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Short abstract:

Workshop featuring a series of interactive ‘Experiencing Soil’ activities interspaced with personal stories from the organizers and with room for collaborative reflection on the impact of such events.

Abstract:

Humans have diverse relationships with soils that can be shaped by personal, cultural and sensorial experiences. Soils matter at many levels since people can feel a deep connection with soil as a source of identity, sustenance and belonging. The academic perspective on soil commonly provides soil scientists with a very particular experience of soils, and they communicate their soil knowledge through publications, graphs and tables. During the Wageningen Soil Conference 2023 we organized an event that invited soil scientists to discover ways of experiencing soil with all their senses, with the goal of increasing their capacity to connect with society and inspiring them to make connections and share their work in ways that resonate with society. We have also shared this Experiencing Soils event with the Wageningen municipal community. During this Making and Doing contribution, we will bring our event to the conference. Participants will explore multiple ‘stations’ dedicated to experiencing soils in unexpected and creative ways (such as via touch, taste, smell, poetry, theater, sounds and painting). In organizing this event, we have brought together a diverse group of early-career scientists and started an ongoing collaboration to broaden the experiences of and perspectives on soil that are accepted in the soil scientific community. Therefore, we will share our motivations, experiences and personal reflections on this process and interact with the audience to collectively increase the impact of such events. Our approach can be of interest to many transdisciplinary scientists exploring innovative connections from the ground up.