CURIOSOIL: Awakening Soil Curiosity to Catalyse Soil Literacy

Soils are essential for food production, biodiversity, climate regulation, and human wellbeing, yet they remain largely invisible and poorly understood by the general public. As pressures on soils increase due to land use change, climate change, and pollution, there is a growing need to rethink how people learn about and relate to this vital resource.

CURIOSOIL is a four-year, European Union (EU) funded project focused on enhancing soil education. The project addresses the critical need for a better understanding of soil amid increasing human pressures on this essential resource. The project explores how curiosity, emotion, and experience can be used to strengthen soil literacy across Europe. Rather than focusing only on knowledge transfer, the project investigates how people form meaningful connections with soil through multisensory experiences, storytelling, art, and digital tools.

Within CURIOSOIL, ISRIC plays a central role by translating soil science into engaging public experiences, building on its long-standing expertise in soil data, education, and its World Soil Museum. ISRIC leads the development of immersive exhibitions and digital tools that make soils tangible, relatable, and accessible to diverse audiences, including students, educators, families, and museum visitors

By combining science, culture, and technology, CURIOSOIL contributes to the EU Mission “A Soil Deal for Europe” and supports a broader societal shift towards valuing and protecting soils.

CURIOSOIL has the overarching objective of understanding how to trigger soil curiosity and create connections between people and soil. The specific objectives are:

• Trigger soil curiosity through multisensorial, hands‑on soil experiences that build emotional and intellectual connections with soil.

• Enhance soil literacy by developing educational materials, curriculum standards, teacher‑training programs, and MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) for both educators and the general public.

• Integrate soil health into European school curricula by 2030, fostering long‑term awareness and behavioural change in younger generations.

• Empower Communities of Practice (CoPs) across Europe to co-create soil‑education approaches, share expertise, and strengthen grassroots soil initiatives.

• Influence policymaking via a “soil optimism” narrative that reframes soil as a vital ecosystem and promotes supportive educational and environmental policies.

• Promote multilingual, inclusive soil education across more than 15 European countries to ensure broad accessibility and cultural relevance.

ISRIC’s main activities within CURIOSOIL include:

• Design and delivery of an interactive travelling soil exhibition, combining science, art, and multisensory experiences.

• Development of an open-source Augmented Reality / Mixed Reality (AR/MR) app to enhance both on-site and virtual visits to the ISRIC World Soil Museum.

• Organisation of multisensory workshops, exploring sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste as pathways to soil engagement.

• Contribution to Hackathons and Artathons, supporting co-creation between scientists, artists, educators, and technologists.

• Curation and integration of artistic works into soil exhibitions and digital formats.

• Dissemination and communication activities, including public events, exhibitions, and online outreach.

Below are the key deliverables led or co-led by ISRIC within CURIOSOIL.

Interactive and digital tools

• CURIOSOIL AR/MR App (Beta and Final Versions): An open-source, multilingual web-based app that enhances visits to the World Soil Museum and enables remote access to soil stories, 3D models, and interactive content. Designed for use in museums, classrooms, and public events.

• A virtual tour of the World Soil Museum

Exhibitions and Public Engagement

• Interactive travelling exhibition on soil health: A modular, reusable exhibition combining soil science, multisensory stations, digital interaction, and commissioned artworks. First hosted at the World Soil Museum (Wageningen), then travelling to other European venues.

• Exhibition catalogue and digital legacy materials: Documentation and reusable exhibition content feeding into long-term soil education resources.

• Online exhibition on soil health (digital version of the physical exhibition).

Workshops and co-creation

• Multisensory workshop report: Documentation and analysis of workshops testing sensory and emotional approaches to soil education.

• Hackathon and Artathon organisation and contributions: ISRIC-led Artathon and Hackathon with inputs to guidelines, evaluation, and outputs connecting soil science with creative practices.

Supporting resources

• Soil curiosity content for education and outreach: Stories, visuals, and interactive materials integrated into exhibitions, the app, and online platforms.

Led by Universidade de Aveiro in Portugal, the project is constituted by a consortium of 14 partners from across Europe: Gaia Education Europe and ECOLISE in Belgium; REVOLVE in Spain; Faculty of Environmental Protection in Slovenia; Wageningen University, ISRIC and the European School Heads Association in The Netherlands; Universita degli Studi di Palermo in Italy; University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU) in Austria; Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (NIBIO) in Norway and European Science Communication Institute (ESCI) in Germany; and IUCN and Zurich University of the Arts in Switzerland.

The project is funded within the EU Mission 'A Soil Deal for Europe' (Mission Soil) of the Horizon Europe programme and the Swiss Confederation. The Mission Soil is focused on protecting and restoring soils and promoting sustainable management practices in urban and rural areas and leading the transition towards healthy soils by 2030. CURIOSOIL contributes to the Mission’s specific objective of improving soil literacy in society embedding soil health in school curricula and increasing knowledge and awareness of citizens, policy-makers and practitioners on how to manage soil health for a more sustainable and climate smart future. IUCN provides co-fununding for development of the interactive exhibition.