Lecture: Mushrooms, soil and health in school lessons

How can complex ecological relationships such as soil health and fungal diversity be meaningfully and effectively integrated into school curriculums? Ulrich Hobusch, a lecturer at the University of Applied Sciences for Agricultural and Environmental Education, addresses this question in his lecture.
He will present the "One Health Teaching Clinic" project – an initiative that aims to make socially relevant scientific topics tangible and accessible. The focus is on new didactic approaches that allow topics such as fungi, soil, and health to be integrated into classrooms in a lively way.
In addition, two student groups from Graz and Münster will report on their specific educational project. As part of a seminar, they planned, implemented, and supervised a school intervention on the topic of "Mushrooms & Soil Health" – including small research sessions in the classroom.
In this lecture, they share their concepts, materials, and results – and show how science, teaching, and social impact can be interwoven.

Lecture: A 21st Century Fungarium

The Kew Fungarium has over a million specimens spanning 200 years. Time, taxonomy, and techniques may have changed, but every one of those specimens is as valuable today as it was when originally collected. Hear how the Fungarium grows, how it is used, and how it will be used long into the future.

Lecture: Material-based design with fungal mycelium – From material experiment to architectural concept

Melissa Acker earned her diploma in Industrial Design from the Stuttgart State Academy of Fine Arts. During her studies, she developed a passion for projects with social and ecological added value. As a product and interior designer and sustainable materials manager, she worked with international companies and local design agencies to promote the increased use of sustainable materials.

Since 2021, she has been an academic assistant in the Master's program in Interior Design at the Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences, where she teaches and researches alternative materials in design and architecture. In 2023, she initiated and established the "Myco Lab - Laboratory for Fungal Materials," which offers students low-threshold access to mycelium research. In 2022, she founded the studio sustainable matter, which operates in an interdisciplinary manner in the field of product design, interior design, and materials research. In addition to material research and consulting, sustainable design concepts are developed there to promote a new perception and appreciation of resources and advance the innovative use of materials in the context of the climate crisis.

In her talk, Melissa Acker will introduce the method of material-based design—an approach to educational research projects that uses the material itself as the starting point, not a finished concept. Students begin hands-on with the material: They explore its properties, test its limits, and are inspired by its reactions. This creates direct, inquiry-based learning that combines creative thinking and practice-oriented action.
Using project examples, she shows how students initially test mycelium on a small scale – from production and understanding growth processes to material behavior and processing techniques. This leads to the development of architectural concepts in which mycelium is used, for example, as an insulating material.

The Myco Lab operates in an interdisciplinary manner and networks with partners such as the Fraunhofer Institute. One example of cross-institutional collaboration is the installation "Escape into the Shadows," created in cooperation with the University of Stuttgart and Deggendorf University of Applied Sciences for the "keep cool!" exhibition, running parallel to this year's Venice Architecture Biennale. It demonstrates how fungal mycelium, as an organic, shade-providing structure, can contribute to adaptation to urban overheating—thus combining art, design, and science to develop new, sustainable strategies to combat the effects of climate change.

The iterative process—from material experiments to full-scale applications—makes the design potential of mycelium tangible and raises awareness of material cycles and resource conservation. The lecture combines materials research, design practice, and sustainability, demonstrating how materials can become active components in the design process—an experience that strengthens knowledge, creativity, and sustainability skills in equal measure.

Lecture: Mycelium Cultivating Sustainable Communities

Explore how mushrooms and mycelium can help us grow more than food—they can help us regenerate soil, reduce waste, and reconnect communities. This session dives into accessible mushroom cultivation using recycled materials, and how these practices can be brought into schools, gardens, and community spaces.

Learn how to:

• Grow edible mushrooms with low-tech, low-cost methods
• Use fungi to improve compost and soil health
• Turn waste streams into growing opportunities
• Integrate mushrooms into education and community food projects
• Use the mycelium network as a model for sustainability and connection

Whether you're a teacher, grower, or fungi enthusiast, you'll leave with practical tools and fresh ideas to cultivate change—one mushroom at a time.