Vera Felix da Graca Silva

Vera Felix da Graca Silva is a Researcher in Soil Physics and Land Management at the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL). Her work focuses on pesticide residue dynamics, soil health, and environmental risk assessment in agricultural systems. She collaborates extensively across Europe and Argentina on pesticide contamination studies.

Key research areas include:

• Pesticide residue behavior in soils and indoor environments
• Ecotoxicological effects of pesticide mixtures on soil organisms
• Nitrogen cycle impacts from herbicide applications
• Sustainable agricultural practices to minimize soil pollution

She currently co-supervises five PhD projects investigating pesticide fate, soil pollution mitigation, and ecosystem impacts. Silva has contributed to datasets on pesticide applications across European and Argentinian farms, and has published 27 peer-reviewed articles since 2021.

Her collaborative networks span multiple countries, with active projects addressing:

• PFAS contamination in soils
• Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi interactions
• Soil pollution under Portuguese orchards