Joana Falcao Salles receives an AMI Horizon Award 2025

Joana Falcao Salles is one of seven winners of an Applied Microbiology International Horizon Award. The prizes, awarded by the learned society Applied Microbiology International (AMI), celebrate the brightest minds in the field and promote the research, group, projects, products and individuals who continue to help shape the future of applied microbiology. The Horizon Awards recognise excellence across various domains of applied microbiology. Each award reflects a unique aspect of the field and its relevance to global challenges.

Professor Joana Falcao Salles, a professor of Microbial Community Ecology at the University of Groningen, has been named as the newest winner of the Basil Jarvis Food Security and Innovation Award, which targets professionals, researchers, and innovators who have made significant contributions to food safety, security, and sustainable agricultural practices. It celebrates their efforts in enhancing food production methods, addressing global hunger, and contributing to sustainable industrial processes, emphasising tangible impacts in these vital areas.

Professor Joana Falcao Salles is known for her research on soil and host-associated microbiomes. She is an agronomic engineer (Brazil), with a PhD from Leiden University (Netherlands) and a postdoc in Lyon (France). Her work integrates ecological theory with experimental and computational tools to explore how microbial diversity supports ecosystem resilience, disease suppression, and sustainable agriculture. She has advanced the field of microbial invasions and demonstrated how plant genotypes can promote beneficial microbial interactions, thereby reducing the need for chemical inputs. Through interdisciplinary collaboration, Prof. Falcao Salles bridges microbiome ecology with sustainable agriculture, connecting fundamental science with practical solutions for farmers, policymakers, and the future of microbiome-driven sustainability.