Internal members
Theodoros Theodoulidis
Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering
Theodoros Theodoulidis is a Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Western Macedonia. He holds a PhD degree (1997) and a Diploma in Electrical Engineering, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (1992). He was appointed Associate Professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering, TEI of Western Macedonia, in 2004 and Associate Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Western Macedonia in 2007. Since 2013, he has been a Professor and Director of the Laboratory of Magnetic and Electric Analysis of Non-Destructive Evaluation (MEANDER), Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Western Macedonia.
He was Head of the Department of Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering, Deputy Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Dean of the School of Engineering from 2016 to 2019.
His research work is focused on the theoretical and experimental study of electromagnetic fields, mainly in eddy current Non-Destructive Testing applications and has been author of a number of articles in prestigious international scientific journals. By November 2022, his research citations in Scopus (excluding the self ones) were over 1,500 (h-index 24), whereas in Google Scholar the number of cited references was over 2,700 (h-index 32). In 2017, he was awarded the AEM International Award for his contribution to the analysis of electromagnetic fields.
He has been a visiting researcher at international universities / laboratories: Iowa State University USA, Michigan State University USA, CEA Saclay FRANCE, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics CHINA.
He is a member of international scientific committees, has supervised 2 doctoral theses and co-supervised 3. He has also been a peer-reviewer of many international scientific journals and contributed to 17 research projects, in 5 of which he was a scientific coordinator. He has also conducted many eddy current inspections in the Greek power and petrochemical industry (certified inspector).
He served his military service as an OF(D) (Military Engineer). He is a chess master.
George Konteos
Professor of Economic Analysis at the Department of Business Administration, School of Economic Sciences
George Konteos is a Professor of Economic Analysis at the Department of Business Administration, School of Economics, University of Western Macedonia. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the Department of Economics of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, a master’s degree (M.SC.) in Agricultural Economics from the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, and a PhD from the Department of Economics of the University of Macedonia. He was the Head of the Department of Business Administration of the former TEI of Western Macedonia and later of the University of Western Macedonia from July 2016 to August 2023. His research work focuses on economic analysis, employment policies and econometric applications. He has published over 50 scientific articles in international scientific journals and proceedings of international conferences and is co-author of 4 textbooks. He teaches at undergraduate and postgraduate level Statistics, Econometrics and Microeconomic Analysis.
Georgios Iordanidis
Professor at the Department of Early Childhood Education, School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Georgios Iordanidis graduated Philology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He holds a Master’s degree, University of Manchester, and a PhD in Organization and Management in Education, School of Philosophy & Education, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He has been as a lecturer in the Department of Primary Education, and the Department of Early Childhood Education (University of Thessaly, University of Western Macedonia and Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), the Department of Special Education, University of Thessaly, and the Department of Educational and Social Policy, University of Macedonia. He taught Management in Education, Assessment Methods in Education, School Climate and School Culture, Management of School Units etc., and various courses in postgraduate programmes (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, University of Thessaly, University of Macedonia, Charokopio University, School of Pedagogical & Technological Education-ASPETE). He also taught at the Greek Open University, the Open University of Cyprus and the University of Cyprus (visiting Professor).
He is a Professor at the Department of Early Childhood Education, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Western Macedonia, teaching Organisation & Management in Education and Leadership in Education. He is also Director of the Postgraduate Programme “Education Science: Management in Education – Leadership in Education “. His teaching and research interests include Organisation and Management in Education, Assessment Methods in Education (specialising in teaching staff assessment), Management of School Units, Organisational Culture, Leadership in Education etc.
He is author of three books and has published a number of papers in Greek and international journals. He has also participated in many conferences in Greece and abroad.
Zacharoula Kalogiratou
Professor at the Department of Mathematics, School of Scineces
Zacharoula Kalogiratou is a Professor at the Department of Mathematics οf the University of Western Macedonia. She received her degree in Mathematics (1987) from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. She received a master’s degree (M.Sc.) in “Numerical Analysis and Computing” (1989) and doctorate degree (Ph.D.) in “Numerical Analysis” (1992) from the Department of Mathematics of the University of Manchester.
She was head of the Department of Informatics Engineering and Dean of the School of Science (2019-2023).
Her research is focused on numerical integration of ordinary differential equations She has published 37 articles in international scientific journals, 50 articles in conference proceeding. According to Scopus her work has received more than 2000 citations excluding self-citations (h–index 24). She has co-supervised 3 doctoral theses, she is member of the editorial board of 3 international scientific journals and has served as a reviewer for several journals.
