What is ECHO?

ECHO – Engaging Citizens in soil science, the road to Healthier sOils is a European research project (2023–2027) funded by Horizon Europe and UKRI.

It assesses soil health across Europe, together with citizens.

What makes ECHO special?

  • Citizens actively collect and analyse soil data
  • To do so, free toolkits are provided as well as an App for data analyis
  • The data is openly accessible via ECHOREPO
  • We are 16 partners across Europe that carry out this initiative
  • We ame to have approximately 16,500 sampling sites

Want to know more? Check.out our official ECHO-Website!


Our Department of Sustainable Development and Change is part of the ECHO project consortium and leads the implementation of the initiative in:

  • Germany
  • Luxembourg
  • Belgium

Coordinating citizen engagement and soil health monitoring activities in these countries.

You want to become part of ECHO? You can! Just keep reading and contact us under: echo@uni-hohenheim.de

Note: For Germany, the initiative is almost complete. This means you can no longer take soil samples using our toolkits. However, you can still register for the newsletter and explore the data in the ECHOrepo.

Citizen scientist, or ambassador? The choice is yours!

When participating in our project, you can choose between two roles (or become both):

Citizen scientist   Ambassador
  • Use the ECHO toolkit
  • Take soil samples
  • Analyse soil health indicators
  • Contribute data to the ECHOrepo   
  • Are in close contact with us
  • Coordinate local groups/their network
  • Distribute toolkits
  • Organise sampling events
  • Return soil samples

Interested in becoming an Ambassador?

Everyone is welcome! Whether you're passionate about soil health, community engagement, or simply curious, feel free to apply, no prior expertise required, as you'll learn through our training.

The ambassador registration can be found on the official ECHOsoil Website:
https://echosoil.eu/become-an-echo-ambassador

You already registered as an ECHO-Ambassador or you are a Citizen Scientist?

That’s what you will either distribute as an ambassador or work with as a Citizen Scientitst:

Toolkits, that include:

  • Sampling equipment (shovel, tubes, pH stripes…)
  • Soil health analysis materials (field protocol, soil factsheet)
  • QR code access (for the App)
  • Instruction materials (step-by-step material)

The ECHOsoil-App (available in Apple Store and Googleplay Store):

  • Register as citizen scientist or ambassador (ambassadors need a code, you can get it from us, just write an e-mail!)
  • Scan toolkit QR code, start the soil sampling process
  • Enter soil data in the App
  • Find ambassadors nearby

Special material for kids and teenagers (on request):

  • Quiz cards
  • Workshopmaterial
  • Booklet to write in soil data instead of using the App
  • SoiLab for Teens by ECHOsoil, a online learning platform for teens about soils

How you get the toolkits and return the samples? That’s easy!

Getting the Toolkits:

  1. As a registered ambassador: Order your preferred number of toolkits via mail: echo@uni-hohenheim.de 
    We will send them to you via post
  2. Distribute them to your citizen scientist, they carry out their sampling and return soil samples to you for the analysis in the lab

Return soil samples:

For Luxembourg and Belgium

  • As a citizen scientist: return your samples to your ambassador
  • As an ambassador: collect the soil samples. Be in touch with us to agree on a pick-up date, we will come to you to get the samples in person.

For Germany:

  • As a citizen scientists: Return your soil sample to your ambassador, or send back to us (we forward it to lab)
  • As an ambassador: register the soil samples and send them to the lab in Bozen (with our help for sure!)


The address for shipments back to our university:

Universität Hohenheim
Fg. Nachhaltige Entwicklung und Wandel, 560H
ECHO Projekt
Wollgrasweg 49
70599 Hohenheim

Shipping is always free, we will get you a shipping label!

Roadmap about task procedure

You are a bit overwhelmed by the projects structure? Don´t worry, we got you! We summed up the whole process in a step-by-step roadmap you can download in your preferred language here:

GermanEnglishDutchFrenchLuxembourgish
DE Ambassador RoadmapEN Ambassadors RoadmapDutch Roadmap voor ambassadeursFrench Feuille de route pour les ambassadeursLUX Weeplang fir Ambassadeuren

DE Citizen Scientists Roadmap

EN Citizen_Scientists_RoadmapDutch Burgerwetenschappers StappenplanFrench Citizen_Scientists_RoadmapLUX Biergerwëssenschaftler Weeplang

Still have unanswered questions?

Feel free to email us anytime at echo@uni-hohenheim.de.

Please note that the official ECHOsoil website lists its own email address. However, for questions regarding our responsible regions (Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium), please contact us directly at echo@uni-hohenheim.de.