People behind
Scientific Responsible and Coordinator of the Greek Regional Action Center (Gr-RAC) of the International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU)
Anastasia Stratigea is currently an Associate Professor (Regional Planning and Policy) at the Dept. of Geography and Regional Planning, School of Rural and Surveying Engineering, National Technical University of Athens (N.T.U.A.). She holds a Diploma in Rural and Surveying Engineering from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (1984) and a PhD from the National Technical University of Athens, Dept. of Geography and Regional Planning (1996). She has participated in a number of National and EU Projects. She is member of several scientific national and international associations and networks (NECTAR, COST A22, EFONET, EU-MED, SMART-MED etc.). Reviewer in international journals and conferences, member of scientific committees of international/national conferences. She has published her work in book chapters, international journals and conference proceedings. Main research interests: Sustainable Development, Spatial Planning and Policy, Integrated Urban and Regional Planning, Participatory Planning, e-planning, Smart cities and citizens’ engagement, Foresight methodologies, Regional Development, Evaluation in Urban and Regional Planning, etc.
Secretariat Gr-RAC
Akrivi Leka holds a Diploma in Rural and Surveying Engineering from National Technical University of Athens (N.T.U.A.), 1998. She also holds a Master Degree in ‘Environment and Development’ (N.T.U.A., 2000), a Master Degree in ‘Environmental Resource Management’ (Brandenburg Technical University, Germany, 2004) and a PhD from N.T.U.A. (2012) in Urban Sustainability (‘Environmental Sustainability in Urban Small and Medium-sized Coastal Cities - Approach to Environmental Indicators’). Since September 2007, she is lecturing at the Dept. of Geography and Regional Planning, School of Rural and Surveying Engineering, N.T.U.A. in undergraduate and graduate level. Presently, she is a senior researcher at N.T.U.A., while she also works as a freelancer in Surveying and Environmental Management Projects. She owns a specific license for conducting Environmental Impact Assessment Projects (EIAP) in private and public sector (2003) and she is the author of a number of EIAPs’. She has participated in a number of national and international conferences, while also published her work in scientific national and international journals and conferences. Research interests: Urban Sustainability, Sustainable Urban and Regional Development and Policy, Environmental Policy, Environment and Culture, Development of Environmental Indicator Systems.
Thanos Vlastos is Professor of Urban and Transport Planning at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), School of Rural and Surveying Engineering, Department of Geography and Regional Planning. He is the founder and director of Sustainable Mobility Unit (SMU) of NTUA. He is also teaching in postgraduate courses in NTUA and Hellenic Open University. He received his first engineering degree from the National Technical University of Athens - School of Architecture and his second engineering degree from Ecole Spéciale des Travaux Publics in Civil Engineering. He continued postgraduate studies at Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées and PhD studies at Université de Liège (Belgium). He has participated in numerous international conferences and has published articles in many scientific journals. His work is focused on Sustainable Mobility. He was the scientific coordinator in many projects dealing with urban regeneration, cycling, walking and social participation. He has represented Greece in many international institutions, workshops and networks like OECD, Eurocities, Car Free Cities, etc.
Maria Papadopoulou graduated from the Department of Civil Engineering at University of Patras (1998). She holds a Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Vermont, USA (2002). She is a licensed Civil Engineer in Greece since 1998. She served as post-doctoral associate in the Department of Environmental Engineering in Technical University of Crete (2003-2007). She is currently an Associate Professor in the School of Rural and Surveying Engineering, Department of Geography and Regional Planning at National Technical University of Athens (N.T.U.A.).
She has written more than 20 research papers in scientific journals, has participated in more than 40 international and national conferences and has more than 200 citations. She serves as an independent evaluator for FP7, H2020, ERANETMED projects, as reviewer in several scientific journals and she is member of national and international scientific societies. She is a deputy member of Water National Council. She has participates in many EU-Life Projects, USA and national funded research projects.
Her principal research interests lie in the areas of environmental design, focusing on quality criteria, optimal water resources management, groundwater modelling, natural resources management and protection, environmental impact assessment, climate change adaptation, water footprint.
