Project partners from the South East Technological University (SETU) in Ireland disseminated original research results from the ReNu2Cycle project at the 36th Symposium of the European Society of Nematologists in the Netherlands, in June 2026.
SETU are tasked with the soil ecological assessment of the recycling derived fertilisers (RDF) that are developed in ReNu2Cycle. For this, they are using sensitive biological environmental indicators called nematodes.
Nematodes are microscopic non-segmented round worms that occupy nearly every soil and sediment environment on earth.
Nematodes are microscopic non-segmented round worms that occupy nearly every soil and sediment environment on earth. In the soils and sediments, they occupy key positions in food webs and disturbances on nematode communities reflect disturbances in other aspects of the ecosystem. The area of environmental nematology, where the SETU partners specialise, has been internationally recognized and developed to examine the effects of nearly any type of environmental change in ecosystems.
The dissemination of our results were in the form of two oral presentations by the ReNuCycle project manager Dr Thomais Kakouli-Duarte:
- “Ecological impacts of recovered nitrogen from manure (RENURE) products in commercial farms using nematode diversity as a bioindicator of soi health”
- “An ecological sustainability assessment or recycling derived fertilisers using nematodes as environmental indicators”.
The work was carried out by the PhD student in the project, Ms Lilian Salisi Atira, and was co-supervised by Dr Kakouli-Duarte and Dr Kieran Germaine of SETU, in collaboration with our Inagro partners in the RENURE paper.
SETU’s participation at this European nematology conference provided great exposure of ReNu2Cycle internationally, in an event that amassed approximately 300+ participants.