President of the Republic of Cyprus
Nikos Christodoulides
Nikos Christodoulides is the eighth and current president of Cyprus, having assumed office on 28 February 2023.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, Economics, Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies from the City University of New York, Queens College, and a Master’s degree in Political Science from New York University. He holds a doctorate from the Department of Political Science and Public Administration of the University of Athens
He was a career diplomat between 1999 and 2018. During this time, he served, inter alia, as Consul General at the High Commission of the Republic of Cyprus in the United Kingdom, as Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of Cyprus in Greece and as Spokesperson of the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the EU at the Permanent Mission of Cyprus in Brussels.
He also served as Director of the Diplomatic Office of the President of the Republic of Cyprus (2013-2018) and as Government Spokesman (2014-2018). On 1st March 2018 he was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs, a position which he held until his resignation on 11 January 2022.
Between 2007 and 2010 he was a Lecturer and Research Associate at the Department of History and Archaeology of the University of Cyprus in the subject of History of the Postwar World. He is the author of the books Plans for Solution of the Cyprus Problem 1948-1978 (2009), Relations between Athens and Nicosia and the Cyprus Problem, 1977-1988 (2013), and Geopolitical Realities in the Plans for Solution of the Cyprus Problem 1948-1978 (2021).
On February 12, 2023, he won the Presidential Elections with a percentage of 51.97% and assumed his duties as the 8th President of the Republic of Cyprus.
He is married to Philippa Karsera and has four daughters, Ioanna, Ekaterini, Despina-Maria, and Phoebe.
President of the House of Representatives of the Republic of Cyprus
Annita Demetriou
Mrs Annita Demetriou, is the first woman and the youngest person to serve as President of the House of Representatives of the Republic of Cyprus. In 2016 she was first elected as a member of parliament and re-elected in 2021. She was also elected as President of the Democratic Rally (DISY) party of Cyprus on March 2023. She holds a university degree on Social and Political Sciences as well as a postgraduate title in International Relations and European Studies. She is an Ambassador of the global network of women politicians - Women Political Leaders (WPL) and represents Cyprus in the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). She participates in the Conference of Speakers of EU Parliaments (EUSC), in the European Conference of Presidents of Parliament of the Council of Europe, the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly (EMPA), the Conference of Speakers and Presiding Officers of the Commonwealth as well as in the Conference of Presidents of Parliaments of Small European States. She aims for and strives towards the advancement of parliamentary work, the modernisation and digital transformation of the functioning of the House of Representatives as well as the strengthening of the communication with the citizens, within an interactive framework. Her priorities include, among other issues, the promotion of human rights, the eradication of gender stereotypes, the protection of the environment and the strengthening of parliamentary diplomacy.
Minister of Education, Sport and Youth
Athena Michaelidou
Dr Athena Michaelidou was appointed Minister of Education, Sport and Youth on March 1, 2023.
Dr Michaelidou is a graduate of the Cyprus Pedagogical Academy and has received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Thessaloniki. She has an M.A. in Education from the University of Manchester and has completed a Ph.D. in Educational Studies at the University of London, specializing in educational research and evaluation. Having served as a public-school teacher, she then went on to teach as a professor of Pedagogy at the Cyprus Pedagogical Institute, also serving in the positions of its Head of the Research and Evaluation Department, Head of the Educational Research and Evaluation Center and, finally, as its Director. In this capacity, she served as Acting Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sport and Youth (MOECSY) and has represented the Ministry abroad in working groups of the European Commission on education issues. She also worked as collaborating educational staff at the Open University of Cyprus and the University of London.
Dr Michaelidou has coordinated a number of horizontal actions and innovations of MOECSY and has coordinated and taught for many years seminars and programmes, in matters of educational innovation, action research and educational policy. Her research interests mainly concern professional development and the introduction of innovations in education. In July 2022, by decision of the Council of Ministers, Dr Michaelidou was appointed as Acting Permanent Secretary of the Deputy Ministry of Culture, bringing her extensive knowledge of educational administration to build a strong foundation for the newly established Deputy Ministry. Dr Michaelidou comes from Kyrenia, and is a mother of two.
