Professor Markos Zachariadis is the Chair in Financial Technology (FinTech) and Information Systems at Alliance Manchester Business School (AMBS), University of Manchester. He holds roles in the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Resilient Financial Systems and is a FinTech Research Fellow at the Cambridge Centre for Digital Innovation. His research focuses on the economics of digital innovation, payment systems (e.g., SWIFT), and Open Banking. Zachariadis has authored/co-authored influential works such as The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) and contributes to policy discussions globally. Education: PhD in Management (Economics of Payment Systems), London School of Economics (2011) MSc in Analysis, Design and Management of Information Systems, London School of Economics (2004) Bachelor of Economics, University of Patras (2003) Research Interests: Financial Technology, Payment Networks, Digital Innovation, Data Standards, Blockchain, and Regulatory Impact. His work bridges academia and industry, addressing challenges in financial infrastructure and digital transformation. Awards: Recipient of prestigious awards including the NET Institute Award and SWIFT Institute Award for contributions to payment systems and Open Banking research. Grants & Advisory Roles: Leads projects on FinTech regulation and financial crime, collaborating with institutions like the Hellenic Competition Commission. His advisory roles span global organizations including the Bank of England and European Commission. Labs/Teams: Founding Director of the Centre for Financial Technology Studies (CFTS) at Manchester Business School, fostering interdisciplinary research in FinTech.
Prof. Dimitris Gizopoulos is a Professor at the Department of Informatics & Telecommunications, University of Athens, leading the Computer Architecture Laboratory. His research focuses on fault tolerance, design validation, performance, and energy efficiency in microprocessors, GPUs, and AI accelerators. He is an IEEE Fellow (2013) and ACM Distinguished Member (2022). His work is supported by Horizon Europe projects like DARE, Neuropuls, and Vitamin-V, alongside industry grants from AMD, Cisco, and Meta. He participates in networks like HiPEAC and Eurolab4HPC and serves on editorial boards of journals including ACM Computing Surveys and IEEE Transactions on Computers . Prof. Gizopoulos teaches Computer Architecture courses at both undergraduate and graduate levels. His research spans cross-layer reliability analysis, voltage scaling effects, and secure hardware design. Notable contributions include frameworks for GPU reliability assessment (GUFI, GPUI-4) and tools like MerLIN for microarchitecture-level analysis. His lab’s work has been funded by the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking and the Greek-China Research Collaboration program. Key Projects: DARE (RISC-V Europe), Neuropuls (neuromorphic accelerators), Vitamin-V (RISC-V cloud environments). Awards: IEEE Fellow (2013), ACM Distinguished Member (2022), IEEE Golden Core (since 2002). Industry Partnerships: AMD, Cisco, Bosch, NVIDIA, Intel, IBM Research. Labs: Leads the Computer Architecture Lab, focusing on fault tolerance and energy-efficient computing. His work emphasizes bridging hardware-software co-design challenges, with publications in top venues like IEEE Transactions on Computers and ACM Computing Surveys . Recent efforts include analyzing silent data corruptions (SDCs) in CPUs and GPUs, and developing validation frameworks for cloud-native architectures.
John Psarras is a Professor at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, specifically within the Division of Industrial Electric Devices and Decision Systems. He serves as the Director of the Decision Support Systems Laboratory (DSSlab) and the University Research Institute of Communication and Computer Systems. He holds a Diploma in Mechanical Engineering (1982) and a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering (1989), both from NTUA. His research specializes in decision support systems with applications in energy management, environmental analysis, and information systems. Key areas include: Multi-criteria analysis for energy policy and renewable integration AI-driven optimization of smart grids and building efficiency Sustainable finance mechanisms for green projects Blockchain applications in education and data security His recent publications (2023–2025) demonstrate a strong focus on AI-enhanced decision tools for energy transitions, smart infrastructure, healthcare diagnostics, and cross-border renewable cooperation, reflecting interdisciplinary innovation. He has supervised 22 PhD theses and coordinates EU-funded projects in energy policy, clean technology, and capacity building. No scientific awards are listed in available sources. He leads the Decision Support Systems Laboratory (DSSlab), advancing research in energy analytics, and directs the University Research Institute of Communication and Computer Systems, facilitating large-scale interdisciplinary collaborations.
