The EU supports efforts to enhance governance and cooperation on Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) risk detection and mitigation at both the regional and the global level. In addition to the Centres of Excellence Initiative and the EU P2P programme, the EU also supports the securing of sensitive knowledge and technology through, in particular, the International Science and Technology Centre (ISTC) in Kazakhstan and the Science and Technology Centre in Ukraine (STCU). These two science centres are the subjects of this evaluation. The European External Action Service (EEAS) leads on the political side of this initiative and the Foreign Policy Instrument (FPI) is the fund-holder, managing all the projects under the Instrument contributing to Stability and Peace (IcSP).
Both centres work at the crossroads between scientific research and non-proliferation. In recent years, the centres have increasingly focussed on supporting projects aiming at mitigation of broader CBRN risks, including the promotion of aviation and missile technologies for peaceful purposes, bio safety and biosecurity, physical upgrades of laboratories, and stimulation of networking activities among relevant scientific communities.
The main objectives of this evaluation were to provide the relevant services of the European Union and other interested stakeholders with:

• an overall independent assessment of the past performance of the two centres both in the core objective of containment of sensitive knowledge and as implementers of specific CBRN, export control actions and other activities against the objectives and results established in the strategic documents;
• key lessons learned, achievements, conclusions and related recommendations in order to improve current and future engagement of the centres and related funding schemes.

In particular, this evaluation served to explore the possibility to enlarge the scope of the spectrum of activities implemented (i.e. cyber, climate change, etc.), and to provide recommendations on other type of funding mechanisms to cover the administrative costs.
The main user of this evaluation is the European Commission, specifically FPI.