Deputy Minister of Culture
Vasiliki Kassianidou
Dr Vasiliki Kassianidou was born in London and grew up in Nicosia. She studied at Bryn Mawr College, USA where she did a double major in Chemistry and Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology. She received her bachelor’s degree (BA) with a distinction (Cum Laude) in 1989. She continued her studies at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London where she received her doctoral degree (PhD) in 1993.
Until 1994 she worked as a post-doctoral researcher at the Institute of Archaeology, UCL and then she joined the faculty of the Department of History and Archaeology of the University of Cyprus in 1994 as a lecturer in Environmental Archaeology and Archaeometry. She was promoted to the rank of Professor in 2013. In May of 2023 she was elected Dean of the Faculty of Letters of the University of Cyprus. From 2015 to 2019 she was the Director of the Archaeological Research Unit of the University of Cyprus. From 2014 -2016 she served as the President of the Board of Trustees of the Cultural Foundation of the Bank of Cyprus. In 2014 she was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Cyprus National Commission for UNESCO, a position she has held until 2023. In 2018 the Ministers Council of the Republic of Cyprus appointed her as a member of the Board of Directors of the National Board of Research and Innovation. In 2022 she was elected Corresponding Member of the Archaeological Institute of America. The only other Cypriot archaeologist to receive this great honour was the former Director of the Department of Antiquities and Professor Emeritus of the University of Cyprus Dr Vassos Karageorghis.
Her research is focused on ancient technology and specifically the production and trade of Cypriot copper through antiquity but also on the impact of this industry on the Cypriot landscape and environment. She has taken part and directed numerous field and analytical projects regarding her fields of expertise and has an extensive list of publications which include five edited volumes, two co-authored volumes and over one hundred articles in peer reviewed journals, edited volumes and conference proceedings. Prof. Kassianidou has coordinated several projects funded by the European Union (in FP7 and H2020) and by the Research and Innovation Foundation of Cyprus and participates in many more.
Dr. Kassianidou is married to Dr George Papasavvas, Associate Professor of Classical Archaeology at the University of Cyprus and she has two sons, Yiannis and Christoforos.
Rector, Open University of Cyprus
Professor Petros Pashiardis
Dr. Pashiardis is a Professor of Educational Leadership at the Open University of Cyprus and since October 2020 he serves as Rector of the University. He has worked as Visiting Professor in a number of universities in the USA, Europe (Lincoln University, University of Thessaly, University of Münster, Umeå University and Stockholm University, Sweden) and Africa (Stellenbosch University and University of Pretoria). During 2013-2014, he was a Visiting Professor at the Center for Development of Education Leaders at Umeå University, Sweden. For the period 2004-2008, Professor Pashiardis has been President of the Commonwealth Council for Educational Administration and Management (CCEAM).
Dr. Pashiardis is a member of the editorial boards and reviewer of numerous scientific journals, i.e. Educational Management, Administration and Leadership, International Studies in Educational Administration, Leadership and Policy in Schools and International Journal of Educational Management. He is also an external evaluator of PhD thesis of students in the UK, Australia, India and South Africa.
He published more than 100 scientific papers in English and Greek peer reviewed scientific journals, and is the author of a number of books published in both languages. For more than 20 years, Professor Pashiardis has acted as a Consultant to the Ministries of Education of Cyprus and Greece, the Police Academy of Cyprus, the EU, the OECD and the Commonwealth Secretariat, in various projects, which aimed to provide strategic direction to Education for All (EFA) and Women in Leadership around the Commonwealth. He has also worked for university accreditation and evaluation agencies in Greece, Indonesia, and Georgia amongst other countries.
