhD-student in the project Towards better risk assessment of cadmium in agricultural soil for sustainable nutrient management. 

In my PhD project, I'm investigating the leaching properties of cadmium in naturally occurring concentrations and crop cadmium uptake as well as cadmium levels in recycled nutrient sources, in order to calculate sustainable application rates of recycled nutrent sources that do not increase cadmium levels in agricultural soils.  Currently, we are primarily working with Cd sorption in agricultural soils at naturally occuring concentrations, and exploring the impact on Cd content in soil after long-time application of mineral PK fertilizer. 

Supervision of MSc student Keron Bwacha (2025 - ongoing)

2024 - Ongoing PhD student in soil chemistry, SLU, Department of soil and environment. Project title: Towards better risk assessment of cadmium in agricultural soil for sustainable nutrient management. 

2021 - 2024 Environmental consultant specialised in contaminated areas

2013 - 2021 Msc in Water and environmental engineering, Uppsala University and SLU. Master specialising in contaminated areas and modelling of ecosystems.