Mauricio Leite

Graduated in Agronomic Engineering from the Federal University of Lavras (UFLA) - Brazil in 2016, he began his journey in soil science in 2010 during his first scientific initiation, under the guidance of Professor Dr. Luiz Roberto Guimarães Guilherme. His projects focused on the characterization of rock dust and the reuse of by-products from the fertilizer industry as soil conditioners. In 2017, he started his Master's in Soil and Plant Nutrition at the Federal University of Viçosa (UFV) - Brazil, under the guidance of Professor Dr. Edson Marcio Matteillo, where he conducted research on the use and efficiency of phosphate fertilizers with additives such as biochar activated with zinc. After that, he began his Ph.D. at the University of São Paulo (USP) in Soil and Plant Nutrition. His thesis explored how different soil uses, with an emphasis on integrated agricultural systems, affect soil structure and consequently the forms and fractions of phosphorus and soil carbon stock. In 2024, he completed his Ph.D. and started a postdoctoral position as a researcher at The University of Queensland (UQ), under the supervision of Professor Dr. Tim McLaren, where he currently works. The project titled "Quantifying Fertiliser Phosphorus Use Efficiency in Vertosols Across the Northern Region" focuses on using fertilizers labeled with P32 radioisotopes to quantify and evaluate the fate of phosphorus in the soil-plant relationship at different depths in summer and winter crops. He has extensive experience in wet chemistry, especially in phosphorus, as well as experience in XRF, NMR, and synchrotron analysis.