His current thinking and research interests take him beyond the WHAT effective/successful school leaders do and into the HOW they do it, as related to Pedagogical and Entrepreneurial Leadership, which leads to Edupreneurial Leadership, a concept he has been exploring and writing in-depth together with Professor Stefan Brauckmann-Sajkiewicz.
Columbia Ship Management Professor of Strategic Management, University of Cyprus
Professor Haridimos Tsoukas
Haridimos Tsoukas holds the Columbia Ship Management Professor of Strategic Management in the University of Cyprus.
He studied for his B.Sc. in the School of Engineering at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece) (1983), followed by an M.Sc. in Industrial Engineering at Cranfield University (1985). He obtained his PhD at the Manchester Business School (MBS), University of Manchester (1989). Has worked at MBS, the University of Warwick, the University of Cyprus, the University of Essex, the University of Strathclyde and at the ALBA Graduate Business School. He has published widely in several leading academic journals, including the Academy of Management Review, Strategic Management Journal, Organization Studies, Organization Science, Journal of Management Studies, and Human Relations. He was the Editor-in-Chief of Organization Studies (2003-2008) and has served on the Editorial Board of several journals. He is the co-founder and co-convener of the annual International Symposium on Process Organization Studies (www.process-symposium.com) and Series co-editor of the Perspectives on Process Organization Studies, published by Oxford University Press.
He has edited the following books: Constructing Identity in and Around Organizations (Oxford University Press, 2012) (with M. Schultz, S. Maguire and A. Langley), Philosophy and Organization Theory (Emerald, 2011) (με τον Robert Chia), The Oxford Handbook of Organization Theory: Meta-theoretical Perspectives (Oxford University Press, 2003) (with Christian Knudsen), Organizations as Knowledge Systems (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004) (with N. Mylonopoulos), and Managing the Future: Foresight in the Knowledge Economy (Blackwell, 2004) (with J. Shepherd). His is the author of Complex Knowledge: Studies in Organizational Epistemology, Oxford University Press, 2005 and of If Aristotle Were a CEO (in Greek, Kastaniotis, 2005).
Executive Director, Global Education Network Europe
Liam Wegimont
Liam Wegimont is the Executive Director of GENE – Global Education Network Europe – (www.gene.eu), the European network Ministries and Agencies with national responsibility for Global Education in European countries. Liam co-founded GENE and has worked with Ministries of Education and Foreign Affairs across Europe, in national policy, strategy support for and evaluation of Global Education. He also co-founded ANGEL – the Academic Network on Global Education Learning. (www.angel-network.net). More recently he convened, on behalf of GENE, the process of the European Congress on Global Education to 2050 Congress 2050.
He has been involved in education for social change for over 30 years – as teacher, youth worker, school principal, evaluator and international public servant, netwoker and researcher. From 2019-2021 he collaborated with the artist Garrett Phelan on his artwork regarding Freedom and Education Free Thought He has been visiting lecturer in teacher education and global learning at Fredrich-Alexander University, Erlangen-Nurnberg and Trinity College, Dublin.
Chairperson of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Institutions, Merit, and the Commissioner for Administration
Demetris Demetriou
Demetris was born in Nicosia in 1981. He is a graduate of the Engineering School of the University of Patras with a degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering and holds a master's degree in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Cyprus. He worked as an associate of Ioannis Kasoulidis, as well as Director of Communication and Marketing at the SPP Media Group. He served as President of the Student Organization "Protoporia" in Patra, Vice President of the Youth of the Democratic Rally, and President of the Organization of Young Professionals of the Democratic Rally. In 2016, he was elected as a Member of the House of Representatives for the first time. In July 2018, he accepted the position of Spokesperson for the Democratic Rally, a position from which he decided to resign in February 2023, when he was a candidate for the leadership of the Democratic Rally against Annita Demetriou. In 2021, he was re-elected as a Member of the House of Representatives, ranking second nationwide in terms of votes. In the current term, he is the President of the Parliamentary Committee on Institutions, Merit and the Commissioner for Administration (Ombudsman). He strongly believes in Freedom, Justice, the Rule of Law, and Transparency.
