Under the EU Mission ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’ twenty European institutions started in June 2023 to work together to map and co-create methodologies and tools to improve soil literacy in Europe and engage with the soil user community and society at large.

The Horizon Europe project LOESS: ‘Literacy boost through an Operational Educational Ecosystem of Societal actors on Soil health’ officially started in June 2023. Under the EU Mission ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’, twenty partner organizations will be joining efforts during three years to map, co-create, and test methodologies and tools in fifteen countries across Europe.

The final goal of the LOESS project is to raise awareness on the importance of soil and its functions and to increase soil literacy across Europe. For this purpose, the consortium will be working to map and connect multiple actors and provide an overview of the current level of soil education related offers; to identify educational needs on soil health literacy; and to co-create and pilot a variety of courses, modules and learning tools. Such tools and methodologies will be distributed by campaigning and promoting hands-on activities related to soil education through Community Engaged Research and Learning (CERL). All in all, LOESS will boost soil literacy by building an educational ecosystem that enhances capacity building, knowledge exchange and peer-to-peer learning amongst the addressed target groups.

Partners involved

The LOESS project will involve twenty institutions under the coordination of WILA Bonn:

● Wissenschaftsladen Bonn EV (WILA Bonn), Germany - Project coordinator

● European Schoolnet (EUN), Belgium

● Vetenskap & Allmanhet, VA (VA), Sweden

● Universitaet Innsbruck (UIBK), Austria

● Universita Degli Studi Di Sassari (UNISS), Italy

● Justinmind SL (JIM), Spain

● Technological University Dublin (TUD), Ireland

● Univerzita Sv. Cyrila A Metoda V Trnave (UCM), Slovakia

● Wageningen University (WU), Netherlands

● Centar Za Promociju Nauke (CPN), Serbia

● Viesoji Istaiga Socialiniu Inovaciju Institutas (SII), Lithuania

● Uniwersytet Im. Adama Mickiewicza W Poznaniu (AMU), Poland

● Controvento Societa Cooperativa Sociale O.N.L.U.S. (ControV), Italy

● Associacio Catalana D'universitats Publiques (ACUP), Spain

● Ans Egitim Hizmetleri Yonetim Danismanligi Emlak Insaat Turizm Ticaret Limited Sirketi (ANS), Turkey

● Universita Degli Studi Di Brescia (UNIBS), Italy

● Universitaet Vechta (UoV), Germany

● APOPSI Ypiresies Pliroforikis Symvouleftikis Kai Ekpaidefsis Anonymi Etaireia (APOPSI), Greece

● The Queen's University Of Belfast, United Kingdom

● Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary

Key exploitable results and outputs

Through the implementation of a Crowd Mapping tool and providing the methodology and guidelines for implementing future problem-based research, LOESS will identify and address local soil problems and set up community-based research projects based on questions raised by multiple actors. Augmented Reality (AR) applications with 3D models, animations, simulations and interactive parts and training modules and courses for schools and Higher Education Institutes will be made available through target group and methodology focused campaigns.