Dr. Pam Hazelton has been a practicing soil scientist for over 35 years. She graduated in Science from the University of Sydney and gained her PhD for her work on semi-arid soils from the University of NSW. She was a consultant to the Soil Conservation Service, a soil surveyor in the Department of Conservation and Land Management and has worked with environmental consultants. She has been a lecturer at a variety of universities and in the Faculty of Engineering and IT at the University of Technology Sydney specifically focused on the environmental and engineering problems of urban soils. She is a former President of Soil Science Australia and also Vice President of the International Union of Soil Scientists Commission for Education in Soil Science. Dr. Brian Murphy has worked as a soil scientist for 30 years with a strong focus on applied science. He graduated in Agricultural Science from the University of Sydney, from where he also gained his Masters and his PhD for his work on soil structure in cropping systems. Dr. Murphy's interests lie in the application of soil science to environmental management, hydrology, salinity and urban land use. His work involves providing day-to-day advice on the management of soils for a range of natural resource issues. He is also an experienced researcher and has published numerous scientific papers, and is an editor of a very successful, widely used textbook, now in its third edition, on the characterization and management of soils. He is a former President of the NSW Branch of Soil Science Australia.