President, To Diktio - Network for Reform in Greece and Europe; Former Minister and EU Commissioner
Anna Diamantopoulou
Anna Diamantopoulou is President of DIKTIO – Network for Reform in Greece and Europe, a leading non-partisan, Athens-based think tank. Ms. Diamantopoulou served as the European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, and has held several significant portfolios as a Minister in the Greek government as well. She was Minister of Development, Competitiveness and Shipping, and, prior to that, Minister of Education, Research and Technology, and Lifelong learning. Ms. Diamantopoulou is a member of the Advisory Board of Brenthuster Foundation in South Africa. She is member of the Board of Trustees of the Brussels-based think tank Friends of Europe, a Council Member of the European Council on foreign relations (ECFR), and a member of the Scientific Council of the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS) and member of the Advisory Board of the Delphi Economic forum. Anna also sits on corporate boards, including the Board of Directors of Coca Cola HBC, an FTSE 100 company and the Global Advisory Board of KEKST CNC, a global strategic communications firm, member of Publicis Groupe.
Executive Director at the Alliance of Democracies
Jonas Parello-Plesner
Jonas Parello-Plesner is Executive Director of The Alliance of Democracies Foundation, a private foundation dedicated to strengthening cooperation among democracies world-wide, which hosts the annual Copenhagen Democracy Summit. The Foundation is founded and chaired by former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
Jonas Parello-Plesner has a background as a Danish diplomat with a focus on the US, China and Taiwan. He was most recently Head of Department for Foreign Policy at the Danish Embassy in Washington, D.C. 2013-2017.
He has also worked as a Senior Fellow for international think tanks in Washington, Brussels and London. He has advised companies and governments on how to navigate a geopolitically fraught world. He writes for Danish (Berlingske and Altinget) and international media from Politico to Wall Street Journal. His most recent book is ”the Battle for Taiwan”.
Non-Executive Director – ECOMMBX
John Georgoulas
John Georgoulas is a Certified Board Director in Banking from INSEAD and a Certified Professional Banker from the Chartered Banker Institute. He has founded several companies in the fields of corporate communications and technology and he is specialized in corporate governance, regulation in the financial services and new technologies. He has served on the board of the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission appointed by the Council of Ministers. Now, he is a Non-Executive Director of ECOMMBX, an electronic money institution regulated by the Central Bank of Cyprus, a Non-Executive Director of TFI Markets, regulated by both the Central Bank of Cyprus and the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission and a Non-Executive Director of FXCM, an investment firm regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission and a non-executive director at Swissquote Capital Markets ltd that belongs to Swissquote, a listed financial services firm in the Swiss stock exchange. He is the President of the Cyprus Association of Electronic Money & Payment Institutions, the President of the Cyprus – Serbian Business Association and a member of the board of the American Chamber of Commerce in Cyprus. He has served on several boards in the private sector and at NGOs and he is an alumnus of IVLP from the Department of State of USA. He has an MBA, a BSc in Business Information Systems and a Diploma of Higher Education in Computer Sciences.
Director of R&D and Project Management, Center for Social Innovation (CSI)
Katerina Theodoridou
Dr. Katerina Theodoridou is the Director of R&D and Project Management at the Center for Social Innovation (CSI), where she coordinates the organization’s European-funded projects, as well as CSI Academy, through which the project managers that undertake the research and development phases of the projects are trained. A former Fulbright scholar, she holds a Ph.D. and an M.A. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Texas at Austin, with a specialization in Educational Technology. Her core expertise focuses on program design and evaluation, curriculum development, ICT-based learning, language learning methods, Computer-Assisted Language Learning, and the use of avatars in vocabulary acquisition. In the past 15 years she has worked on projects related to the design and development of interactive games, e-learning, curriculum development, instructional approaches, and innovation infusion in organizations. Specifically, as a researcher, curriculum developer, project manager, and expert facilitator/trainer she has been involved in programs that focus on educational planning, the integration of ICT in education, developing educational materials for online learning and professional training, and assessment of learning needs. She has also worked on various projects that focus on the integration and inclusion of migrants and other marginalized groups. Her research interests include, among others, the integration of technology and online learning environments in teaching and learning, digital literacy for youth, capacity-building skills for educators, the use of ICT in language teaching methods, and project management skills for professionals.
