Christina PavloudiChristina Pavloudi is Post Doc Researcher in the Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology and Aquaculture (IMBBC) of the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR). Her research focuses on microbial community functioning of hypoxic ecosystems, such as lagoons and oxygen minimum zones. In particular, she is interested in microbes involved in the biogeochemical cycles of nitrogen and sulfur. Her technical skills involve PCR, high-throughput sequencing, RNA Stable Isotope Probing and bioinformatics analyses. Her research interests include Microbial Ecology, Marine Biology and Ecology, Marine Biodiversity, Functional Diversity and Bioinformatics. She has been involved in 10 research and education projects, including FP7 European projects, EU COST Actions (ES1003 and ES1103) and ASSEMBLE projects. She has published 25 peer-reviewed scientific articles and participated in international conferences and workshops.
Senior researcher, head of the HCMR marine biodiversity laboratory. Involved in more that 40 research and education projects, coordinated 6. Research ID: 6.8 M€. More than 50 peer-reviewed scientific articles. Guest editor in Marine Ecology Progress Series, member of the editorial board of Transitional Waters Bulletin, Associate Editor of Frontiers in Marine Science; reviewer in more than 30 international peer-reviewed journals. Member of: Society for the Marine European Biodiversity Data (SMEBD), editorial board of the Word Register of Marine Species (WoRMS), scientific advisory council of the International Polychaete Association (IPA), ICES task group 6 working on the seafloor integrity (EU MSDF), drafting team of the UN World Ocean Assessment and of the Scientific Council of the Institut MΓ©diterranΓ©en de BiodiversitΓ© et d’Ecologie marine et continentale (IMBE), Marseille. Arvanitidis’ research focuses on marine biodiversity, functional diversity, and coastal ecosystems. He works on the comparisons of marine biodiversity information patterns deriving from various biological organization levels and scales of observation, trying to develop new approaches to explore their interrelationships.
Eva ChatzinikolaouDr Eva Chatzinikolaou is a post doc researcher in the Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology and Aquaculture of the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR). Her current research interests include climate change and ocean acidification, experimental ecology, marine biodiversity, transitional marine ecosystems, digital image processing and micro-CT scanning. During her PhD she studied gastropod population dynamics, ageing using statoliths and reproduction. She has also worked on marine pollution and environmental protection and she has investigated the phenomenon of imposex due to TBT pollution on marine gastropods. Furthermore, she has studied the effect of climate change and ocean acidification on calcified structures of marine gastropods. She has published 32 scientific papers and participated in more than 40 international conferences. She has actively participated in five EU projects, one ENPI CBC-MED project, four national projects and one Interreg project. She has significant experience on project implementation and management. She was granted twice (2012, 2013) with an ASSEMBLE research funding. She has acted as a reviewer and a subject editor in several scientific journals, as well as an expert evaluator in Marie Skłodowska-Curie and COST proposal actions.
Kleoniki Keklikoglou is a marine biologist in the Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology and Aquaculture of the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR). She took her Master Degree on Management of Terrestrial and Marine Resources at the University of Crete . Her main research interests are related with marine biodiversity (especially benthic organisms), ecology, Micro-Computed tomography (micro-CT) and hard bottom sampling techniques. She has published 10 scientific papers and participated in international conferences and training courses. She has actively participated in several research projects, including FP7 European projects, Horizon 2020, ENPI CBC-MED, INTERREG and national projects.
Katerina Vasileiadou is PhD Student in the University of Patras and the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research. Her thesis is focused on the biodiversity of lagoonal ecosystems: comparison of the genetic distribution pattern and the community distribution pattern. Her main research topics are on marine biodiversity, molecular ecology, the genetic diversity of benthic organisms. She has published 9 scientific papers and participated in several scientific conferences. She has participated actively in two FP6 European projects, two FP7 European projects, one ESPA project, one Rubenstein Fellow and granted two times with ASSEMBLE research funding.