She is a member of the Hellenic Mathematical Society. She is married and mother of a daughter.
Aikaterini Melfou
Professor at the Department of Agriculture, School of Agricultural Sciences
Dr. Aikaterini Melfou is a Professor of Agricultural Economics at the Department of Agriculture, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, at the University of Western Macedonia. She holds a B.Sc. in Biology from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, a Diploma in Agricultural Economics from the University of Reading, UK, an M.Sc. in Agricultural Economics from the University of Wales, UK and a Ph.D. from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece.
She was the Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture Technology, Food Technology and Nutrition, former TEI of Western Macedonia, 2018-2019 and then Dean of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Western Macedonia (2019-2023).
Her research interests focus on efficiency and productivity analysis, agricultural marketing, agri-food sector, economics of agricultural production and sustainable agricultural development. She has participated in national and European research projects either as a scientific leader or as a member of the research team. She has published scientific articles in international scientific journals, in proceedings of Greek and international conferences and in collective volumes.
She is the Director of the Postgraduate Program, M.Sc. in “Livestock and Wildlife Management”, Department of Agriculture, University of Western Macedonia.
Bouzas Vasilieios
Professor at the Department of Fine and Applied Arts, School of Fine Arts
Vasileios Bouzas studied painting at the School of Fine Arts of Athens and graduated in civil engineering from the National Technical University of Athens. He received his Master of Fine Arts degree at Pratt Institute, N.Y. by the aid of the State Scholarship Foundation. and the Fulbright Foundation. He worked in New York, first in an award-winning producer on the design of high-end 3D visualizations based on actual human data and later in the field of education. He has presented his work in exhibitions, conferences and festivals in Greece and abroad. In 2006, he received the second prize in a panhellenic competition on artistic intervention in Athens’ subway. He has been working in higher education since 2003. He taught at the School of Architecture of the University of Patras and at the Department of Visual and Applied Arts of the University of Western Macedonia, where in 2022 he was elected professor on the subject “Visual Arts with an emphasis on Multimedia Applications”.
External members
Leonidas Kyriakides
Professor at the Department of Education, University of Cyprus
Dr. Leonidas Kyriakides is Professor of Educational Research and Evaluation at the Department of Education of the University of Cyprus. His field of research and scholarship is the evaluation of educational effectiveness, whether of teachers, schools or educational systems. Currently his research agenda is concerned with the development of a dynamic model of educational effectiveness, and the application of research to the improvement of educational practice by establishing a dynamic approach to school improvement aiming to promote quality and equity in education. Leonidas has been involved in several international projects. His work has contributed not only to theory improvement but also to the testing of theoretical models and using them for improving the quality and equity of education. Dr. Kyriakides acted as chair of the AERA SIG on School Effectiveness and Improvement and the EARLI SIG on Educational Effectiveness. He was also a member of the PISA 2015 QEG expert group that was responsible for developing the theoretical framework and the questionnaires of PISA 2015 study. He is also member of the editorial board of various international journals with referee system such as «School Effectiveness and School Improvement», «Effective Education», «Research Papers in Education» and «Educational and Psychological Measurement» as well as the Editor-in-Chief of “Studies in Educational Evaluation”. Finally, he is the author of more than 120 papers, 100 chapters in books and 10 books with Routledge and Springer publishers.
Mousouroulis Konstantinos
Economist, Senior Officer at the European Union
Kostis Moussouroulis holds a senior officer position within the European Commission. He is a graduate of the Athens University of Economics and Business and holds a MSc in European Economics and a MA in International Relations from the Université Libre de Bruxelles. He is an honorary Doctor of the School of Economic Sciences (SOE) at the University of Western Macedonia. With extensive experience spanning multiple years, he has served in various roles within EU institutions from 1987 to 2004 and again from 2014 to the present. Mr. Moussouroulis has a notable political background, having served as Minister of Shipping (2012-2013), Alternate Minister of Environment and Energy in the caretaker Government (2015), and Member of Parliament for the Chios constituency (2009-2014). He has also held leadership positions such as Secretary General of Investments and Development (2004-2007) and Secretary General at the Ministry of Development (2007-2009), with a specific focus on Energy. Throughout his career, he has held chairmanship roles in various committees and councils. He has also been a Member of the Board of the European Investment Bank (2007-2009), the Hellenic Public Gas Company (2007-2009), and the National Energy Strategy Council (2009), among other positions. During the period of 2020 to 2022, Mr. Moussouroulis was seconded by the European Commission to Greece and was appointed Chairman of the Just Transition Development Plan Steering Committee. In this capacity, he was responsible for the formulation of the national Transition Development Planning, the Just Transition Fund Programme, and the underlying Territorial Plans for lignite areas, as well as non-interconnected islands. Among his numerous accolades, the French Republic has honored Mr. Moussouroulis with the Golden Cross of the Order of Excellence for Shipping. He is a published author with two books and multiple articles to his credit. Kostis Moussouroulis is married to EC official Mary Panoussi and is the father of three.