Former Minister for Foreign and European Affairs, Republic of Malta
Evarist Bartolo
Evarist Bartolo served as a Member of Parliament for 30 years with the Labour Party (1992 – 2022). He held positions as Minister for Education and Employment and later as Minister for European and Foreign Affairs. In 2017, he chaired the European Council on Education. Bartolo graduated from the University of Malta, the Mass Media Institute of Stanford University, and the University of Wales. He has been appointed Honorary Professor at the Shanghai University of Legal and Political Studies.
During his tenure as Foreign and European Affairs Minister, Bartolo promoted relations between the EU and the Mediterranean, as well as between the EU and Africa. He also advocated for the Treaty Prohibiting Nuclear Weapons and promoted conflict resolution through the values of mediation, negotiation, and peacebuilding, with a strong emphasis on democracy and human rights.
Throughout his political career, Bartolo successfully campaigned for various reforms in Malta. These include the introduction of divorce and civil rights and marriage equality, and the implementation of measures for good governance such as the establishment of the Ombudsman, the Freedom of Information Act, and the Commissioner for Standards in Public Life. He also played a key role in enhancing protections for journalists. Additionally, he spearheaded initiatives to improve social welfare, including the opening of childcare centers, facilitating employment for the unemployed and disabled, implementing literacy programs, providing life skills for disadvantaged students, and introducing accredited work-based learning opportunities in Malta.
Member of the Executive Committee, Oxygen for Democracy
Nicolas Kyriakides
Nicolas Kyriakides is a lawyer, an academic and a lobbyst. He is a graduate of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, he holds postgraduate degrees from UCL and NYU and a PhD (DPhil) from the University of Oxford. He has also been a visiting researcher at Harvard . He teaches at the University of Nicosia and has contributed to a number of high level innovative legal research initiatives and papers in the course of both his commercial practice and his academic life, such as the Procedural Law Unit at the University of Nicosia. He is also a founding member of the non-profit organisation Oxygen for Democracy and its flagship project, the Cyprus Forum.
Associate Professor, Cyprus University of Technology
Vasiliki Trigka
Dr. Vasiliki Trigka holds a PhD in Social and Political Sciences from the European University Institute in Florence. From 2007 until 2011 she worked as a senior researcher at the Centre for Research on Direct Democracy (c2d) at the University of Zurich. She has been teaching as a temporary lecturer at the University of Zurich and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Zurich (ETHz). Before, she has been a visiting fellow at the Laboratoire d’anthropologie des institutions et des organisations sociales (LAIOS) at the CNRS (Paris) and the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Faculty of Psychology). She has been appointed as an Assistant professor at the Department of Communication and Internet Studies at the Cyprus University of Technology. Her research interests lie in the field of ICT/internet based political processes like Voting Advice Applications, Southern Politics and the Economic Crisis, Social movements and Online Collective Identities and European Referendums. She has published her research in various journals such as IEEE Transactions on Cybernetics,, Southern European Society and Politics, Revista de Ciencia Politica, Journal of Southern Europe and the Balkans etc. She is co-author of the book Referendums and the European Union: A Comparative Inquiry, published by Cambridge University Press in 2014. She has been the Project Coordinator at CUT of the Horizon 2020 : “COHESIFY: The Impact of Cohesion Policy on EU Identity” (H2020-Reflective-Society-2015/693427, 2016-2018).
