KAFKAS UNIVERSITESI

Their core work

Kafkas University is a Turkish public university based in Kars, eastern Turkey — a region bordering Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan with significant livestock farming and documented endemic presence of tick-borne and insect-borne viral diseases. Their H2020 research work focuses on zoonotic and vector-borne viral pathogens that threaten both human health and livestock economies, specifically Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever virus and bluetongue virus. In practice, they contribute field expertise, access to naturally-occurring disease zones in the Caucasus region, and animal model or epidemiological study capabilities within large European research consortia. Their geographic position makes them a strategic partner for studies requiring data and samples from regions where these pathogens circulate endemically.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Both projects launched simultaneously in 2017, so the early/recent split reflects thematic breadth rather than a temporal transition: their initial entry into H2020 covered hemorrhagic fever vaccine science (CCHF, animal models) alongside vector ecology for livestock diseases (bluetongue, Culicoides). The longer-running CCHFVaccine project (ending 2025) suggests sustained engagement in human-relevant zoonosis work, while PALE-Blu concluded in 2021 — indicating their livestock epidemiology strand may have wound down. With only two projects, it is too early to call a definitive trend, but the evidence leans toward continued focus on tick-borne and arboviral zoonoses with a health-facing orientation.

Their longer-running project points toward sustained contribution in emerging hemorrhagic fever vaccine research, making them a candidate partner for future consortia addressing tick-borne or arboviral threats in the Black Sea and Caucasus corridor.

How they like to work

Kafkas University has participated exclusively as a consortium partner — never as a project coordinator — across both H2020 projects. Despite a small funding footprint (EUR 244,375 total), they connected with 30 distinct partners across 17 countries, suggesting they contribute as a specialist node rather than a general-purpose partner. This pattern indicates they are brought in for specific regional or scientific value — likely field access or endemic-zone expertise — rather than for administrative or coordination capacity.

Kafkas University has engaged with 30 unique consortium partners spanning 17 countries across just two projects, reflecting participation in large, geographically diverse research consortia typical of RIA grants in health and food sectors. Their network skews European but their location in eastern Turkey positions them as a bridge to the Caucasus and Central Asian disease corridors.

What sets them apart

Kafkas University's most distinctive asset is its physical location: Kars province sits in one of Europe's highest-risk zones for tick-borne diseases including CCHF, and the surrounding landscape is dominated by extensive livestock farming — a natural observation zone for bluetongue and related arboviruses. Few European or Turkish universities are positioned at this intersection of endemic disease geography and livestock-dense environment. For consortia studying pathogen spread from endemic reservoirs into Europe, KAU offers access that cannot be replicated from a lab in Paris or Berlin.

Highlights from their portfolio

• CCHFVaccine
  The longest and largest of their two projects (2017–2025, EUR 134,375), focused on vaccine development against Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever — a BSL-4 pathogen with no approved vaccine, placing this work among Europe's highest-priority infectious disease research programs.
• PALE-Blu
  Addresses bluetongue virus, an economically significant livestock disease expanding northward into Europe with climate change, with KAU contributing from a region where the Culicoides midge vectors are endemic.