Martin Weih

Leader of a research team currently consisting of one post-doc (Dr. Fede Berckx), one PhD student (Electra Lennartsson), and three researchers (Dr. Ortrud Jäck, Dr. Jonathan Cope, Dr. Ida Kollberg); part of the Plant Ecology group.

A complete list of publications is found here.

ORCID 0000-0003-3823-9183

Editor-in-Chief of Section “Crop Production” for the scientific journal Agriculture.

Editor for the scientific journals Plant and Soil and BioEnergy Research

Linking plant traits to productivity and ecosystem processes for development of sustainable solutions in agriculture

We investigate how we can make the best use of crops and the environmental conditions under which they are grown, in order to develop sustainable solutions for the production of food, feed and biomass. To achieve this, we investigate the links between individual plant traits (crop species or cultivars), crop yield, the production systems design (e.g. nutrient management, cultivation in monocultures or mixtures), and the processes that are relevant for supporting important ecosystem services (e.g. reduced nutrient losses, carbon accumulation, pest and disease control, enhanced biodiversity). Study systems mainly include cereals and cereal – legume mixtures for food and feed production; and tree plantations for biomass production. Specifically, we address the above issues by means of various research projects with external funding from Formas, SLU Grogrund, the Swedish Energy Agency, the Swedish farmers’ foundation for agricultural research (SLF), the European Union and Novo Nordisk Foundation.

Regular teaching at all levels e.g. within the following courses:

BI1350 Växtproduktion – mark och grödor, 15 hp

BI1295 Sustainable Plant Production - from Molecular to Field Scale, 15 HEC

BI1339 Experimental approaches in plant growth analysis and phenotyping, 15 HEC (course leader)

Summer schools within Euroleague For Life Sciences (ELLS) - Bioeconomy

Plant nutrient use efficiency – concepts and approaches, 2.5 ECTS, PhD course (course leader)

Doctoral degree
1998, Ecological Botany, Uppsala University

Postdoctoral work
1998, University of Alaska at Fairbanks

Qualification as Associate Professor
2001, subject Plant Ecology, SLU

Promotion to professor
2009, subject ecophysiology of agricultural crops, SLU

Position as full professor
2013, subject plant ecology with specialisation on plant-plant and plant-environment interaction, SLU

Current position
Full professor at the Department of Crop Production Ecology, SLU; permanent position; c. 25 % teaching, 15 % administration, 60 % research

Publications
Author of more than 200 publications, of which more than 100 publications in peer-reviewed journals, 10 publications in peer-reviewed book chapters, 10 popular science publications, 80 reports, conference abstracts and other publications; H-index 44 (Scopus) and 55 (Google Scholar).

Teaching
Regular teaching at all levels e.g. within the following courses at the SLU:

BI1350 Växtproduktion – mark och grödor, 15 hp

BI1295 Sustainable Plant Production - from Molecular to Field Scale, 15 HEC (course leader 2008-2010)

BI1339 Experimental approaches in plant growth analysis and phenotyping , 15 HEC (course leader)

Plant nutrient use efficiency – concepts and approaches, 2.5 ECTS, PhD course (course leader)

Production of biomass for energy - quantity and quality aspects, 3 ECTS, PhD course

PhD students
Main supervisor of 11 PhD students who have defended their theses (Kassahun Embaye, PhD; Ylva Toljander, Lic.; Anneli Adler; PhD; Linnéa Asplund, PhD; Jan Hoogesteger, Lic.; Fereshteh Pourazari, PhD; Stefanie Hoeber, PhD; James Ajal, PhD; Hui Liu, PhD; Lorena Guardia Velarde, PhD; Joel Jensen, PhD) and co-supervisor of 8 PhD students who have defended their theses (Almir Karacic, PhD; Amanuel Mehari, PhD; Sarah Baum, Dr. rer. nat., Antje Balasus, Dr. rer. nat.; Cornelia Pfabel, Dr. rer. nat.; Karin Hamnér, AgrDr.; Saurav Kalita, PhD; Louis Dufour, PhD).

Currently main supervisor of 1 PhD student (Electra Lennartsson) and co-supervisor of 1 PhD student (Sara Capitan).

Mentor for postdoctoral students
Lorenzo Bonosi (2009 to 2011), Michaela Torp (2011), Friderike Beyer (2013 to 2015), Ortrud Jäck (2016 to 2019), Ida Kollberg (from December 2016), Jonathan Cope (2020 to 2024), Fede Berckx (since October 2022)

Evaluation
Opponent for one doctoral dissertation. Member of c. 15 PhD and 2 Licentiate examination committees.

Commissions
Referee on research grant applications for the Wageningen University (The Netherlands) and the Austrian Science Fund (FWF); member of the evaluation committee for basic energy-related research at the Swedish Energy Agency (Energimyndighetens grundforskningskommitte). Commissions to peer review for a number of scientific journals (e.g. Annals of Botany, Field Crops Research, Forest Ecology and Management, Functional Ecology, New Phytologist, Tree Physiology).

External funding
Grants from e.g. the EU, Nordic Council of Ministers, Formas, Swedish Energy Agency, Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, Novo Nordisk Foundation.

Administration
1999-2005 Director of studies at the Dept. of Short Rotation Forestry, SLU;

Chair of the Swedish National Poplar Commission (2005-2008)

Member of the Management Committee, COST action E38: Woody root processes (2005 – 2008)

President of the International Commission on Poplars and Other Fast-Growing Trees Sustaining People and the Environment (IPC), 2012 - 2024

Head of Department of Crop Production Ecology (2010 - 2016)

Member of the Swedish Gene Technology Advisory board, since 2019