Theodora Varvarigou is a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA). She holds a B.Eng. from NTUA and M.Eng. and Ph.D. degrees from Stanford University. Her career includes research at AT&T Bell Labs and roles at the Technical University of Crete. From 2008-2012, she served as director of NTUA's 'Technoeconomic Systems' postgraduate program. Her research focuses on Cloud Computing, Multimedia Content Processing, Social Networking Technologies, and emerging areas like blockchain, edge computing, and cybersecurity. She has published over 200 papers and led numerous European research projects, emphasizing scalable systems, data management, and smart infrastructure applications. Her work spans technical innovations such as intrusion detection systems, edge resource optimization, and blockchain-based solutions for IoT, healthcare, and smart cities. Recent publications highlight advancements in AI-driven resource allocation, privacy-preserving blockchain designs, and predictive analytics for edge computing environments. Professor Varvarigou has contributed to interdisciplinary initiatives, including cohort data harmonization in biomedical research and social media analytics for urban planning. Her teaching includes courses on digital systems, network programming, and fault-tolerant systems.
Dimitris Mitropoulos is an Assistant Professor at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) in the Department of Business Administration, where he teaches courses on Distributed Ledger Technologies, Data Security and Privacy, Algorithms and Business Analytics, and Introduction to Programming. He also serves as Head of the Reliability Engineering Directorate at the National Infrastructures for Research and Technology (GRNET), Greece's national research and education network organization. Previously, he was a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Computer Science Department at Columbia University. Dr. Mitropoulos received his Ph.D. degree in Secure Software Development Technologies from the Athens University of Economics and Business (AUEB) in 2014. His doctoral research was supported by the Heracleitus II Scholarship, co-financed by the European Union and Greek national funds. He is a member of prestigious professional organizations including ACM, IEEE, and USENIX. Dr. Mitropoulos conducts pioneering research at the intersection of software engineering and cybersecurity, with particular expertise in secure software development, vulnerability analysis, and blockchain security. His work spans multiple dimensions of software security including code injection attacks, infrastructure as code security, smart contract analysis, and dependency management in software ecosystems. His research methodology combines static and dynamic analysis techniques with empirical studies of real-world software systems, particularly focusing on Java, Python, and Solidity ecosystems. His recent work has made significant contributions to understanding security vulnerabilities in modern software development practices and infrastructure management. Dr. Mitropoulos has received numerous prestigious awards for his research contributions, including the Research Excellence Award from NKUA (2025), Distinguished Paper and Artifact Awards at PLDI '22, Best Data Showcase Award at MSR 2018, and multiple postdoctoral research funding scholarships. His work on "Finding typing compiler bugs" was recognized with both Distinguished Paper and Artifact Awards at PLDI '22, highlighting the significance and reproducibility of his research. He has also received recognition for his service to the academic community, including a Certificate of Appreciation from ESEC/FSE '21 for his contributions to conference organization. Dr. Mitropoulos has been actively involved in securing research funding and leading significant research projects. He currently serves as Principal Investigator for the SecOPERA project (2023-Today), funded by the European Commission under Horizon Europe. Previously, he contributed to several major EU and US-funded projects including eSSIF-Lab (2019-2022), FASTEN (2019-2022), PRIViLEDGE (2018-2021), CERTCOOP (2017-2020), PANORAMIX (2016-2019), and TREDISEC (2016-2018). His research has been supported by diverse funding sources including the European Commission's Horizon 2020 program, the National Science Foundation, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Dr. Mitropoulos plays an active role in the international research community through various leadership positions. He serves on program committees for top-tier conferences including OOPSLA (2026), ICSE (2026), ESEC/FSE (2025), and ISSTA (2025). He has previously served as Workshop Co-Chair for ISSTA 2025 and Student Volunteer Chair for ESEC/FSE 2021. His contributions to mentoring the next generation of researchers include serving as a mentor for the ICSE Student Mentoring Workshop (2022) and supervising Google Summer of Code projects (2017).