Visual Artist, Curator and Educator
PASHIAS
With more than ten years of intensive practice, visual artist PASHIAS has established his name synonymous with performance art. His body has been exhibited live, through video and photography or in the form of sculpture and installation, countless times, each time through a different shape, image and idea. Bearing the relationship between an individual and their social environment as his thematic axis, PASHIAS always explores inventively and effectively the way we communicate and coexist in a common space and time. Hisartistic and curatorial research focuses on social constructs (body + gender), cultural consumption (body + food), competitive spectacles (body + sports) and historical artefacts (body + exhibit). PASHIAS’ works have been presented in solo and group exhibitions, as well as international festivals in the United Kingdom, Greece, Cyprus, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Russia, Norway, Finland, Estonia, Sweden, Bulgaria, Turkey, Belgium, Brazil and Canada. More specifically, he has collaborated with cultural organisations, such as the Fitzwilliam Museum of Cambridge, Marina Abramović Institute, SESC São Paulo, Museum of Contemporary Art of Estonia, Mediterranean Biennale of Contemporary Art and Institut Supérieur des Beaux Arts de Besançon. In 2013, PASHIAS co-founded epitelesis - Performance Art Foundation as an international platform for the support of cultural activities, has been engaged in curating exhibitions and series of events on the relationship of live action to other artistic practices, and has been working as an educator/lecturer through various academic programs.
Rector, School of Fine Arts, Greece
Erato Hadjisavva
Law Student, Vice-President of the Group of Legal Education at the University of Cyprus
Paraskevas Hadjikkos
Paraskevas Hadjikkos is a student at the Department of Law at the University of Cyprus, currently serving as the Vice-President of the Group of Legal Education at the University of Cyprus since September 2023, and holding the position of Author/Editor at the University’s Law Journal since April 2023. Additionally, he served as a member of the Youth Parliament of Cyprus from October 2021 to December 2022, participating in the Committee on Human Rights and Equal Opportunities for Men and Women. During his time as a high school student, he was the President of the Cyprus Children's Parliament from September 2017 to January 2020. He participated in various activities, including attending Euroscola meetings in Strasbourg twice and serving as the speaker on behalf of the Cypriot Delegation to the European Parliament, participating in the FREDMUN and MEDIMUN programs, and participating in the Junior Achievement Competition twice. Furthermore, he served as the Head Junior Ambassador on the European Parliament Ambassador School (EPAS) Program from September 2017 to May 2020. Paraskevas Hadjikkos has been recognized for his achievements, receiving the Award for Academic Excellence as Valedictorian and the First Award for the “Action, Activity, and Social Contribution” Program in June 2020, along with an undergraduate scholarship based on academic merit.
Director of Strategic Development, Center for Social Innovation
Sotiris Themistokleous
Dr. Sotiris Themistokleous is the Director of Strategic Development of the Center for Social Innovation (CSI). Sotiris leads the networking and fundraising activities of the organization, while he is actively involved in various programs and initiative of CSI, especially in the fields of democratic participation, social justice, youth, and technology for the society. Moreover, Sotiris represents the organization in various professional networks such as the Network of European Social Entrepreneurs and Innovators. Over the past 15 years, has been involved in more than 200 programs and initiatives on social innovation, education, social justice and empowerment, and civic participation as Team Leader and Researcher. He has published articles and book chapters and presented a series of papers at international conferences on Social Innovation, Education, Sustainable Development, Democratization, Diversity Management, Migration, and Civil Society. Sotiris holds a BA in International Relations and Diplomacy from the American College of Thessaloniki, an MSc in Global Politics from Birkbeck College, University of London, and a PhD in Education from the University of Nicosia.
