Panel session of LOESS at the EuroScience Open Forum Conference
On June 12th, the LOESS project held its panel session titled “Preserving Soil Health and Improving Soil Literacy across Europe” at the EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF) conference in Katowice, Poland.
The 11th edition of the ESOF took place from June 12-15 and brought together scientists, entrepreneurs, politicians, journalists, and citizens to discuss the latest scientific achievements, the arts, and their societal impacts. This year the conference focused on six thematic areas:
- Energy Transition
- Sustainable Environment
- Cultural Identity and Societal Transformation
- Changes within Scientific Excellence
- Healthy Society
- Digital Transformation
The LOESS project contributed to the ‘Sustainable Environment’ theme. During its panel session, the discussion highlighted the Quintuple Helix model, which incorporates the fifth dimension – the Environment, alongside Academia, Industry, Government, and Society. Also key topics discussed included the importance of:
- Involvement: Enabling individuals to use their knowledge to drive socially acceptable changes in their natural and social environments.
- Connecting and Engaging: Empowering those who understand societal challenges to take action.
- The role of Universities in Supporting Soil Education.
The session also explained various educational tools and innovations LOESS is working on such as:
- E-Learning & E-Mentoring: Online platforms offering professional guidance and business support through e-Mentoring, e-Coaching, and e-Counseling. These tools are being designed to meet common requirements for psychometric tools, aptitude detection, and specialized business consulting.
- VR Application: An Augmented Reality (AR) application with 3D models, animations, simulations, and interactive elements to visualize soil ecosystem services. This tool will be suitable for public awareness campaigns and educational settings.
- Other ways of Informal Learning and Innovative Educational Concepts: LOESS is developing a crowd-mapping tool that will allow different user groups from schools, universities and the general public to highlight soil aspects of their local environment and identify problems to be taken up in innovative solutions.
The concept and programme of art+science festival in Serbia was also presented. LOESS will take part in this month-long event in the autumn of 2024, as this year’s overall theme is biodiversity, and the importance of soil health will be highlighted. The festival, through an exhibition and numerous side events, for ten years in a row is gathering artists, scientists, local and international community, in a dialogue about the practices on the verge of science and art. This way science becomes a participatory thing for all. For this cause, LOESS will organize an expert panel and few practical workshops for children and young adults in October 2024.
For more information about the conference: https://www.esof.eu/.
Participation from the Consortium
The session featured speakers:
- Dr. Joanna Morawska from the Faculty of Human Geography and Planning, Adam Mickiewicz University Poznan, Poland
- Michaela Shields from Wissenschaftsladen – Science Shop Bonn, Germany
- Daniel Jianu from APOPSI Athens, Greece
- Dr. Marta Kuhnová from the University of St. Cyril and Methodius Trnava, Slovakia
The panel was moderated by Dobrivoje Lale Erić from the Center for the Promotion of Science, Belgrade, Serbia.