Giorgos Chatzigeorgiou
Dr. Giorgos Chatzigeorgiou is a post doc researcher in the Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology and Aquaculture (IMBBA) of the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR). His research interests cover a range of issues, many of which fall within the scope of Marine ecology, systematic and conservation of marine shallow habitats. He is a member of Scientific Diving Team of HCMR, with great experience in underwater photography and visual census. He is also specialized in biology, ecology and systematic of benthic species (polychaetes). In addition, he has great experience in designing new sampling devices and experimental setups for underwater experiments / habitat mapping, sampling hard bottom communities with distractive and non- distractive techniques. He has published 19 scientific papers and participated in several scientific conferences and actively involved in several research projects, including FP6-FP7 European projects, Horizon 2020, ENPI CBC-MED, INTERREG and national projects.
Emmanouela Panteri
ICT manager. She is responsible for implementing and maintaining LifeWatch Greece Research Infrastructure. She monitors the organization’s operational requirements, research strategies and technology solutions. She has a BSc degree in Computer Science, specialized in Database Development, Data Integration and Web Based Applications. Her focus is on the data integration between web based platforms and mobile/tablet applications. Currently involved in the development and implementation of multimedia educational projects. She has also participated in the production of educational material for environmental education and in the implementation of several promotion activities for LifeWatch Greece project, and for Citizen Science Projects such as COMBER and CIGESMED.
Dr Eugenia Apostolaki focuses on ecology, biogeochemistry and conservation of seagrass ecosystems. I study the distribution and abundance of seagrass and associated macrofauna and their interaction with the water column and the sediment. I also study the productivity, metabolism and nutrient dynamics in seagrass ecosystems and I particularly focus on the biological response of seagrass ecosystems to environmental disturbance (e.g. eutrophication, aquaculture) and global change (e.g. acidification, warming).
Irene Filiopoulou
Irene is a mobile developer at the Hellenic Center for Marine Research (HCMR). She received her BSc and MSc degree in the fields of Information Systems and E-commerce Technologies in Computer Science Department from the University of Crete. She has worked in the Multimedia Laboratory at the University Of Crete as a mobile developer and in the Transformation Service Laboratory, also at University of Crete, where she has been involved in several projects. She has taught informatics lessons at Technological Educational Institute of Crete as an external laboratory partner (2009-2014).
Phoebe KoundouriProfessor Dr. Phoebe Koundouri holds a PhD (2000), MSc (1996) and MPhil (1995) in Economics from the University of Cambridge (UK). She is Professor in Economic and Econometric Theory and Applications (with special emphasis on Natural Resources, Energy and the Environment) at the School of Economics, Athens University of Economics and Business(Greece). She is also Director of the Research Laboratory: ReSEES: Research on Socio-Economic and Environmental Sustainability at the same University. Since 2013 she is also a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the CCCEP: Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy, London School of Economics (UK). Phoebe Koundouri is the Founder and Research Director of the non-for-profit ICRE8: International Center for Research on the Environment and the Economy (www.icre8.eu). ICRE8 is the host of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (UNSDSN)-Greece (www.unsdsn.gr) and Prof. Koundouri is the Co-Chair of UNSDSN-Greece. She has published 15 edited books and monographs, and more than 250 articles in academic journals and edited volumes. She is a highly cited academic author ranked in the top 1% of all female economists in the world. She is co-editor of the official journal of the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, associate editor and editorial board member in 25 academic journals. She was elected Vice President of the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (2014-2015) and currently Vice-Chair of the Scientific Board of the European Forest Institute. In the past she held fixed-term and tenure track academic positions at the University of Cambridge, University College London, University of Reading, and many visiting positions around the world. She has been acting as an advisor, consultant and research evaluator for the European Commission, World Bank, OECD, UN, NATO, WHO, various Foundations and Governments. Since 1996, she has coordinated and/or participated, in more than 70 research projects on natural resources management issues. She has organized a number of international conferences and supervised numerous PhD students.
Nikos Mavrogiannakis, has received his BSc and MSc from the Physics Department of the University of Manchester (1994). Since 2013 he collaborates with Athena RC in project administration.