Besiou Maria
Professor and Dean of Research, Kühne Logistics University, Hamburg, Germany
Maria Besiou is Dean of Research and Professor of Humanitarian Logistics at Kühne Logistics University (KLU), Hamburg, Germany. She received her Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering and Operations Management from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH) in Greece in 2009. She holds a Diploma in Mechanical Engineering from AUTH since 2005. In 2012 she joined KLU as an Assistant Professor of Logistics and in 2014 she was promoted to Associate Professor of Humanitarian Logistics. Before joining KLU she worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at INSEAD, France.
Besiou’s specialization is on the field of sustainable supply chain management. Her main research interests are in humanitarian logistics, and closed-loop supply chains. She studies dynamic complex systems, characterized by multiple actors and feedbacks, in a strategic level. Her research focuses on real problems that commercial companies and humanitarian organizations face and their decision-making, while managing their supply chains.
Prof. Besiou serves as the Academic Director of the Center of Humanitarian Logistics and Regional Development (CHORD). Her research appears in several case studies, award-winning papers and peer-review international journals. Prof. Besiou serves as an Associate Editor in the Department of Humanitarian Operations in Decision Sciences Journal and the Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management (JHLSCM), as a Senior Editor of the Disaster Management Department (DMD) of Production and Operations Management (POM), and on the editorial review boards of Journal of Operations Management (JOM) and Production and Operations Management (POM).
She has served as a Coordinator of EURO Hope (European Working Group on Humanitarian Operations) and as the President of the College of Humanitarian Operations and Crisis Management (HOCM) at the Production and Operations Management Society (POMS). In 2022 she received the American Logistics and Aid Network’s (ALAN) Research and Academic Contribution Award for her work researching and teaching humanitarian logistics.
Stavridou Nafsika
, Seconded national expert at the European Research Council Executive Agency
Nafsika Stavridou is a seconded national expert at the European Research Council Executive Agency working as a research programme expert. In parallel she is a certified auditor and evaluator for investments in Greece for the national ministry of development and investments. She is still an active researcher in the field of steel structures and sustainable energy production while she is teaching as an accredited lecturer at the University of Derby in MSc programs of the Civil and Mechanical Engineering Department.
She has participated in research projects both in Greece and abroad, gaining experience from institutions in France, Sweden, the United Kingdom and Italy. She has been awarded excellence scholarships from the State Scholarships Foundation for all the years of her studies, she has been awarded the top performance award from the Technical Chamber of Greece for year 2009, she has conducted her PhD under an excellence scholarship from IKY-SIEMENS and among others, she has been awarded the Marie Skolowska-Curie fellowship for her post-doctoral research work. She holds a Diploma, an MSc (in anti-seismic design of structures) and a PhD in Civil Engineering from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, a degree in Management and Business Administration from the University of Macedonia in Thessaloniki and an MBA from the Hellenic Open University. She is a PM2 certification holder as well as a certified project manager from the Project Management Institute (PMP). She speaks fluently Greek, English, French, Italian and German and has good command of the Russian language.
She has worked as a civil engineer both at the public (Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace) and the private sector, in the design of civil engineering works as well as the supervision of construction works. Since 2020 she is a member of the standing committee for Networks and Infrastructure of the Technical Chamber of Greece – Central Macedonia Chapter. She has participated in several research projects and international conferences, while being a reviewer of scientific journals and an evaluator for various funding organizations. As an auditor and evaluator, she has conducted several projects for the Ministry of Development and Investments. Finally, for approximately 20 years she has been a professional basketball player, having played for several clubs in A1 division and having played for the Greek national team for 18 years.
Liristi Efstathia
University of Western Macedonia
