Filming with Dr. Jason Owen

This week Mike had the pleasure of spending time with Dr. Jason Owen who is Head of Soil at the James Hutton Institute in Aberdeen. Mike filmed Jason conducting a range of experiments in his laboratory.

The James Hutton Institute is an interdisciplinary scientific research institute in Scotland established in 2011, through the merger of Scottish Crop Research Institute (SCRI) and the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute. The institute, named after Scottish geologist James Hutton, one of the leading figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, combines existing Scottish expertise in agricultural research, soils and land use, and works in fields including food and energy security, biodiversity, and climate change. With more than 600 employees, the institute is among the largest research centres in the UK.

Jason completed his first degree in Environmental Studies then attended the University of Aberdeen to undertake his Masters and PhD studying soil. For the past 23 years Jason has worked at the James Hutton Institute where he leads the soil analytics group. Soil is a vital resource to societies worldwide. It provides timber, fibre and food crops; stores and filters water; regulates waste and pollutants and sustains an essential soil biota. Understanding how soils carry out these functions is imperative if we are to maintain soil quality to meet the needs of society and help inform the development of management techniques capable of maintaining and improving the condition of soil for current and future needs.