Editor-in-chief

Prof. Paul Sudnik

Munich University of Applied Sciences, Germany

As the Editor-in-Chief of IJSSH, I invite you to contribute your scholarly work to our esteemed publication. The journal publishes papers which focus on the advanced researches in the field of all aspects of social science and humanity. I'll endeavour to make this journal grow better and hopefully it will become a recognized journal among researchers and scholars in related fields.

Home > Archive > 2026 > Volume 16, Number 3, 2026
IJSSH 2026 Vol.16(3): 113-116
doi: 10.18178/ijssh.2026.16.3.1288

Bridging Soil Science and Society: The Role of Community-engaged Learning in Advancing Soil Health Governance

Andrea Čajková *, Marta Kuhnová, and Katarína Slobodová Nováková

Manuscript received June 4, 2026; accepted June 30, 2026; published July 25, 2026.

Abstract—Growing recognition of the importance of soil degradation as a critical environmental, economic, and societal challenge requires new approaches to governance that combine scientific knowledge with public decision-making. This article explains the involvement of Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Trnava (UCM) in the Horizon Europe LOESS project and highlights the political significance of the educational initiative Education for Soil Health: Community-Based Research and Learning (CERL). The article, which interdisciplinarily links the fields of education policy, good governance, and environmental management, demonstrates how community-engaged research and education can strengthen evidence-based soil health policies that respond to societal needs. The CERL-based training module is an innovative capacity-building tool that equips students, researchers, and stakeholders with the skills needed to co-create knowledge with local communities, public authorities, and civil society actors. By promoting participatory research practices, this form of education helps translate scientific knowledge into locally rooted and socially legitimate policy solutions. Based on UCM’s experience with integrating CERL principles into higher education and stakeholder collaboration, the article argues that such approaches enhance the quality, inclusiveness, and feasibility of public policies related to soil protection and sustainable land use. Attention is paid to the role of universities as intermediaries between science, policy, and communities, and to the implications for multi-level governance within the European Green Deal and the European Union (EU) Soil Strategy. The paper concludes that community-engaged learning is not only an educational innovation but also a strategic governance instrument that contributes to more targeted, participatory, and effective public policy design and implementation in the field of soil health.

Keywords—soil science, society, community-engaged learning, soil health governance, public policy

Cite: Andrea Čajková, Marta Kuhnová, and Katarína Slobodová Nováková, "Bridging Soil Science and Society: The Role of Community-engaged Learning in Advancing Soil Health Governance," International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 113-116, 2026.


Copyright © 2026 by the authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (CC BY 4.0).
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