Spyros Sfenthourakis is an Associate Professor (Ecology and Biodiversity) at the University of Cyprus (Department of Biological Sciences). His research interests lie in the field of biodiversity pattern analysis, with emphasis on terrestrial arthropod communities. In particular, he is interested in questions within the framework of island biogeography, at both the theoretical and the empirical levels, and the factors that determine or affect diversity in insular biota. He also explores the differentiation of arthropod taxa in insular regions and along elevation gradients, at both the phenotypical and the molecular levels. Furthermore, he is an expert in the taxonomy of terrestrial isopods (Crustacea, Isopoda, Oniscidea) and has described some 20 species new to science. In addition, he is involved in research of ecological, evolutionary and behavioral aspects also of other organisms, such as reptiles and birds, even marine groups and fossil species. Overall, he is interested in the study and conservation of biodiversity of Cyprus and Greece.
Assoc. prof. at IBER-BAS, in charge with the management of the field station Laboratory of Marine Ecology, Sozopol. Research finterests: key processes in coastal marine ecosystems functioning, sediment biogeochemistry and microbial diversity, fate of persistent pollutants, eutrophication impact, habitat mapping. For the last 10 years participated and leaded tasks in five FP-7 projects (UP-GRADE BS-SCENE, WETLANET, PERSEUS, COCONET, H2020-eLTER infrastructure) and several projects with national and international funding. Published more than 30 research papers.
G. Daskalov has more than 25 years of experience in fisheries science, fisheries management, oceanography, statistics and modeling. He is an expert in stock assessment modeling, ecosystem analyses and models in relation to fisheries management, management strategy evaluations, ecosystem approach to fisheries. He is fluent in English and French languages. During 2002-2010 Georgi Daskalov has been employed as a senior scientist at the Centre for Environment Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) where he worked on several UK based and international projects. He joined IBER-BAS in 2010 as a senior international expert and was promoted to professor in 2012. He is a member of the STECF since 2010 and has chaired the STECF EWG on Black Sea assessments in 2008 – 2012. Recently worked on several EU funded projects such as KNOWSEAS, PERSEUS and COCONET.
Dr. Dimitar Berov is a researcher at the Marine Ecology Lab, IBER-BAS. His research interests include the structure and functioning of the Black Sea benthic ecosystems, with particular focus on macroalgae and rocky reefs, the impacts of eutrophication and other atnthropogenic pressures on them, as well as the development and implementation of new in-situ methods for their monitoring and mapping. He’s been involved in various European and national research projects dealing with evaluation of the ecological status of coastal ecosystems, the implementation of new monitoring methods for the Water Framework Directive and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, and the establishment of Marine Protected Areas along the Bulgarian Black Sea coast.
Yoana Georgieva is a PhD student at the Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Her PhD research focuses on trophic ecology of the commercially important fish; the Black Sea ecosystem modelling (Ecopath with Ecosim) and implementation of the ecosystem approach to fisheries management in the Black Sea. She has also a professional experience in environmental monitoring of the coastal zone; in collecting, processing and analysis of data for fish stock assessments. She is a member of the Black Sea working groups under GFCM (General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean) and STEFC (Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries) for fish stock assessment of exploited stocks. She participated in seven EP7 European projects, two national projects, and numbers of international and national conferences.
PhD student in the research group “Functional Ecology and Bioresources of Marine and Coastal Ecosystems” at IBER-BAS. She has a MSc in marine biology from the University of Brest, France. Her scientific interests include the biodiversity and ecology of coastal macrozoobenthic communities in the Black Sea, especially in seagrass meadows; the anthropogenic impacts on coastal ecosystem biodiversity and functioning; the use of macrobenthic indices for ecological quality assessment. Her PhD research focuses on the anthropogenic-induced changes in soft-bottom macrozoobenthic communities, ecological state assessments and the integrative approaches under the EU marine directives. She has participated in national and international conferences and workshops. She has actively participated in several research projects, including FP7 European projects PERSEUS and COCONET.
