I’m a resear­cher wor­king on mycor­rhi­zae. I look at how the net­work forms and how it trans­ports car­bon, water, nitro­gen and phos­pho­rus during trade with the plant. I’m the­re­fore pas­sio­nate about the fluxes of the life ele­ments (CHONP)  from the micros­cale to the macro­scale. I think spea­king the soil life lan­guage can make us see the world from a dif­ferent angle. Diving into soils is not only about unders­tan­ding how we can use it or why it is threa­te­ned. It is also about dis­co­ve­ring the com­plex inter­ac­tions that arise in an eco­sys­tem when com­mon resources for sur­vi­val are limi­ted.

I am fas­ci­na­ted by the soil and how lear­ning from it holds a poten­tial of trans­for­ma­tion for us humans. The­re­fore, I feel dedi­ca­ted to share the know­ledge I gai­ned during my stu­dies about soil to socie­ty and this wish is roo­ted in a deep will of being at the ser­vice of human­kind and life. I also aim at lin­king my scien­ti­fic back­ground with other dis­ci­plines such as gra­phic expres­sion, lite­ra­ture or move­ment to create mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­na­ry ways of enga­ging people into dee­per awa­re­ness of the way we relate to earth. 

I am an orga­nic far­mer in the Nether­lands, wor­king with the soil eve­ry day to pro­duce nutri­tious and heal­thy food that does not harm our envi­ron­ment. Soil has been a fas­ci­na­tion since I stu­died plant sciences at Wage­nin­gen uni­ver­si­ty and I never stop to be ama­zed at how much life and abun­dance is in there. At the same time I am concer­ned, because I see how our way(agriculture but also indus­try, fores­try, urba­ni­za­tion…) are threa­te­ning this resource..  I think we need a wider unders­tan­ding of soil across socie­ty in order to take bet­ter care and make infor­med deci­sions about what we consume and I enjoy wor­king in crea­ting this awa­re­ness.

To raise awa­re­ness among all kinds of topics rela­ted to the living world, is defi­ni­te­ly the most empo­we­ring part of my job. It’s not just about rai­sing awa­re­ness, it’s all about fin­ding the right way to do so. I am so dee­ply convin­ced that magic hap­pens when both know­ledge, emo­tions and play­ful spi­rit meet. Afte­rall, aren’t we all big kids ? Firm­ly dri­ven by this convic­tion, I ente­red Spark­news to lead a pro­ject that soon has become the “ pro­ject full of heart I will never change for nothing else in the world ” Why ? Because living soils are the root of what’s consi­de­red the most won­der­ful thing on earth : life itself. Dis­co­ve­ring and explo­ring what lay beneath our feet is a form of tra­vel in the depth of our own exis­tence. This is the poe­tic vision of soils I want to convey through this work­shop.

When I star­ted my inter­n­ship at Spark­news back in 2022, the Living Soils Work­shop was under construc­tion, and one of the first pro­jects I embar­ked upon. I had never given much thought about the topic of soils at the time – even in my stu­dies, even though I was stu­dying poli­ti­cal science and eco­lo­gy at Agro­Pa­ris­Tech at the time. Wor­king on the deve­lop­ment of the work­shop was such an ama­zing occa­sion to learn so much, so fast about soils, and now that its dif­fu­sion is part of my job, I feel like I dive more dee­ply into fas­ci­na­ting soil know­ledge eve­ry day. I am pas­sio­nate about chan­ging our society’s nar­ra­tives for a bet­ter future – and there’s a lot to do around the nar­ra­tives sur­roun­ding soils and agri­cul­ture, as part of the wider nar­ra­tive shift we need to rethink our rela­tion­ship to the rest of the living (and non-living) world.  

