RIIGI LABORIUURINGUTE JA RISKIHINDAMISE KESKUS

Their core work

Estonia's national centre for laboratory research and risk assessment, operating as the country's reference point for food safety surveillance, animal disease diagnostics, and zoonotic disease monitoring. Their core work involves laboratory testing, epidemiological risk assessment, and surveillance programme support at the intersection of animal health, food safety, and public health — the domain known as One Health. In H2020, they contributed national diagnostic infrastructure and epidemiological data to pan-European disease surveillance networks and to the development of a DIVA-compatible vaccine against African Swine Fever. They translate laboratory findings into risk-based policy inputs for national and EU-level food safety governance.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Their two projects entered in consecutive years tell a clear story: first, broad engagement with the European One Health surveillance architecture — covering foodborne diseases, antimicrobial resistance, emerging threats, and health policy. Their second project narrowed sharply to a single, high-priority pathogen: African Swine Fever, with specific focus on DIVA vaccine development, diagnostic test validation, and eradication strategies for both domestic pigs and wild boar. This shift from wide-spectrum epidemiology toward a concentrated, disease-specific applied research role reflects both the acute threat that ASF poses to Eastern European livestock and the laboratory's growing specialisation in veterinary diagnostics.

They are moving toward specialist applied research in high-stakes animal disease control, making them a strong candidate for future ASF, swine health, or Eastern European livestock surveillance projects.

How they like to work

They have participated exclusively as a partner — never as project coordinator — across both H2020 projects. Both projects are large European joint programmes (EJP COFUND and Innovation Action), meaning they operate within broad multi-country consortia rather than small bilateral collaborations. Their role is consistent: contributing national laboratory capacity and country-level epidemiological data to networks that require geographic coverage across EU member states.

Despite only two projects, they have accumulated 63 unique consortium partners across 25 countries — a reflection of the large-scale EJP network structure rather than independent relationship-building. Their reach is fully European, with no evidence of focus on any particular sub-region.

What sets them apart

As Estonia's national reference laboratory for food safety and risk assessment, they carry official national authority status — which matters for consortia that need recognised country-level data and regulatory legitimacy. Their dual engagement in both broad One Health surveillance and targeted ASF vaccine research is unusual for an institution of their size, giving them a bridge role between policy-facing monitoring bodies and applied veterinary research groups. For consortia needing Eastern European national laboratory coverage, they are a natural and credible fit.

Highlights from their portfolio

• VACDIVA
  The highest-funded project in their portfolio, addressing one of the most economically destructive animal diseases in Europe with a technically ambitious DIVA vaccine — a distinction between infected and vaccinated animals that enables smarter eradication programmes.
• One Health EJP
  A flagship European Joint Programme connecting national food safety and veterinary laboratories across the EU, placing this organisation within the continent's primary network for foodborne disease and antimicrobial resistance surveillance.