Meet the Soil Health Advisory Board.
Meike Hollnaicher is an eco-social designer (MA) who grew up on a small farm. She initially worked in the field of communication and design for public institutions and various brands before returning to her roots and now focuses on the potential of agriculture in the climate crisis.
As part of her master’s thesis, which she completed summa cum laude at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano in November 2020, she founded the Farmfluencers of South Tyrol project. She then took over the project management for a trade fair on the topic of direct agricultural marketing in Bolzano.
Today she works as a freelance graphic designer and content creator and is involved in various projects in the field of sustainability and agriculture.
Arwyn Jones has worked for the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, since 1993, where now he is the Deputy Head of the Land Resources and Supply Chain Assessments Unit. He is currently leading the development of the EU Soil Observatory, which is providing scientific support to a range of EU soil-related policy areas including the proposal for a Soil Monitoring Law.
He also coordinates the LUCAS Soil Module, which provides harmonised assessments of soil characteristics across the EU. He supported the design and initial development of the Soil Mission and is now actively supporting it’s implementation to ensure that the outputs of project such as ECHO will contribute to the EU policy cycle. He is lead author of the JRC Soil Atlas series and was responsible for the development of the Global Soil Partnership Pillar 2, which addressed education and awareness raising. He has a PhD from the University of Reading in the use of remote sensing to map soils and landforms in arid and semi-arid environments.
Dr Heather McKhann (F) coordinates the European Joint Programming Initiative on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change (FACCE-JPI).
She has a doctorate from the University of California, Los Angeles. Following post-doctoral experiences in France and the Netherlands, she worked as a researcher at the French National Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE) between 1999 and 2009, leading a project on natural genetic variation in plants. She coordinated a trilateral project funded through the ERA-NET Plant Genomics. Since November 2009, she is an European affairs officer at the INRAE. In this role, in addition to the coordination of FACCE-JPI, she co-coordinated FACCE ERA-NET Plus, coordinated the Coordination and Support Action (CSA) ALL-Ready in preparation for European Partnership on agroecology living labs and research infrastructures and is WP leader in several ERA-NETs.
Professor Adele Muscolo is a distinguished scientist specializing in the fields of soil fertility, soil and crop quality.
She earned her degree in Biological Sciences from Messina University, Italy, and completed her Ph.D. in Food Science at Naples University, Italy. Her professional journey commenced as a researcher at the “Mediterranea” University of Reggio Calabria, where she is Full Professor in soil chemistry and ecology. Prof. Muscolo research is focused on exploring the intricate relationships among soil, plant and crop quality, on the use of agroindustrial wastes to produce fertilizers to improve soil and crop quality and also on the use agriculture wastes for pharmaceutical purposes. Her overarching research goal is to offer innovative ecosustainable solutions in the optical of circular economy. Her research activity results are disseminated within the scientific community and industry. Professor Muscolo holds the position of Associate Editor for the Journal of Forestry Research, Phyton and Forests. She is also an evaluator of research projects for the European Community, International Funding Research Agencies, as well as Italian and Foreign Research Ministries.
With over 200 papers published in international journals with Impact Factor, Prof. Muscolo made significant contributions to her field. Acknowledging her outstanding contributions, Professor Muscolo has been recognized as part of the “World’s Top 2% of scientists for the years 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. Professor Muscolo was appointed as a Member of the Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils (ITPS) under the FAO-Global Soil Partnership for the term 2022-2025.
Kaija has an M.Sc Environmental forestry, a B.Sc in Forest products marketing and professional teacher qualification.
She coordinates ENO network and community engagement, development cooperation and sustainable development projects as well as acts as a facilitator in youth activities. She is a PhD candidate in applied education with an interest in co-creation, cross-boundary knowledge creation, multidisciplinary learning and 21st century skills.
She works on environmental and sustainable development related topics both in research and education. She is the chairman of the board of ENO Schoolnet Association
PROJECT ECHO – ENGAGING CITIZENS IN SOIL SCIENCE: THE ROAD TO HEALTHIER SOILS IS FUNDED BY THE EUROPEAN UNION UNDER GA NO. 101112869 AND CO-FUNDED BY UK RESEARCH AND INNOVATION (UKRI).
VIEWS AND OPINIONS EXPRESSED ARE HOWEVER THOSE OF THE AUTHOR(S) ONLY AND DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THOSE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, UKRI, OR THE EUROPEAN RESEARCH EXECUTIVE AGENCY (REA). NEITHER THE EUROPEAN UNION, UKRI NOR THE REA CAN BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR THEM.
EN 
CS 
NL 
FI 
FR 
DE 
EL 
IT 
PL 
PT 
RO 
SK 
ES 