- Five Mission Boards have been established by the European Commission this year
- Each Mission Board will address a different challenge such as climate change and healthy soil and food
- Each mission area will have an Assembly established with up to 30 experts
- Dr Krzywoszynska will act as an advisor to one of the missions in the next EU research and innovation programme
Dr Anna Krzywoszynska has been appointed to the EU's Horizon Europe Assembly for Soil Health and Food. This Assembly will be called upon to support the activities of the Soil Health and Food Mission Board, one of the five Mission Boards established by the European Commission to shape Horizon Europe, the future EU framework programme for research and innovation. The Missions aim to tackle some of the greatest challenges facing our world, such as climate change, healthy oceans and healthy soil and food.
Dr Krzywoszynska is an environmental social scientist, specialising in the nexus of food production and environmental management. She approaches soil health as an interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral issue, and her recent research has been examining farmers’, scientists’, and policymakers’ practices to improve soil health.
Her interest in soil health as a real-world challenge which requires concerted action across disciplines and sectors has brought Dr Krzywoszynska to work closely with civic society, third sector and policy organisations. She founded the Soil Care Network, a global community of scholars and soil-related practitioners interested in interdisciplinary soil research, policy and social movements. Dr Krzywoszynska is also an Associate Director of the University of Sheffield Institute for Sustainable Food, co-leading Pillar 2 whose remit is interdisciplinarity excellence and stakeholder engagement.
“I am delighted to have received this appointment," Dr Krzywoszynska said. "It clearly communicates the European Union’s recognition that environmental challenges such as soil health require action across disciplines, and can only be successful when addressed in dialogue with lay citizens and other stakeholders. It is extremely important that social scientists and humanities scholars be part of such efforts.
"I look forward to working with the very high profile scholars and stakeholders who have been appointed to the Mission Board. I believe together we can make soil health a priority for EUs environmental and food research, and make a significant difference to how we think about and act on land today.”
As a member of the Assembly, Dr Krzywoszynska will work closely with the Soil Health and Food Mission Board, reflecting on discussions from the mission and addressing issues such as how to define mission priorities, how to maximise impact and how to liaise with stakeholders and the public at large.