After years of expe­rience in the eco­no­my, consul­ting and stra­te­gic plan­ning, I ini­tia­ted a radi­cal change of direc­tion towards sus­tai­na­bi­li­ty and social and envi­ron­men­tal tran­si­tion. This per­so­nal change of direc­tion led me to Spark­news, as head of posi­tive inno­va­tion, to par­ti­ci­pate in buil­ding pro­grammes and metho­do­lo­gies that will acce­le­rate the cultu­ral trans­for­ma­tion of socie­ty. The Living Soil Work­shop is one of the pro­jects that has had the big­gest impact on me. Soil is a sub­ject that is still too unde­res­ti­ma­ted com­pa­red to its impor­tance. It’s incre­dible to ‘dive’ into the secrets of the soil and dis­co­ver what an incre­dible organ of life it is. Recon­nec­ting with this organ of life is cer­tain­ly a good first step towards recon­nec­ting with all living things. And when I hear my son talk to me about orga­nic mat­ter, I can’t help but think that today’s edu­ca­tion must inevi­ta­bly be lin­ked to soil.

Based in Paris, I spend my time [1] deco­ding the major trans­for­ma­tion chal­lenges we face as a socie­ty, [2] vul­ga­ri­zing them through awa­re­ness-rai­sing for­mats, and [3] enga­ging dif­ferent audiences in chan­ging their prac­tices (cor­po­rates, main­ly). What ani­mates me about soil, is that it’s an incre­dible peda­go­gi­cal medium. It’s phy­si­cal, tan­gible. We’re all connec­ted to it, in one way or ano­ther. Recon­nec­ting citi­zens to the soil, to the way it works and to the issues sur­roun­ding its pre­ser­va­tion is a fan­tas­tic way of rai­sing awa­re­ness on many of today’s envi­ron­men­tal chal­lenges. In this sense, I’m convin­ced that soil is a genuine vehicle to engage people in a new rela­tion­ship with the living world.

After wor­king for 4 years on car­bon foot­print reduc­tion for com­pa­nies and ter­ri­to­rial autho­ri­ties, here I am as the part-time coor­di­na­tor of the Living Soils Work­shop ! I have always been pas­sio­nate about plants and the forest, and I dis­co­ve­red recent­ly the incre­dible life and role of the soil in our eco­sys­tems. Books like The hid­den life of trees by Peter Wohl­le­ben or Jamais seul by Marc-André Selosse ope­ned my eyes on a world made of inter­ac­tions and effi­cient recy­cling of resources : a world that should ins­pire us, as humans. It is a great plea­sure for me to par­ti­ci­pate in this awa­re­ness and, as soil fun­gi, to create and expand a great net­work !

I’ve always felt a deep desire to take care of people and the pla­net. Brin­ging people toge­ther, nur­tu­ring ideas, and taking action for a more just and sus­tai­nable agri­cul­ture — that’s what drives me. My back­ground in agro­no­my and food engi­nee­ring, com­bi­ned with expe­riences in com­pa­nies, asso­cia­tions, and start-ups, has given me a broad pers­pec­tive on envi­ron­men­tal and agri­cul­tu­ral chal­lenges. But more than that, it spar­ked a need to engage in a col­lec­tive pro­ject that tru­ly ali­gns with my values.

Joi­ning The Living Soils Work­shop felt like a natu­ral step — a way to bring mea­ning to my com­mit­ment. It’s the oppor­tu­ni­ty to contri­bute my skills in pro­ject coor­di­na­tion, com­mu­ni­ca­tion, and inno­va­tion to a human-cen­te­red, groun­ded ini­tia­tive that speaks of living soils, resi­lient ter­ri­to­ries, and inclu­sive agroe­co­lo­gi­cal tran­si­tions.

I’m tru­ly exci­ted to be part of this team, rea­dy to learn, connect, and help sow the seeds of some­thing mea­ning­ful — toge­ther.

Brin­ging people toge­ther around cli­mate and eco­lo­gi­cal issues has been at the heart of my work for years. I’ve faci­li­ta­ted work­shops, sup­por­ted orga­ni­sa­tions in their low-car­bon tran­si­tions, and explo­red how to build col­lec­tive action. Joi­ning the Living Soils Work­shop felt like a natu­ral step. It brings toge­ther eve­ry­thing I care about : envi­ron­men­tal edu­ca­tion, deep connec­tions to place, and the trans­for­ma­tive power of col­lec­tive lear­ning. I’m espe­cial­ly hap­py to be contri­bu­ting to the asso­cia­tion’s Euro­pean pro­jects and help shape a sha­red vision for heal­thy soils, resi­lient com­mu­ni­ties, and inclu­sive agroe­co­lo­gi­cal tran­si­tions.