Manos Kapritsos is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Michigan's College of Engineering. He leads the GLaDOS research group focusing on reliability of distributed systems through formal verification and fault-tolerant replication techniques. His research spans: Formal verification of concurrent and distributed systems Fault-tolerant replication protocols beyond client-server models Automation of verification processes for complex systems Performance verification including latency properties Reliable cryptographic code implementation Analysis of his publications reveals strong emphasis on: developing automated verification tools (Armada, Vale, IronFleet), creating novel replication protocols (Aegean), verifying performance characteristics (Performal), and improving specification reliability (IronSpec). His work consistently bridges theoretical formal methods with practical systems implementation. Awards and honors include: Jay Lepreau Best Paper Award at OSDI 2025 Jon R. and Beverly S. Holt Award for Excellence in Teaching (2022) NSF CAREER Award (2021) Distinguished Paper Award at PLDI 2020 Google Faculty Award (2017) Distinguished Paper Award at USENIX Security 2017 Grant support includes NSF FMitF grants (2020, 2023), NSF Large grant (2021), DARPA grant (2020), and Google Faculty Award (2017). He advises PhD students through the GLaDOS group, focusing on distributed systems verification. He directs the GLaDOS lab at University of Michigan, developing verification frameworks and reliable distributed systems. Current projects include automated proof generation (Basilisk) and efficient communication protocols (Scrooge).
Amalia Miliou is a Professor in the Department of Informatics at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, where she has served since 1993, progressing through the academic ranks from Lecturer to her current position as Professor since 2022. She holds a PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Florida (1991) with specialization in Optoelectronics, following an MSc in the same field (1988) and a Physics degree from Aristotle University (1985). Her research focuses on optical communications systems, with specific expertise in optoelectronic circuits simulation, optical switching, optical RAM development, converged fiber-wireless technology, 5G networks, and secure optical communications using chaos theory. Over her career, she has supervised numerous graduate students across these research areas, with thesis topics spanning optical memory systems, fiber-wireless integration, chaos-based secure communications, and advanced optical network architectures. Her recent publications (2021-2024) demonstrate a strong focus on next-generation optical networking solutions for 5G/6G applications, including fiber-wireless convergence, optical memory systems for high-speed networks, and innovative approaches to optical signal processing. Her work bridges fundamental photonics research with practical telecommunications applications, particularly in addressing the bandwidth and latency challenges of modern mobile networks. Professor Miliou has served as the Coordinator of the LLP-ERASMUS student exchange program at the Department of Informatics since 1997 and has held various administrative positions including membership in the University Senate and General Assembly. She has led and participated in numerous research projects, most recently focusing on technological improvements for 5G systems through optical-wireless network development (2019-2021), next-generation healthcare applications leveraging 6G networks (2023-2027), and photonic integrated circuits for random access memory (2012-2015).