Associate Professor, Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences, Open University of Cyprus & CYENS CoE
Jahna Otterbacher
Jahna Otterbacher (Ph.D., University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, USA) is Associate Professor and Vice Dean of the School of Pure and Applied Sciences at the Open University of Cyprus (OUC). At OUC, she leads the Cyprus Center for Algorithmic Transparency (CyCAT), which conducts interdisciplinary research focused on promoting technical and educational solutions for promoting AI transparency and literacy. Concurrent to this, Jahna co-leads the Fairness and Ethics in AI-Human Interaction (fAIre) group at CYENS, a new center of excellence and innovation in Nicosia, Cyprus, in collaboration with two international Advanced Partners, UCL and MPI. Her research has been funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program (under Grant Agreements No. 739578 (RISE) & No. 810105 (CyCAT)), as well as the Cyprus Research and Innovation Foundation (under grants EXCELLENCE/0918/0086 (DESCANT) and EXCELLENCE/0421/0360 (KeepA(I)n)). Since 2022, she is included on the Stanford-Elsevier list of the world’s most-cited scholars (in the area of artificial intelligence – image analysis) and in 2023, is one of only five women from Cyprus to have this recognition for her career-long record.
Member of the Board of Institute of Studies for Politics and Democracy (ISPD)
Andia Mavromati
Ms Mavromati received her Bachelor’s degree in English Language and Literature and proceeded with a second Bachelor’s Degree in Turkish and Middle Eastern studies, with a major in History and Politics, from the University of Cyprus. She also holds a Master’s Degree in Applied Linguistics, from the University of Cyprus. She currently works as an English teacher at the Ministry of Education, Sport and Youth and is also an accredited examiner for official English examinations. She is a member of the Board of Institute of Studies for Politics and Democracy (ISPD), the Vice President of the University of Cyprus Alumni Association and was the first President of the Association of newly appointed teachers of Cyprus. She was a Member of the Educational Council of European Youth Parliament representing Cyprus for two years. She is a TEDx speaker and a science communicator, giving lectures and workshops for young adults on issues related to science communication. Her research interests revolve around the areas of Sociolinguistics, language policy and language contact, especially between Cypriot Greek and Cypriot Turkish. She has a number of publications and numerous presentations in academic conferences both in Cyprus and abroad. Lately, she is actively involved in projects aiming at empowering young women and enabling them to participate in politics.
Digital Channels Manager, Alpha Media Group Cyprus
Nicolas Zannettos
Nicolas Zannettos currently holds the title of Digital Channels Manager at Alpha Media Group Cyprus. He has previously served as a journalist, political reporter and Chief Editor in print, electronic and online media. He began his career at Dias Publishing Group in 2011 and he then moved to Alpha Cyprus in 2016. Nowadays he contributes with analysis of the political sphere through articles and TV inserts. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Journalism from University of Central Lancashire and a Master’s Degree in Web Journalism from University of Sheffield. He serves as Vice President of the Cyprus Organization of Online Publishers and he is a member of Media Ethics Committee of Cyprus. He is an alumni of the IVLP US State Department program for journalists and he participated in a series of EU seminars for combating disinformation and fake news. As a journalist he has covered dozens of press missions abroad, including the last round of negotiations for the Cyprus Problem in Switzerland.
Author
Nasia Dionysiou
Nasia Dionysiou was born in 1979 in Cyprus where she lives. She studied Law and International Law of Human Rights and she has been working for the Office of the Commissioner for Administration and the Protection of Human Rights since 2003.
Her first book, titled «Περιττή Ομορφιά» [Redundant Beauty] (Το Ροδακιό, Athens, 2017) was awarded the Cyprus State Prize for Short Story/Novella 2017, translated into Serbian (Treći Trg, 2021) and presented at the European First Novel Festival of Budapest (2019) and the Belgrade Festival of Poetry and Books (2021).
Her second book «Τι είναι ένας κάμπος» [What a camp is] (Πόλις, Athens, 2021) was awarded the Greek National Prize for Short Story/Novella 2022 and was shortlisted for the Cyprus State Prize for Short Story/Novella, “Anagnostis” 2022 Awards and “Klepsydra” 2022 Prose Award. The book has been presented in several book festivals, including the Gothenburg Book Fair 2023, and it is to be published soon in France (Éditions Cambourakis), Ukraine (Anetta Antonenko Publishers) and Serbia (Treći Trg).
