Franciska de Vries' research focuses on how plants interact with soil organisms, how these interactions respond to global change, and what the consequences are for ecosystem functioning. Plants interact with soil organisms, in particular soil microbes, through a variety of mechanisms: they modify the soil environment through their litter inputs and through altering soil nutrient and moisture contents, but they also interact directy with soil organisms through their roots and root exudates. De Vries likes to mechanistically unravel those mechanisms and assess their importance for ecosystem functioning in real-world ecosystems, with a particular focus on carbon and nitrogen cycling.

Franciska de Vries is doing this research together with her team and colleagues, and with numerous external collaborators and stakeholders - science is a team effort! She also engages in broader societal discussions around sustainability and nature conservation, and she very much enjoys writing about a variety of topics.

De Vries leads the Plant-Soil Ecology lab group. In addition to her research, she is passionate about instilling an appreciation of soils in the wider public, and about training the next generation of grounded soil scientists who will tackle our grand challenges of sustainable food production, conserving biodiversity, and climate mitigation and adaptation.