Efthimios Bakogiannis is an Urban Planner and Transport Engineer, working as a Senior Research Associate at the National Technical University of Athens (N.T.U.A.), School of Rural and Surveying Engineering, Department of Geography and Regional Planning. He is one of the founding members of the “Sustainable Mobility Unit-SMU” at the N.T.U.A. (http://www.smu.gr/). He is teaching various undergraduate courses, including Urban Planning, Urban Geography, Urban Settlements' Networks, Methods and Applications of Urban Design and Environmental Planning as well as postgraduate courses related to Urban Settlements' Networks. As a researcher, he has participated and/or fully conducted numerous projects, such as strategic plans for the development of sustainable mobility, several researches on methodologies for applying combined urban planning and traffic policies for the Ministry of Transport and Communications, the European Commission etc. As a freelancer, he has conducted several studies for the integration of bicycles and pedestrian routes as well as for traffic regulations and controlled parking zones in various municipalities around Greece. He has published Lecture Notes, Journal Papers and presented his research in various national and international conferences.
He holds a Diploma in Rural and Surveying Engineering N.T.U.A. (1980) and a PhD from N.T.U.A. on "Closed ICTs Networks in the Management of Tourism Product for Sustainable Development". He is Research and Teaching Associate at the School of Rural and Surveying Engineering, N.T.U.A. since 2000.
Long teaching experience in: Physical Geography and Environment, Sustainable Use of Natural Resources, Environmental Impact Assessment, Environmental Planning.
He has a long professional experience on Tourism and ICTs.
Research interests: Sustainable Tourism Development and ICTs, Environmental Impact Assessment, Environmental Planning, Marketing the Tourism Resources (DMOs) Sustainable Use of Natural Resources etc.
Thomas Hatzichristos is a Senior Researcher at the National Technical University of Athens (N.T.U.A.). He holds a Diploma in Rural and Surveying Engineering (N.T.U.A., 1991), and a PhD from N.T.U.A. (1999) on Geographic Information Systems (Delineation of Eco-regions by means of Artificial Intelligence). He held the position of Lecturer in Computers and Geographic Information Systems at the Dept. of Geography, University of the Aegean (1998-2000). Since September 2000, he is lecturing at the Dept. of Geography and Regional Planning, School of Rural and Surveying Engineering, N.T.U.A. He has participated as senior researcher in many national and EU research projects. He has a rich professional experience in GIS and Land Information Systems. Consultant in several public authorities and private firms in Geoinformatics. Member of scientific committees of international and national conferences. He has published his work in a number of national and international conferences. Research interests: Geographic Information Systems, GIS applications in Urban and Regional Planning, Fuzzy Sets, GIS and Fuzzy Systems in Geography and Spatial Analysis, Strategic Assessment Methods, and Foresight Methodologies.
Athanasia Darra is a Senior Researcher at the School of Rural and Surveying Engineering, National Technical University of Athens (N.T.U.A.). She holds a Diploma in Rural and Surveying Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (1990); and a PhD from School of Rural and Surveying Engineering, N.T.U.A. (2009). She is working with tenure as Laboratory Teaching Personnel (EDIP) at the Dept. of Geography and Regional Planning, School of Rural and Surveying Engineering, N.T.U.A. She specializes in Geography and Spatial Analysis Methods. She has extensive undergraduate and graduate teaching and research experience in this field during the last 25 years at N.T.U.A. She is also active with the OntoGeo research group in Geographic Information Science and Geoinformatics. She has participated in more than 15 research projects and has presented her work in national and international conferences and journals.
Gr-RAC collaborators
Maria Panagiotopoulou holds a Diploma in Rural and Surveying Engineering from National Technical University of Athens - NTUA (2012). At present, she is a PhD candidate at NTUA and works on Smart Cities and public participation field. She has participated in several national and international conferences, while she has also published her work in a number of scientific international journals and conferences. Her research interests are: Geographical Information Systems (GIS) - WebGIS, Geoinformatics, Urban and Regional Planning, Participatory Approaches, Smart Cities, Smart Tourism, ICTs and e-Participation, WebGIS and participation, Sustainable Development and Spatial Planning.
Giorgos Somarakis holds a Diploma in Planning and Regional Development, Department of Planning and Regional Development, School of Engineering, University of Thessaly (2013). He speaks Greek (native language), English and German. At present, he is PhD candidate in the field of ‘e-Planning’ at the Dept. of Geography and Regional Planning, School of Rural and Surveying Engineering, National Technical University of Athens. He is a member of a number of Scientific Communities. He has offered volunteer work in the Project ‘PEDIO-AGORA’, dealing with participatory methodological approaches in planning public spaces (2014-15). He has participated in several scientific national and international conferences, while also published his work in a number of scientific journals and conferences. His research interests are: Spatial Planning, Participatory Planning – Traditional and ICT-enabled Methods and Tools, e-Planning, Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and WebGIS.