Co-Founder & Executive Director, Sistema Cyprus
Nikoletta Polydorou
Nikoletta Polydorou is a Social Music Educator with a PhD in Music Education. Nikoletta is the founder and Executive Director of Sistema Cyprus, a social-music orchestra programme that offers free music education to the children and young people of Cyprus, including migrants, refugees and children and young people with less opportunities. Between 2011-2022, Nikoletta worked as a Music Instructor in the most disadvantaged schools in Nicosia, within the “School and Social Inclusion Actions” Programme by the Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth. In addition, Nikoletta worked as a Scientific Collaborator at the European University of Cyprus and collaborated with the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance for the course: The Artist as an Agent of Change. She is currently working as an adjunct staff at Nicosia University in Cyprus teaching Community Music.
In 2020, Nikoletta was awarded the Commonwealth Points of Light Award by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. In 2018, Nikoletta was selected by the Youth Board of Cyprus to serve as a Role Model through the European Initiative #LifeStories and the Youth Board in Cyprus for her work with immigrant communities. Through these years, Nikoletta has been tirelessly working to educate, inspire and empower the children and people of the most disadvantaged communities in Cyprus.
Rector of the University of Limassol
Professor Theodore Panayotou
Professor Theodore Panayotou, the inaugural Rector of the University of Limassol, boasts a distinguished career at the intersection of academia and environmental policy. With roots at Harvard University, where he served for over two decades, his expertise extends across environmental economics, public policy, and sustainable development. Notably, his contributions to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change contributed to the organization earning the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. Throughout his tenure, he has advised numerous governments and international organizations on economic development, climate change, and sustainability, helping shape policies such as emissions trading and the Clean Development Mechanism. Professor Panayotou's extensive research, spanning over 100 publications, underscores his authority on economic instruments and innovative financing mechanisms, the Environmental Kuznets Curve (a term he coined) and the instrument of transferable development rights in promoting sustainable practices worldwide.
Organization of European Programmes and Cultural Relations
Pantelia Vyrides
Pantelia Vyrides is an Officer at the Organization of European Programmes and Cultural Relations which manages, among others, the Cyprus Desks of the EU Programmes “Creative Europe”, “Citizens, Equality, Rights & Values” and “New European Bauhaus”. With more than 15 years of experience in the Creative and Cultural Sectors, she has extensive expertise in cultural events, communications, and EU funding.
Cultural Journalist, Kathimerini Cyprus
Apostolos Kouroupakis
He was born in Chania, Crete, and obtained his undergraduate degree from the Department of History at the University of Trieste in Italy. He furthered his academic pursuits by earning a Master's degree in "Critical Methodology and Publication of Historical Sources" from the Ionian University in Greece. He holds a PhD in medieval history, which he earned from the Department of History at the University of Cyprus. His doctoral thesis focused on the “Latin Church of Cyprus during the period of the Great Schism of the West (1378-1417)”.
In addition to his academic achievements, he serves as a journalist in the newspaper Kathimerini Cyprus and holds the position of editor-in-chief for the cultural insert "Zoe".
Co-Founder & CTO, Cocoon Creations
Elena Georgiou Strouthos
Elena holds the position of Co-Founder & CTO at Cocoon Creations, an esteemed agency renowned for its specialization in software platform design, development, and consultation. In addition to her corporate roles, Elena had the pivotal position of team lead for hack {cyprus}, a prominent online community of technologists in Cyprus and the pioneering force behind the nation's inaugural hackathon. She is the host of the "Breaking the 20%" podcast, a platform dedicated to exploring the historical contributions of women in the technology field. Her dedication to promoting women's achievements in tech is further evident through her role as a Women Techmakers Ambassador.