EIDGENOSSISCHES DEPARTEMENT FUR VERTEIDIGUNG, BEVOLKERUNGSSCHUTZ UND SPORT

Their core work

The Swiss Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport (DDPS) is a federal government ministry that contributes biosecurity, CBRN defence, and public health preparedness expertise to European research. Within H2020, its laboratories — particularly Spiez Laboratory, Switzerland's centre for CBRN protection — have provided specialist capabilities in biological threat detection, vaccine safety evaluation, and environmental remediation. Their role spans from Ebola vaccine clinical trial analysis to establishing certified reference materials for biological toxin identification across Europe.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Their early H2020 work (2015–2017) concentrated heavily on Ebola vaccine research and infectious disease response — two projects on VSV-ZEBOV vaccine immunogenicity plus a zoonosis training network. From 2017 onward, their focus broadened into biological toxin standardisation (EuroBioTox) and surprisingly into environmental biotechnology (ELECTRA), suggesting the department's laboratories are applying their microbiology and analytical chemistry capabilities to new domains beyond traditional CBRN defence.

Moving from reactive outbreak response toward systematic biosecurity infrastructure — standardised detection methods, reference materials, and broader environmental applications of their microbiology expertise.

How they like to work

Exclusively a participant or third party — they have never coordinated an H2020 project, consistent with their role as a government laboratory contributing specialist capabilities rather than driving research agendas. With 90 unique partners across 27 countries from just 6 projects, they operate in large, multinational consortia typical of security and public health programmes. This means they are experienced team players comfortable in complex governance structures, but partners should not expect them to take the administrative lead.

Despite only 6 projects, they have built a remarkably wide network of 90 partners across 27 countries, reflecting their participation in large pan-European biosecurity and health consortia. Their reach extends well beyond Switzerland into a truly pan-European and partly global network.

What sets them apart

As a federal defence ministry with active research laboratories, they occupy a rare niche: government-grade biosecurity and CBRN analytical capability that is available for civilian European research collaboration. Few partners can offer the combination of military-grade biological detection infrastructure, accredited laboratory facilities (Spiez Laboratory is internationally recognised), and regulatory authority that a national defence department brings. For consortium builders in health security or CBRN preparedness, they add both technical credibility and policy-level relevance that academic partners cannot match.

Highlights from their portfolio

• EuroBioTox
  Establishing Europe-wide validated procedures and certified reference materials for biological toxin detection — directly building continental biosecurity infrastructure.
• VSV-EBOPLUS
  Long-running (2016–2023) systems vaccinology study of Ebola vaccine responses in adults and children, combining clinical trials with transcriptomics and immunogenicity profiling.
• ELECTRA
  Unexpected pivot — a defence department contributing to bio-electrochemical environmental remediation with 3D-printed biofilms, showing breadth beyond their core CBRN mandate.