Gr-RAC Volunteers
Dr. Vicky Katsoni is an Associate Professor at the Tourism Department of the Technological Educational Institute (TEI) of Athens, Greece, a Professor in Tourism Marketing in the MSc Program of Tourism Management at the Greek Open University and the academic supervisor of the e-Tourism Module at the National Kapodistrian University of Athens, Distant Learning Programs. She holds a PhD in Tourism Marketing Management and ICT Applications in Tourism from the Panteion University in Greece, an MBA from the University of Keele, School of Management and Economics, England, a BA (Hons) in Economics from the Law School, Kapodistrian University of Athens, Department of Economics and a BSc in Tourism Management from the T.E.I. in Thessaloniki, Greece. She has published 9 books on tourism both in Greek and English, chapters in edited volumes, and numerous papers on highly academic journals. She is the President of the nonprofit International Association of Cultural and Digital Tourism (IACuDiT.org) and a member of the Editorial Board in many journals in tourism and marketing. Her research interests include tourism marketing, cultural tourism, e- tourism, and tourism consumer behavior. She has participated in several European and National Research projects.
Mrs. Kyrkou is a Rural and Surveying Engineer, School of Rural and Surveying Engineering, National Technical University of Athens - NTUA (2014). She has attended the Program “Human Resources Development” in «ALGITECH S.A. Informatics Corporation» (2014-15). Since September 2015, she is a postgraduate student at the MSc “Environment and Development”, National Technical University of Athens, Greece.
Mrs. Krommyda has graduated from the Department of Planning and Regional Development, School of Engineering, University of Thessaly (2015). She has worked as a volunteer in a range of associations involved in protected areas’ management. Since September 2015, she is a postgraduate student at the MSc “Environment and Development”, National Technical University of Athens, Greece.
Andreas Alexopoulos is an economist, holding an MSc in Local Government and Development, Birmingham University (1997) and a PhD on regional development and ICTs, University of the Aegean (2011). His professional experience is mainly focusing on local government, with emphasis on strategic planning, social innovation, urban governance, organizational reforms and public participation. Visitor lecturer at the Dept. of Local Government, Technological Educational Institute (TEI) of Kalamata (2000-13); and Department of Financing, TEI of Piraeus (2013). Lecturer at the National School of Local Government (2008-10), and currently at the Institute of Education, National Centre for Public Administration and Local Government; and the MSc of Public Policy and Administration, TEI of Piraeus. He has participated in numerous research projects as a researcher of QMLab and WAVE Lab, University of the Aegean. He was also involved, from different positions, in many European Programmes and Initiatives (Urbact II, Progress, Equal, Leader+, Leonardo Da Vinci, Promoting Multilevel Governance in Support of Europe 2020). Research interests: local and regional development, local government, e-inclusion at the local level and social innovation, e-government. He has published several scientific papers in Greek and international journals and he has participated, presenting his work, in a number of scientific conferences.
Nektaria Marava holds a Degree from the Dept. of Economic and Regional Development, Panteion University (1994), and an MSc in Urban and Regional Studies, University of Birmingham (1998). She has a long experience as local government and development consultant. She has also been a visiting lecturer at the Dept. of Local Government, Technological Educational Institute (TEI) of Kalamata (1999-2013), at the Dept. of Economic and Regional Development, Panteion University (2002); and the National School of Public Administration (2005 and 2008). Recently she was invited to lecture about Public Financial Management in the MSc Program «Master of Public Sector Management», International Institute of Management, Cyprus (2016) (CIIM). She has participated in a number of National and European research projects; and has published her work in national and international conferences, journals and books. As a freelancer, she has carried out a number of strategic planning projects in various Greek municipalities. Her research interests include: urban (spatial) governance, sustainable local development, public participation and local development, partnerships and European urban and regional policy and development.
Maria Xirogianni has graduated with a Bachelor Degree in Applied Physics and Environmental Technology from Heriot-Watt University (2000). She has a postgraduate degree in Environmental Science, Policy and Planning from the University of Bath (2001); and a postgraduate degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the School of Architectural Engineering, NTUA (2009). From 2001 to 2006 she worked at the construction of Attiki Odos as Project Assistant and in a construction company of fire-fighting and fire protection as a Documentation Manager. She strongly believes in the value of volunteering and hence is a member of EDASA (Fire Protection Volunteers of Attica) since 2009; and is actively involved in the NGO 50+ Hellas, organizing environmentally oriented seminars and workshops. Since 2007 she has been working at the National Technical University of Athens and today holds the position of Secretariat at the Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Program of