Paraskevas Koukaras

Dr. Paraskevas Koukaras is an Academic Scholar at the International Hellenic University (IHU) and a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Information Technologies Institute (ITI) of the Centre for Research and Technology - Hellas (CERTH), affiliated with the School of Science and Technology at IHU.

His educational background includes:

• IT Engineer from the Department of Informatics, Alexander Technological Educational Institute of Thessaloniki (ATEI)
• PhD in Interdisciplinary data science methods using machine learning for enhanced knowledge acquisition from the School of Science and Technology, International Hellenic University (IHU)

Dr. Koukaras' research spans social media analytics, energy systems, and machine learning. His work focuses on energy load forecasting and optimization, data analytics, information modeling, and graph mining in heterogeneous networks. He applies these techniques to address challenges in public health, financial markets, and building energy efficiency through prescriptive analytics.

His recent publications (2020-2023) demonstrate a strong focus on applying machine learning to real-world problems, particularly in social media analysis for public health during the COVID-19 pandemic, energy forecasting, and fake news detection. His work consistently employs multi-model approaches leveraging both traditional and deep learning techniques across healthcare, finance, and energy domains.

Dr. Koukaras has participated in major European research projects including eDREAM (H2020), DRIMPAC (H2020), PRECEPT, SmartWins, easySRI, and SMACCs, focusing on demand response technologies and energy ecosystems. He contributes to academic training through teaching courses in data science and computing despite no formal advisees being listed.

He operates within interdisciplinary research teams at ITI/CERTH and IHU's School of Science and Technology, collaborating on AI applications for energy efficiency, healthcare support, and social media analytics in residential and industrial contexts.