Mission Soil Living Labs and Soil Literacy: Empowering Communities for Healthy Soils

The EU Mission “A Soil Deal for Europe” is one of five Horizon Europe Missions, aiming to establish 100 Soil Health Living Labs (SHLLs) and Lighthouses (SHLHs) by 2030. The Mission works towards achieving healthy soils for food security, biodiversity, climate adaptation, and citizen wellbeing. 

This thematic engagement event is jointly organised by SOILL-Startup and ECHO projects and aims to build momentum for the 2025 Mission Soil call by engaging with key stakeholders and future applicants aiming at establishing soil health living labs. 

Soil literacy is essential for enabling change. It empowers citizens, educators, landowners, businesses, and public authorities to understand and act on the importance of soil health. Enhancing soil literacy helps ensure more informed engagement in Soil Health Living Labs, fosters public support, and strengthens the societal impact of the Mission Soil. 

Objectives of the event

  • Raise awareness of the Mission Soil initiative and funding opportunities for creating Soil Health Living Labs.
  • Foster understanding of soil literacy as a driver of systemic change.
  • Equip participants with examples, methodologies, and tools to promote soil literacy in Living Lab contexts.
  • Inspire cross-sector stakeholders to engage in co-designing proposals addressing the Mission Soil call topics funding the establishement of Soil Health Living Labs and Lighthouses.

Who is this event for? Why participate?

This event aims at supporting those who interested in applying to the 2025 Mission Soil call topics funding projects establishing Soil Health Living Labs: Land managers, researchers, soil educators, communicators, and NGOs, public authorities (local and regional), agricultural extension services, Living Lab practitioners, representatives from cultural and creative sectors. 

09:00–09:30 | Arrival, Registration & Welcome Coffee

This part of the event focuses on the registration of the in-person participants. If you are connected from remote, you can access the zoom waiting room around 9:25 CEST.

09:30–09:45 | Opening Remarks: Introducing the Mission Soil

Pier Paolo Roggero is the Italian National Representative for the Mission "A Soil Deal for Europe".

Speaker

Pier Paolo Roggero
Pier Paolo Roggero

University of Sassari

09:45–10:00 | Regional Insights - Soil health comes from knowledge: The case of Piedmont

Igor Boni has been working at IPLA SpA since 1994. IPLA (Istituto Piante da Legno e Ambiente) is the soil service of the Piedmont Region. He is responsible for the "Technical Area of Territory and Agriculture". Expert in the interpretation of soil data, he has collaborated in the field survey of all Piedmont soils.

Speaker

Igor Boni from IPLA
Igor Boni

IPLA - Istituto per le Piante da Legno e l'Ambiente del Piemonte

10:00–10:20 | SOILL-Startup & ECHO projects - In a nutshell

This part of the event will focus on presenting the the goals and activities of the two Mission Soil projects which jointly organised this event.

Speaker

Céline Laurent from University of Bolzano
Céline Laurent

University of Bolzano
ECHO project

Speaker

Alessio Lasina
Alessio Lasina

CREA
SOILL-Startup Project

10:20–10:35 | Why Soil Literacy Matters for Europe’s Future

Margherita Caggiano is in charge of coordinating the activities of Re Soil Foundation, including the PREPSOIL and ECHO projects. 

Speaker

Margherita Caggiano
Margherita Caggiano

Re Soil Foundation

10:35–11:30 | Panel: Success Stories – Soil Literacy in Living Labs and Communities

This panel session aims to provide hands-on examples and insights on past and current activities carried out by living labs, grassroots and bottom-up initiatives around soil literacy.

Speaker

Sara Negri from University of Turin
Sara Negri

University of Turin
North-Western Italy – Piemonte Living Lab (LivingSoiLL Project)

Speaker

Luca Battisti from University of Turin
Luca Battisti

University of Turin
Urban Nature-based Solutions: the 'New Soil' and Urban Forest in Turin

Speaker

Egidio Dansero from University of Turin
Egidio Dansero

University of Turin
Urban Nature-based Solutions: the 'New Soil' and Urban Forest in Turin

Speaker

Cristina Ciconte as ECHO Ambassador
Cristina Ciconte

Environmental Tour Guide and ECHO Ambassador

Speaker

Sergio Pellegrini
Sergio Pellegrini

CREA
SOILL-Startup Project

Moderator

Fabiana De Carlo Trust-IT Services
Fabiana De Carlo

Trust-IT Services
SOILL-Startup Project

11:30–11:45 | Coffee Break
11:45–12:15 | Funding opportunities: Designing Literacy Actions in Mission Soil Living Labs

This session will give an overview of the 2025 Mission Soil funding opportunities for establishing Mission Soil Living Labs and the supporting services SOILL-Startup offers to the applicants.

Speaker

Alessio Lasina
Alessio Lasina

CREA
SOILL-Startup Project

Speaker

Gabriele Quattrocchi
Gabriele Quattrocchi

Trust-IT Services
SOILL-Startup

12:15–13:00 | Pitching Session

The participants will have the opportunity to pitch the organisation they represent, offer their expertise to existing consortia or look for new partners to be integrated in their consortium.

13:00–13:10 | Closing Remarks & Next Steps
13:10–15:00 | Light Lunch & Networking

Free informal lunch for facilitating any exchange of ideas and contacts. This part is reserved to the in-person participants.


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