Vassil Vassilev
Dr. Vassil Vassilev is chief assistant in department of Aquatic Ecosystems, section Functional Ecology and Bioresources of Marine and Coastal Ecosystems, IBER-BAS. He graduated from the Faculty of Biology at the University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, Sofia and acquired his Ph.D at the Department of Ecology and Environmental Protection. Vasil Vassilev’s scientific interests are mainly in the area of biological processes in the water reservoirs – freshwater, brackish and saltwater, the structure of the biological communities, management, monitoring and protection of aquatic ecosystems. As a qualified SCUBA diver he has taken part in number of underwater studies. He participated in numerous national and international symposia, conferences and seminars. For several years he has been leading the project “Environmental Monitoring of the Srebarna Biosphere Reserve” aiming to control the condition and protect the environment.
Lora Yosifova
Currently working as EU programme advisor and financial manager at the Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem research, BAS. Ph.D candidate at University of National and World Economy, area of research European integration, research policies and programmes, MSc (2011) in Eonomics and Public Finance. Work experience is in the area of coordination of EU policies and programmes in the area of research and innovation; research management and evaluation. Worked for 13 years at the Ministry of Education and Research as policy officer and director of department “Research” where my main responsibilities among others were national Coordination of EU framework programmes and other EU programmes for research and development; management of national strategic policies in the area of science and research; coordination of national research infrastructure roadmap. Involved in development and implementation of more than 20 EU-funded projects under Sixth and Seventh Framework Programmes; Transnational and trans regional projects; COST and NATO projects.
Melina Marcou
Melina Marcou is a marine biologist, born in Larnaca, Cyprus. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Marine Biology from the University of San Diego, in California, USA. She then completed her master’s degree in Ecology, at the University of Liverool in the U.K. She currently works at the Department of Fisheries and Marine Research (DFMR) of Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment in Cyprus, where she is involved, in subjects relevant to marine biodiversity, ecology and marine protected areas and artificial reefs. She is responsible for the implementation of the European Union Habitat’s Directive (92/43/EEC) in the marine environment and the monitoring programs regarding the marine protected species, such as the Mediterranean Monk Seal (Monachus monachus) and habitats, such as the Posidonia oceanica meadows. She is also responsible for the monitoring of the marine Natura 2000 network that was set-up through this Directive, and within this framework she will be involved in the RECONNECT project.
Yiota Lazarou
Yiota Lazarou is a research scientist at the University of Cyprus, working in European co-funded projects of the Oceanography Centre and the Department of Biological Sciences. She obtained a BSc in Biological Sciences from the University of Cyprus and an MSc in Oceanography (Marine Biology & Ecology) from the University of Southampton. During her bachelor thesis project, she studied the genetic and phylogenetic analysis of HIV-1 samples from seropositive patients and gained excellent skills in fundamental molecular techniques. Through a year-long internship at the Oceanography Centre she realised her genuine interest in marine biology, which lead her towards that academic pathway. However, her previous knowledge background and experiences were proven extremely useful during her master thesis, where she studied the effects of a simulated CCS (Carbon dioxide Capture & Storage) leakage on the molecular ecophysiology of the sea urchin Echinocardium cordatum. As a research scientist of the University of Cyprus she is responsible for the preparation of reports, environmental assessments, guideline documents, methodology manuscripts, local media articles etc. relevant to the field of marine biology, diving tourism, marine spatial planning and citizen science. She has also contributed actively for the preparation and submission of project proposals for EU funded calls and has an active participation in various dissemination events for the promotion of environmental awareness.
Pavlos Diplaros
Pavlos Diplaros, has received his BSc in Marine Sciences and his MSc in Coastal Management from the Marine Sciences Department – Environment School of the University of Aegean (2010). Since 2013 he works as a Research Scientist, Marine Scientist and Environmentalist at Oceanography Centre, University of Cyprus.
Maria Rousou is a biologist currently working at the Department of Fisheries and Marine Research (DFMR) of Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment in Cyprus. Her research focuses on the assessment of soft-bottom benthic marine communities. In particular, she is interested in the taxonomy of benthic mega- and macrofauna species (especially polychaetes), investigating ecological and functional relationships between abiotic and biotic factors, anthropogenic impacts on coastal ecosystems (e.g. aquaculture, fishing, ports etc.) and marine litter. She has been involved in FP7 European projects, EU COST Actions, research projects funded by the Research Promotion Foundation of Cyprus, public and private tenders, has carried out Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) for construction plants (fish farms, ports etc) and Strategic EIAs and environmental monitoring of fish farms. At DFMR she is currently working on two Interreg Balkan-Mediterranean Projects (RECONNECT and MELTEMI) as well as other subjects relevant to marine biodiversity and ecology.
