Conclusions and outlook
Citizen sciences for soil ecological quality

Projects incorporating participatory approaches represent a new way of doing research, by breaking down the barriers between academic approaches that are often too restricted to specialists in their conception and dissemination. This need to bring science closer to the citizen stems from the gradual mutation of our society, which has rapid access to a wealth of information, albeit of variable quality, and is looking for rapid answers to major societal problems. If academic research fails to make this shift, citizens will look for answers from other, less rigorous and less independent sources. For academic research, it's also a way of refocusing on a science that serves the public, and thus of rehabilitating its image, which is sometimes tarnished by conflicts of interest and false scientific credentials.

The benefits of participatory approaches are manifold, for...