AKADEMIA SZTUKI WOJENNEJ

Their core work

War Studies University (Akademia Sztuki Wojennej) is Poland's leading military higher education institution, based in Warsaw, specializing in security studies, defense education, and crisis management training. Their H2020 work centers on developing and validating training methodologies — from game-based learning for conflict prevention to structured preparedness frameworks for CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear) threats. They contribute academic and doctrinal expertise to European security training networks, helping design curricula and assess training capability across civil-military contexts. As an accredited university with a defense mandate, they occupy a rare position between academic research and operational security practice.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their first H2020 project (2016), the university focused on the softer, civilian-adjacent side of security — using games and roleplaying to build conflict prevention skills, with emphasis on diversity, gender, and cross-cultural communication. By their second project (2017), the focus shifted sharply toward hard security infrastructure: CBRN threats, operational training networks, and institutional preparedness capability across European centers. The thread connecting both is training design and curriculum development, but the application moved from peacetime soft skills toward crisis response and hazardous-material preparedness.

Their trajectory points toward harder security and crisis management infrastructure — organizations planning consortia in CBRN defense, civil protection, or EU security capacity-building will find a credible academic partner with both doctrinal expertise and European network connections.

How they like to work

War Studies University has participated exclusively as a consortium member across both H2020 projects — never in a coordination role — which suggests they position themselves as specialist contributors rather than project managers. Despite only two projects, they engaged with 26 distinct partners across 13 countries, indicating they join broad, multi-national consortia where their military-academic profile adds legitimacy and domain depth. This makes them a predictable, low-overhead partner: they bring specific expertise without competing for project leadership.

Across two projects, they built connections with 26 partners in 13 countries — an unusually wide network for such a small H2020 footprint, reflecting the pan-European composition typical of security and CBRN training consortia. No geographic concentration is evident from the data, suggesting their partnerships follow topic rather than proximity.

What sets them apart

War Studies University is one of very few military higher education institutions in the EU H2020 program, giving them a positioning that civilian universities and research institutes cannot easily replicate — they bring operational defense doctrine into the academic research space. For consortia in security, civil protection, or crisis management, they provide a Polish defense-sector anchor with formal academic standing, which can satisfy both geographic and institutional diversity requirements. Their ability to bridge soft-skills education (GAP) and hard security infrastructure (eNOTICE) makes them versatile across the full security training spectrum.

Highlights from their portfolio

• eNOTICE
  The longest-running and best-funded of their two projects (2017-2023, EUR 100,812), this initiative built a pan-European CBRN training network — a high-stakes security domain that positions the university within EU civil protection and defense preparedness infrastructure.
• GAP
  Gaming for Peace (EUR 118,875) is their highest-funded project and demonstrates an unusual capability: applying game design and virtual simulation to conflict prevention education, bridging military expertise with digital learning innovation.