Elias Giannakis
Elias Giannakis is an Associate Research Scientist in the Energy, Environment and Water Research Center of the Cyprus Institute in environmental and regional economics. He holds an MSc and PhD from the Agricultural University of Athens in agricultural economics. He has participated in many EU-funded research projects investigating issues such as sustainability of rural areas, regional resilience to economic crisis, impact of EU policies, economic and environmental impact of agriculture, and economics of climate change. His research interests include the analysis of the economic and environmental costs, benefits and trade-offs of water and land management practices and climate change adaptation options, and the monetization of ecosystem services. He has published many articles in scientific peer-reviewed journals such as Papers in Regional Science, European Planning Studies, Science of the Total Environment, Land Use Policy and others.
Marina Argyrou
Mrs Marina Argyrou is the Director of the Department of Fisheries and Marine Research. She has a first degree in Biology (BSc) from Aristotle University, Thessaloniki, Greece and an MSc degree on Marine Ecology from Tulane University, New Orleans, U.S.A. after being awarded scholarships from both World Bank and Tulane University on the basis of her academic performance. She joined DFMR in 1989, from 1994 to 2005 she was leading the Marine Environment section of DFMR, and in 2015 she became the director of DFMR. Her research activities are oriented in the marine biodiversity and ecology She participated in several EU and Interreg funded projects, and she is the National Focal Point for the Protocol concerning Specially Protected Areas and Biodiversity (SPA/BD) of the Barcelona Convention, as well as the National Focal Point for MED POL of UNEP/MAP. Since 2010, she is the Marine Director of Cyprus for the implementation of the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive. She is the chairperson of the Marine Scientific Research Committee established under the relevant legislation for scientific research in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the Republic of Cyprus and member in various other national Committees, such as Integrated Maritime Policy Coordinated Committee, Habitats Directive Scientific Committee etc. In 2015 she has been designated as a member of the Council of the Oceanographic Centre of the University of Cyprus.
Theodora Shamma
Theodora Shamma is a Senior Fisheries and Marine Research Inspector at the Marine Environment Division of the Department of Fisheries and Marine Research since 1991. She holds a diploma in Fisheries Management. She has been involved in several international and EU projects on marine biodiversity, the protection of endangered aquatic species and habitats, the effects on the marine ecosystem from various anthropogenic activities, such as aquaculture, etc and monitoring and control of aquatic pollution, (MEDPOL/UNEP).
Mr Andreas Dimitriou studied Biology at the University of Crete, and his diploma thesis was about the differentiation of Enidae (Mollusca: Pulmonata) in Cyprus. Next, he attended the MSc programme of Biodiversity and Ecolocy at the University of Cyprus. His MSc thesis was on the DNA barcoding of resident bird species of Cyprus as an anti-poaching tool. Since 2014 he is a PhD student at the Biodiversity and Ecology lab. His thesis focuses on the phylogenetic relationships of all terrestrial isopods (Isopoda: Oniscidea), an entire taxon with global distribution and long evolutionary history, represented by more than 3,700 species belonging to more than 500 genera in 37 families. Additionally, to phylogenetic reconstruction, divergence times based on paleogeographic geological events will be used for the construction of biogeographic scenarios explaining the existing patterns of terrestrial isopod biodiversity. Another aim of this project is to explore the time and conditions under which transitions from marine to terrestrial, from terrestrial to troglobian, and from terrestrial secondarily to aquatic environment took place. Moreover, he was involved in side projects about the ecological, taxonomic and conservation significance of the Cypriot endemic beetle Propomacrus cypriacus (Coleoptera: Euchiridae) and threatened species Ischnura intermedia (Insecta: Odonata). Finally, his interests extend to invasive species, as recently he concluded his work on tracing the invasion history of Lionfish (Pterois miles) into the Mediterranean sea using genetic data.