Emmanouel (Manos) Varvarigos is a Professor at the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), where he leads the High Speed Communication Networks Laboratory. He holds a Diploma from NTUA (1988) and an M.S./Ph.D. from MIT (1990/1992). Prior roles include Professorships at UC Santa Barbara (1992-1998) and Delft University (1998-1999), and leadership at the University of Patras (1999-2015). He has coordinated over 30 EU research projects, including H2020 initiatives like ORCHESTRA and FLEXGRID. His research focuses on optical networking, cloud computing, smart energy grids, and high-speed network protocols. He has published over 450 papers and serves on numerous conference committees. Awards include the NSF Research Initiation Award. His lab employs 5 postdocs and 10+ PhD students, addressing challenges in networking, data centers, and grid computing. Education: Ph.D., Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, MIT, 1992 M.S., Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, MIT, 1990 Diploma in Electrical and Computer Engineering, NTUA, 1988 Research Interests: Optical networking, high-speed network protocols, data center architectures, cloud computing, smart energy grids, wireless networks, and distributed systems. Grants & Projects: Coordinated 7 EU projects (e.g., FLEXGRID, ORCHESTRA) and participated in 35+ others. National projects include roles as Scientific Director of the Greek School Network and CTI’s Network Technologies Division. Labs & Teams: Directs the High Speed Communication Networks Lab (HSCNL), collaborating with global institutions on optical networks, edge cloud, and smart grids. The lab’s work includes EU-funded projects on 5G, data centers, and renewable energy integration.
George Vasilakopoulos is a Professor in the Department of Digital Systems at the University of Piraeus , where he also serves as Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Personnel. By law, he is President of the Quality Assurance Unit (MODIP) and the Employment and Career Structure (DASTA) of the university, overseeing the development of modern information systems. He earned his PhD from the University of London and has held leadership roles including Department President, Director of Postgraduate Programs, and Scientific Director of the Digital Health Services Laboratory. PhD: University of London Current Roles: Vice-Chancellor, Department of Digital Systems Professor Labs: Digital Health Services Laboratory His research focuses on Health Informatics , Cloud Computing , and Medical Data Security , with key contributions to: Emergency healthcare process automation Privacy-preserving personal health record systems Context-aware authorization models Cloud-based medical service frameworks Machine learning in clinical data analysis Interoperable health information systems The trends in his 15 most recent articles (2010-2015) reveal a consistent emphasis on integrating cloud infrastructure , semantic technologies , and mobile platforms to enhance emergency care, chronic disease management, and patient data security. His work bridges biomedical engineering , software architecture , and public health policy . He has held advisory roles for the Minister of Health on IT issues, served on hospital boards, and contributed to national committees for healthcare technology standards. His professional activities include project evaluation for Greek and European research programs and authoring three books on health informatics.
Dr. Grigorios L. Kyriakopoulos (National Technical University of Athens, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering) is a multidisciplinary academic with 25+ years of teaching experience at NTUA and 10+ years across institutions like the Naval Academy and Athens School of Pedagogical and Technological Education. Holding dual PhDs in Low Carbon Economy and Chemical Engineering, he has 22 academic qualifications spanning Environmental Design, Energy, Theology, and Mental Health Counselling. PhD: Low Carbon Economy (Democritus University of Thrace, 2022) PhD: Chemical Engineering (NTUA, 2005) MSc: Environmental Design of Cities & Buildings (Hellenic Open University, 2018) MSc: Energy (Heriot-Watt University, 2017) MA: Orthodox Theology (Hellenic Open University, 2016) As a Researcher at NTUA, his work bridges Engineering, Energy, and Environmental Economics , with 134 publications, 2160 peer-reviewed papers reviewed, and 6700+ manuscript evaluations. He ranks in the World's Top 2% of Highly Cited Scientists (Stanford University, 2020-2023) and received the Sentinels of Science Award (2016) . His editorial roles include Frontiers in Environmental Science and PLOS ONE , while leading special issues on Microplastics Pollution and Digital Transformation Sustainability . Key research themes include Circular Economy , Renewable Energy Systems , and Behavioral Ecology , with empirical work on Wastewater Reuse and Climate Neutrality implementation. His 17833 citations (Scopus top-250 papers) reflect global impact, particularly in Energy Policy and Environmental Systems . Conference participation spans 500+ reviews at events like NEFES and DTI , with leadership in SMART-ICAE 2018 and NEFES 2022 .
