My 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 throuhg their roots and root exudates. I like 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.