Soil needs you: SoilTribes Community of Practice opens its doors to new members across Europe

An open call to professionals, institutions, and civil society actors to collaborate on soil health innovation and policy.

Together with the partners in the SoilTribes project, a European initiative aligned with the EU mission “A Soil Deal for Europe”, we are pleased to announce the launch of its Community of Practice (CoP), a structured, multi-stakeholder platform designed to advance soil literacy and foster sustainable land management across Europe.

The SoilTribes Community of Practice invites individuals and organisations from academia, business, government, and society to collaborate on developing innovative, interdisciplinary solutions to the urgent challenges facing European soils. Through structured working groups and thematic activities, the CoP offers a unique space for co-creation, knowledge exchange, and policy engagement.

Key benefits of joining the SoilTribes Community of Practice:

• Access to expertise, tools, and best practices on soil sustainability and education,
• participation in interactive formats including Design Thinking Bootcamps, Cross-Fertilisation Workshops, and Policy Dialogues,
• opportunities to contribute to policy recommendations at local, national, and European levels,
• eligibility to apply for micro-grants supporting innovative soil-related initiatives,
• and enhanced visibility through a European-wide platform and collaborative activities.

The Community of Practice is structured around thematic working groups representing four key pillars: Academia, Business, Government, and Society. Members can engage at different levels, active, consulted, or informed, based on their interests and capacities.

Who can join?

The initiative welcomes participation from a wide range of actors including researchers, students, entrepreneurs, farmers, planners, environmental organisations, artists, educators, policymakers, and community leaders. Engagement is voluntary and based on expertise and motivation to contribute to collective action for soil sustainability.

How to join

Interested individuals and organisations can express their interest by completing the online registration form HERE and read more about the criteria here in the SoilTribes Community of Practice Guide.

About SoilTribes

SoilTribes is a Horizon Europe project under the Call “Mission Soil – Soil Deal for Europe”, funded by the European Research Executive Agency (REA). It aims at fostering a deep-rooted connection between society and soil, paving the way towards inspiring “back to Earth” narratives and empowering diverse communities to engage in soil stewardship through a shared language, knowledge base, and collective action. The project recognizes that healthy soils are fundamental to food security, climate resilience, and biodiversity, yet they are increasingly threatened by climate change, intensive agriculture, urbanization, and other human-driven pressures. By building multi-actor communities, SoilTribes seeks to bridge scientific knowledge with art and cultural narratives, policy frameworks, and innovative practices to drive sustainable soil management and conservation.

Establishing, activating and empowering glocal ecosystems to restore soil values, roles and connectivity through science, technology and creative expression.

For more information, visit: www.soiltribes.eu