About us

Soil Science and Conservation Research Institute (SSCRI) in Bratislava is the major pedological institution in Slovakia. It has over 60 scientific staff specialized in all key branches of soil science and modern technical equipment. The institute has many significant positions in scientific world supported by accredited soil and water laboratories, remote sensing (orthophotomaps and satellite images) and GIS tools. It is aimed on basic and applied research projects.
The SSCRI is active in many areas of pedological, agricultural and environmental research. It is responsible for soil survey and pedological research and it provides the Register of Slovak Soils, comprehensive Soil Information System, and Soil Conservation Service working as separate unit, analytical services done by laboratories with international accreditation, soil map archive and national soil sample archive. Besides of that, SSCRI is the Centre for Remote Sensing of Soil and Land and Programme of Rural Development the National Focal Point of UN Convention to Combat Desertification. It participates within the EU Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development as well as in other international programmes and projects. SSCRI carries important activities in the frame of Common Agricultural Policy EU (CAP), especially inside the Integrated Administration and Control System IACS.
Moreover, SSCRI provides expert services for governmental authorities, partner scientific and education institutions and other bodies conducting activities in agriculture, environment, urban planning and regional development.

The SSCRI scientific activities can be specified as follows:

• Comprehensive pedological research activities
• Participation in activities of the European Soil Bureau Network at the Joint Research Centre, Ispra
• Operating soil monitoring of Slovakia
• Development of the knowledge on production and other non-production soil functions
• Identification and mapping of the land use in Slovakia and monitoring of its transformation
• Development and maintenance of database components of soil information systems including expert systems for soil protection and sustainable land use
• Modelling of climate change impact on landscape
• Research, modelling and management of soil water regime.

Some of lately completed international projects:

• Global Earth Observation Benefit Estimation: Now, Next and Emerging (GEO-BENE) – EU 6 FP project
• Land Use/Cover Area Frame Survey (LUCAS 2009, 2012) – EUROSTAT project funded by EC, DG EUROSTAT
• Climate Change – Terrestrial Adaptation & Mitigation in Europe (CC-TAME) – EU 7 FP project
• Urban Soil Management Strategy (URBAN SMS) – project of CENTRAL EUROPE Programme
• INSPIRE Compliant Geodetic-Services for European Soil Data (GS Soil) – EU eContentPlus project
• Soil Strategy Network in the Danube Region (SONDAR) – Slovak-Austrian cross-border cooperation Programme 2007-2013.

Capacities and Thematic Focus

Soil Science and Conservation Research Institute (SSCRI) is a major pedological institution in Slovakia. It has over 90 scientific staff specialized in key branches of soil science and is equipped by modern instrumentation. The analytical capacities are available at accredited soil and water laboratories. Important part of the capacities are related to remote sensing and GIS because one of major focus of the Institute is processing of spatial soil data. The Institute possesses a large amount of information on soils of Slovakia which is stored in institute archive and library. The major task of
SSCRI is to provide expert services for governmental authorities, partner scientific and education institutions and other institutions and enterprises active in agriculture, environment, urban planning and regional development.
SSCRI is active in many areas of pedological, agricultural and environmental research. It is responsible for soil survey and pedological research, the Register of Slovak Soils and Soil Information System, soil map archive and national soil sample archive. It provides Soil Conservation Service (working as separate unit), analytical services,
SSCRI carries important activities in the frame of Common Agricultural Policy EU (CAP), especially inside the Integrated Administration and Control System IACS
SSCRI is the Centre for Remote Sensing of Soil and Land and Programme of Rural Development the National Focal Point of UN Convention to Combat Desertification. It participates within the EU Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development as well as in other international programmes and projects.