Faculty of Geography UGM Strengthens Soil Security Research through PEDOMETRICS 2026

The Faculty of Geography at Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), one of the members of the Working Group Food Security–Soil Security under the Pusat Unggulan Antar Perguruan Tinggi (PUAPT), or Inter University Centre for Excellence (IUCfE) UGM, participated in the international PEDOMETRICS 2026 conference, held from Monday, September 14, to Friday, September 18, 2026, in Bali. The participation was part of the IUCfE Working Group Food Security’s research dissemination activities aimed at advancing soil security research through cross-disciplinary collaboration.

This year, UGM hosted PEDOMETRICS 2026 under the theme “Intelligence, Integration, and Innovation in Soil Science.” The conference was attended by approximately 120 participants from 19 countries.

The event marked an important milestone for UGM, as it was the first time that the Pedometrics conference was held in Southeast Asia, through a collaboration with the University of Sydney.

Prof. Muhammad Kamal, S.Si., M.GIS., Ph.D., Dean of the Faculty of Geography UGM and a member of the IUCfE Working Group Food Security–Soil Security, said that PEDOMETRICS 2026 was highly relevant to UGM’s agenda of strengthening soil security and national research capacity to address strategic development challenges, particularly those related to food security.

According to Prof. Kamal, hosting Pedometrics for the first time in Southeast Asia also provided a strategic opportunity for UGM to further contribute to the global Pedometrics research network.

“PEDOMETRICS 2026 serves as an important platform for disseminating research efforts while connecting them with the broader national and international research community,” said Prof. Kamal during the PEDOMETRICS 2026 opening ceremony.

In line with this, IUCfE UGM Coordinator Wirastuti Widyatmanti, S.Si., Ph.D., representing the Working Group Food Security, said that hosting Pedometrics in Indonesia provided greater opportunities for Indonesian soil researchers to participate in the international research community.

“Hosting Pedometrics in Indonesia is a special moment for us. Previously, only a limited number of Indonesian soil researchers were able to attend the Pedometrics conference. This year, more than 40 participants from Indonesia were able to join PEDOMETRICS 2026,” she said.

The future direction of Pedometrics was also highlighted by Alexandre Wadoux, Chair of the Pedometrics Commission of the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS). He noted that PEDOMETRICS 2026 was being held at an exciting time, marked by rapid advances in artificial intelligence.

These technological developments not only create opportunities to discuss new methods, datasets, and applications in soil science, but also encourage the community to explore new possibilities for the future development of Pedometrics.

“With soil intelligence as the heart of this meeting, I hope we will not focus solely on incremental developments, but also create space to consider new possibilities,” he said.

At the conference, the UGM Faculty of Geography was represented by two researchers, Dr.rer.nat. Muhammad Anggri Setiawan, M.Si., and Dr. Eng. Guruh Samodra, S.Si., M.Sc. Both participated in the Pre-Conference Training and contributed as presenters and moderators during the conference sessions.

Muhammad Anggri Setiawan presented his research entitled “From Global SoilGrids to Local Erosion Prediction: Application of Digital Soil Information for Empirical Modeling in the Unda Watershed, Bali Province, Indonesia,” while Guruh Samodra presented “Mapping Soil Organic Carbon Across Erosional and Depositional Domains in a Terraced Landscape.”

Pedometrics is an international scientific field and conference community that focuses on quantitative approaches in soil science to understand and map soil properties and characteristics. The field has evolved alongside the application of technologies such as modeling, remote sensing, machine learning, and artificial intelligence.

The organization of PEDOMETRICS 2026 was supported by various partners. Support was provided by PT Sinar Mas Agro Resource and Technology (SMART), PT Paragon Technology and Innovation, Pertamina Foundation, and Stellarvision. Meanwhile, European Journal of Soil Science (EJSS), Soil Advances, and Jurnal Sains Tanah contributed as journal partners.

For the Faculty of Geography UGM, the event further strengthens the development of research on soil, the environment, and geospatial technologies. Going forward, these research efforts are expected to generate knowledge and approaches that support more sustainable land-resource management while strengthening the role of the IUCfE UGM in advancing food security.