Prof. McLaughlin leads a strong group in soil science, particularly in relation to fertilizer and contaminant chemistry. He has developed and now leads a highly innovative and scientifically diverse research group that addresses a range of issues in soil and environmental chemistry that relate particularly to agricultural plant nutrition, fertilizer application and efficiency, and to soil analysis and soil contamination. His research is a mix of fundamental science leading to high impact research papers coupled to a strong commercialisation of research outcomes - patents relating to use of IR spectroscopy for detection of oil in soils have now been commercialised as have new remediation technologies