PREPSOIL has engaged with more than 80 Communities of Practice from more than 50 regions in the “soil health effort” conducting interviews available as short videos. In addition, PREPSOIL has organized >12 outreach activities among agricultural sector professionals in 7 EU countries bringing awareness and knowledge for sector-oriented communication and capacity building about soil health forward. The Knowledge Hub - a multi-lingual online library of quality soil-related resources -has achieved over 27,000 visits recorded by the end of the project. The high level of engagement signals the relevance of the Knowledge Hub and of improving access to knowledge about soil health for the soil health community in Europe. Through a dynamic and collaborative strategy for engaging stakeholders, PREPSOIL has through its social media effort reached a community around PREPSOIL with 2953 followers on the social media channels and as such succeeded in building a strong stakeholder community fostering trust, mutual understanding, and open dialogue which has led to wider uptake, greater visibility, and increased policy or societal impact.
Contributing to the expected impact of improving the knowledge base and the access to critical information to take action on soil health, PREPSOIL conducted 20 regional soil needs appraisals as “soil needs assessments” in 20 representative European regions engaging more than 500 stakeholders. Following an interdisciplinary and participatory research approach, the aim was to support a wider appraisal effort as further preparation for the next phase of the Mission Soil. Work in second reporting period focused on developing a regionally focused Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA). PREPSOIL successfully delivered a structured training curriculum on soil health monitoring aligned with the emerging EU policy framework. Through a participatory co-creation process, training needs were identified, a modular curriculum was developed, and four pilot training sessions were conducted. More than 80 professionals from various Member States, including technical staff, JRC representatives and high-level experts participated and evaluated the training sessions positively providing a solid foundation for future capacity building efforts across Europe.
PREPSOIL has through its collaborative work identified and documented a wide range of Communities of Practice and notably curated the selection of 20 Communities of Practice published in a dedicated section of the Web Portal with contact information, descriptions of their activities, and details on their thematic focus and expertise. PREPSOIL supported the promotion and development of Mirror Groups, offering examples and guidance to support their formation, helping define their purpose through direct engagement. And PREPSOIL developed a tool to guide science-policy-society interface activities in Mission Soil Living Labs (LLs) particularly suitable for the facilitation of multi-level policy integration. Eventually, towards the end of the project in May 2025, PREPSOIL organised its Final Event at the Committee of the Regions bringing together more than 70 participants from across regions and sectors. The PREPSOIL Final Event featured a comprehensive programme, including keynote addresses, panel discussions, and targeted presentations centred on the key results. The Final Event served as a pivotal moment for the project, enabling direct engagement with end-users, policymakers, researchers, and practitioners, thereby significantly enhancing the visibility and potential uptake of project outputs.
