Rastislav Skalsky

Research Scholar

Agriculture, Forestry, and Ecosystem Services Research Group

Biodiversity and Natural Resources Program

Biography

Rastislav Skalsky joined IIASA in June 2012. As a research scholar in the Agriculture, Forestry, and Ecosystem Services Research Group of the Biodiversity and Natural Resources Program, he focuses on process-based agro-ecosystem model upscaling with spatial data on soil, topography, and land use for large-scale simulations at regional, continental, and global scales using the IIASA EPIC model.

His research also includes crop model validation and calibration for a variety of practical research topics on crop production and environmental impacts of agricultural systems. He has been working on the integration of soil and agro-ecosystem information with citizen observatories in the domain of land use and land management. Most recently, his focus has been on analyzing soil organic carbon and soil erosion as measures of sustainable crop production and implementation of soil conservation aspects into large-scale crop modeling, including the exploration of novel AI-based methods for a more efficient and dynamic transfer of crop system simulations into integrated land-sector models and end-user services.

Skalsky obtained his master's degree in environmental sciences in 1999, and a PhD in soil science in 2008, both from the Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia. In 1999, he started his career at the National Agricultural and Food Centre, Soil Science and Conservation Research Institute (NPPC-VUPOP) in Slovakia, where he worked as a senior researcher until September 2023, mainly focusing on national-scale soil organic carbon modeling and communication of evidence-based knowledge for decision and policymaking support in the Slovakian agricultural sector. Between 2015 and 2022, he also served as the Slovak national focal point for the International Network of Soil Information Institutions (INSII), consisting of nationally mandated institutions and Global Soil Partnership (GSP) partners, working together at UN FAO to develop the Global Soil Information System.

Last update: 03 MAY 2024

Publications

Ermolieva, T., Knopov, P.S., Gorbachuk, V.M., Zaslavskyi, V.A., Borodina, O.M., Gaivoronski, A.A., Havlik, P. , Balkovič, J. , Skalský, R. , Folberth, C. , Derci Augustynczik, A.L., Cao, G.-Y., & Wang, G. (2022). Agricultural Adaptation to Climate Change through Risk-Based Crop Insurance: Estimating Probability Distributions of Crop Yields using Weather Parameters, Climate Change Indicators and Soil Characteristics. In: Norwegian-Georgian-Moldavian-Ukrainian School on Innovation and Risk Management, November 19-26, 2022, Batumi Shota Rustaveli State University, Georgia.

Balkovič, J. , Skalský, R. , Folberth, C. , Yowargana, P., & Kraxner, F. (2022). Rice productivity along waterlogging gradient in Indonesian peatlands (EPIC-IIASA model outputs). 10.5281/zenodo.7355372.

Ippolito, T., Balkovič, J. , Skalský, R. , Folberth, C. , & Neff, J. (2022). Investigating the Biophysical Determinants of Soil Organic Carbon Response to Management in the EPIC-IIASA Model. IIASA YSSP Report. Laxenburg, Austria: IIASA

Skalský, R. , Balkovič, J. , Folberth, C. , Kraxner, F., & Yowargana, P. (2022). The Harmonized peatland dataset for Indonesia v.0.1. 10.5281/zenodo.6998052.

Skalský, R. , Balkovič, J. , Folberth, C. , Kraxner, F., & Yowargana, P. (2022). The spatial simulation infrastructure for Indonesia v.0.1. 10.5281/zenodo.6997968.