Fundación Ibercivis is hosting the annual meeting of the European ECHO project consortium from 21 to 23 October 2026 in Zaragoza.
At this meeting, the 16 partner organisations will review the progress of the 28 ongoing citizen science initiatives and plan the work for the project’s final year.
Over the three days of the meeting in Zaragoza, the consortium partners will share updates on the status of the 28 national initiatives and review the progress of the three technological tools developed by the project: the mobile app that guides sample collection, the educational platform aimed at participating citizens and, notably, ECHOREPO.
ECHOREPO is the open access repository where the data generated by the project is stored, with more than 8,000 soil samples collected so far by volunteers across Europe. The repository is connected to the European Soil Observatory (EUSO) and makes the data collected available for use by the scientific community as well as by public administrations, landowners and anyone interested in consulting the data.
Finally, the meeting will also include a session dedicated to assessing the project’s impact, with a view to planning the actions for its final year before it closes in May 2027.
What ECHO is and what its objectives are
ECHO Soil (Engaging Citizens in soil science: the road to Healthier sOils) is a research and innovation project that uses citizen science to generate knowledge about the health of European soils. Its approach rests on three principles: motivating citizens to protect and restore soils, providing them with the tools and knowledge to take an active role in data collection, and enabling channels so that this participation also feeds into decision-making on soil-related issues.
The consortium is made up of 16 organisations from different European countries, including universities, research centres, small and medium-sized enterprises and foundations, coordinated by the Libera Università di Bolzano. Each one leads a citizen science initiative in its own territory: 28 in total, one for each European Union country plus Scotland, tailored to the different soil types, land uses and biogeographical regions of each area.