A project involving Dr Lucas Frungillo has been awarded funding by the European Research Council to develop more sustainable practices around the use of nitrogen-based fertilisers in agriculture. The European Research Council (ERC) NitroScope grant, worth €11 million, is a collaborative project involving 25 partner organisations across Europe.Nitroscope will deliver evidence-based strategies to optimise use of nitrogen fertilisers in agriculture across Europe and prevent their negative impacts.Excessive or incorrect use of nitrogen fertilisers can harm soil health and water quality, and contribute to green-house gas emissions.Big yields, big impactNitrogen-based fertilisers are essential for growing healthy, productive crops. However current approaches to ensure their use is sustainable, are fragmented and often outdated.Only 30 – 50% of the inorganic nitrogen applied through fertilisers is absorbed by plants, the rest is lost to the environment.Excessive nitrogen application damages ecosystems by harming soil health and contaminating waterways, including rivers, oceans and reservoirs. This contamination can lead to loss of aquatic biodiversity and negatively impact the economy by reducing fishery yields, while increasing costs for water treatment and ecosystem restoration.Excessive fertiliser use can also contribute to climate change as nitrogen can escape from the soil into the atmosphere as nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions, a powerful and long-lasting greenhouse gas. Optimising use of nitrogen fertilisers will be an essential part of achieving climate neutrality by 2050 – a goal of the European Green Deal. Sustainability and food securityNitroScope, led by Ghent University, brings together leading researchers, farmers, advisors, and policymakers to monitor, model, and manage nitrogen use in agriculture sustainably.The team will develop and deploy advanced sensing technologies, at over 100 data collection sites and 5 pilot sites, across Europe to gather real-time data on soil nitrogen levels and N₂O emissions.It will generate the most detailed picture to date of Europe’s nitrogen flux through the environment.The data gathered will feed into mathematical models to design decision support systems for farmers and policymakers to make sustainable soil management decisions. The project’s insights will lead to the delivery of policy recommendations supporting the EU Green Deal, the Soil Strategy for 2030, and the Nitrates Directive.It will also support a European nitrogen database and cloud platforms to ensure open access and consolidation of soil, crop, and emission data.About the FundingThe European Research Council, set up by the European Union in 2007, is the premier European funding organisation for excellent frontier research.NitroScope was awarded through a highly competitive call under the European Research Council’s flagship Horizon Europe research and innovation programme. While the application of nitrogen fertilisers in agriculture has been key to maximising crop yields and advancing food security, environmental nitrogen pollution is a pressing challenge. NitroScope is a truly interdisciplinary frontier research project that will map and model nitrogen fluxes across Europe at high resolution to enable precision resource management in agriculture. I’m excited to contribute to NitroScope and to translate my research group’s analytical and molecular biology insights into practical impact and policy recommendations. Dr Lucas Frungillo Lecturer in Plant Biotechnology, Institute of Molecular Plant Sciences NitroScope will generate the most detailed picture yet of Europe’s nitrogen flows, helping farmers and decision-makers take concrete steps toward sustainable soil management. By combining cutting-edge science with practical tools, we aim to make nitrogen efficiency a reality across Europe. Professor Abdul Mouazen Coordinator of NitroScope, Ghent University Related LinksNitroScopeDr Lucas Frungillo Publication date 03 Dec, 2025
