Who we are

ECDC's organisational structure

Director's office

The Director’s Office oversees and coordinates the implementation of the Centre’s strategy. This includes the full cycle from planning to monitoring until the final reporting, as well as constant improvement through key performance indicators (KPIs), evaluations and audits as well as quality management.

The Director’s Office consists of the following sections:

• Executive Office: The Executive Office supports the organisation in the implementation of the strategy by ensuring effective and efficient operations and smooth interactions with key stakeholders.
• European and international cooperation: This section serves as a central point of entry for all of ECDC's strategic relations with institutions of the European Union (the European Parliament, the Council of the EU and the European Commission), agencies of the EU, EU candidate and potential candidate countries and European Neighbourhood Policy partner countries, World Health Organization and major Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. It also coordinates ECDC's support to the EU Member States and to the EEA countries.
• Communication: This  Section is responsible for risk, crisis and external communication, media relations, web management, social media, and internal communication, amongst other areas. ECDC's main communication goal is to help its target audiences make informed decisions about their health and the health of others, through active engagement and the provision of relevant, easy-to-understand and actionable content about infectious diseases epidemiology, prevention, and control, in collaboration with Member States, the European Commission and other partners across the EU and globally. 

Disease Programmes Unit

The Disease Programmes Unit provides support related to specific diseases and public health issues to the EU Member States, EEA countries, the European Commission and other partners, thus strengthening EU-level and national disease-specific prevention and control programmes and initiatives. Through the disease networks, ECDC maintains a close link and an intensive dialogue with the national authorities and public health institutes in the countries, in coordination with the European Commission and the WHO Regional Office for Europe.

The Unit validates, analyses, and interprets surveillance data, assesses, and communicates the results to provide evidence for policymaking and action at the EU and country level, and improves surveillance systems for the respective diseases in collaboration with external partners (WHO and other EU or UN agencies). Furthermore, by providing scientific advice and tailored country support, it supports Member States in their efforts to combat cross-border health threats related to communicable diseases and to reach related EU and Global Action Plans and UN Sustainable Development Goal targets.

The Unit also coordinates work on two horizontal functions: One Health and Prevention and Behaviour Change. Improved coordination of prevention activities in the EU is aimed at strengthening their effectiveness and impact on the health of EU citizens. Insights from the social and behavioural sciences are important to increase the acceptance of and compliance with public health interventions.

The Unit is divided into four sections:

• Antimicrobial Resistance and Healthcare-Associated Infections (ARHAI)
• Epidemic-Prone Diseases (EPR)
• Sexually Transmitted Infections, Blood-Borne Viruses and TB (SBT)
• Vaccine Preventable Diseases and Immunisation (VPI)

Public Health Functions

This Unit is responsible for the delivery of ECDC’s statutory public health functions. The Unit works closely with the disease programmes as it provides the data for the respective disease-specific outputs and needs the input from the DPs for the respective specific emergency preparedness and training needs. 

The work to achieve these aims is carried out in three sections:

• Public Health Training: This Section aims at strengthening public health capacities in Europe through the coordination of the EPIET and EUPHEM programmes, providing short courses and programmes for training the trainers and continuing education of experts. It also aims at strengthening training networks and progressively implementing innovative methods and tools for teaching.
• Emergency Preparedness and Response Support: This Section coordinates ECDC activities related to efficient planning and evaluation of emergency preparedness and response support. It also coordinates Public Health Events and deployments either with DG ECHO or with GOARN, and operates ECDC’s Emergency Operation Centre.
• Surveillance: With broad technical expertise in surveillance, this Section ensures timely detection of communicable disease threats, their assessment and provides support for enabling Member States to mitigate them.

Scientific Methods and Standards

Scientific excellence is at the heart of the ECDC vision and strategy. This Unit leads the processes for strengthening the scientific excellence and the dissemination of knowledge within the organisation and to partners. This includes the quality assurance of ECDC’s scientific work and the organisation of ESCAIDE. It also covers the definition of the standards for the Centre’s scientific processes and outputs and monitors performance against those standards.

The Unit is also responsible for ensuring the relevance and transparency of ECDC’s scientific outputs through appropriate consultation. The Unit leads and coordinates ECDC’s activities on research and innovation. In liaison with other Units, the Unit identifies priorities and supports learning and development activities to develop and strengthen the competencies of ECDC’s scientific workforce.

In addition, the Eurosurveillance Editorial Office is hosted in this Unit.

Digital Transformation Services Unit (DTS)

The Unit delivers digital solutions, maintains IT products and provides IT services, which are instrumental to the operation and administration of the Centre. It also provides a digital workplace addressing the needs for mobility, communication and collaboration of staff. The Unit networks with other EU bodies and partners across Europe for topics relevant to digital transformation.

The Unit's work is carried out in three sections:

Digital Governance: The Section is responsible for the Unit's strategic and financial planning in line with and derived from the ECDC strategy and planning, enterprise architecture, digital innovations, quality and continual service improvement. It also manages the information security management system.

Digital Solutions: This Section is responsible for delivering digital solutions based on business requirements, managing business requirements, defining solution architecture, conducting studies, projects and maintaining IT products for all Units.

IT Operations: This Section provides end user services, application hosting and enterprise infrastructure services, it aims to build maintainable, compatible and sustainable services, which are scalable according to operational need.

Resource Management Services

The Resource Management Services Unit aims at top quality management of ECDC's human and financial resources. It is comprised of four Sections performing core resource management tasks:

• Human Resources: Promoting a supportive work environment that attracts, develops and motivates a multicultural and highly professional work force by providing high quality services based on competent advice and communication with the ECDC’s staff and management.
• Finance and Accounting: Ensuring that the financial resources of the Centre are managed efficiently and reported in a clear and comprehensive manner. Provide financial initiation and verification of commitments and payments. Execute all payments of the Centre. Provide the annual accounts of the Centre which present a true and fair view of the financial position of the Centre. Ensure the preparation of draft and amending budgets and its publications. Provide budgetary reporting on the general implementation of the budget and its transfers. Finance provides financial advice and support to all Units in the Centre regarding budgetary commitments and budget monitoring.
• Legal Services and Procurement: Providing legal advice to the Centre and all Units in legal matters related to the operational as well as administrative field of the Centre’s activities. Furthermore, the section is providing clear operational procurement support to all units and assisting all internal customers in accomplishing their operational goals in a timely manner. The section helps maintaining compliance with the procedures and monitors the Centre’s contracting for goods and services.
• Corporate Services: Developing and maintaining the premises of the Centre to meet the requirements of the organisation, providing logistics services for the operational activities and to staff, maintaining the physical inventory and ensuring security. Organising travel and hotel arrangements and providing budget verification, monitoring and processing of reimbursement claims for staff, interviewees and experts invited to ECDC with a high level of service attitude and ensuring an economically prudent use of ECDC’s travel budget.