Eleni Stai is an Assistant Professor at the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), affiliated with the Division of Communication, Electronic and Information Engineering. She holds advanced degrees in Electrical Engineering, Mathematics, and Applied Mathematical Sciences from NTUA and the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. Her academic credentials include: Diploma in Electrical and Computer Engineering, NTUA (2009) B.Sc. in Mathematics, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (2013) M.Sc. in Applied Mathematical Sciences, NTUA (2014) Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, NTUA (2015) Dr. Stai's research integrates advanced optimization techniques with communications networks and energy systems. She develops stochastic and deterministic optimization frameworks for network resource allocation, data analytics on complex topologies, and smart-grid control applications. Her work bridges theoretical foundations with practical implementations in energy-harvesting networks, network slicing, and reinforcement learning for distributed systems. Analysis of her recent publications reveals dominant research thrusts in AI-driven network management (particularly O-RAN and network slicing), energy-integrated communications, and optimization of energy communities. A significant portion of her work addresses the convergence of 5G/6G networking with power systems, emphasizing real-time control and sustainability. Her scientific contributions have been recognized through prestigious awards: Chorafas Foundation Best Ph.D. Thesis award Thomaidis Foundation Best M.Sc. Thesis award Best Paper Award at ICT 2016 Best Presenter Award at IEEE ENERGYCON 2022 Dr. Stai serves on technical program committees for major international conferences and has co-authored the book "Evolutionary Dynamics of Complex Communications Networks". She teaches undergraduate courses in Queuing Systems, Computer Networks, and Social Network Analysis, reflecting her expertise in network theory and applications. Her research trajectory demonstrates continuous evolution from fundamental network optimization to AI-enhanced solutions for next-generation communication-energy systems. Her work builds upon her postdoctoral experience at EPFL (2016-2020) and ETH Zurich (2020-2023), where she developed advanced frameworks for communications networks and energy systems.
Sarah E. Chasins is an Assistant Professor in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (EECS) department at the University of California, Berkeley, with research spanning programming languages and human-computer interaction. She leads the PLAIT Lab (Programming Languages for Approachable and Inclusive Tools) and serves as a faculty affiliate at the Berkeley Institute for Data Science (BIDS). Her work bridges computer science with social sciences, climate reporting, legal systems, and biological research through extensive collaborations. Dr. Chasins' research focuses on democratizing programming for non-traditional programmers including scientists, social scientists, journalists, and data scientists. Her work emphasizes creating approachable programming tools that help practitioners reach correct programs while understanding, extending, and trusting those programs. She specifically investigates program synthesis, programming tools for scientific domains, and human-centered programming language design. Her research mission aims to make programming a path to a more informed and evidence-driven society rather than just a way to get wrong answers faster. Her recent publications demonstrate a clear trajectory toward making programming more accessible and understandable. The work spans code search techniques, program synthesis approaches, refactoring tools, and studies of how domain experts interact with programming languages. A consistent theme across her research is placing human needs at the center of programming language design and implementation. Dr. Chasins actively mentors PhD students including Justin Lubin, Eric Rawn, Parker Ziegler, Sarah "Slim" Lim, Hellina Hailu Nigatu, David Minh-Duy Cao, and Marlena Preigh. She has previously advised numerous master's and undergraduate students who have gone on to work in both academia and industry. Her teaching includes core courses like CS164 (Programming Languages and Compilers) and specialized courses like CS294-184 (Building User-Centered Programming Tools) and CS39-001 (Technology, Society, and Power). She maintains an active service record in the programming languages community, having served on program committees for major conferences including PLDI, POPL, OOPSLA, and SPLASH. Notably, she co-chaired the Student Research Competition at PLDI 2020 and 2021 and has been involved in organizing workshops focused on programming languages and human-computer interaction.
Todd Millstein is a Professor in the Computer Science Department at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He served as the Computer Science Department Chair from 2022-2025 and is also an Amazon Scholar. His research focuses on making software systems more reliable through programming languages techniques, with significant contributions to network verification and probabilistic programming. Millstein received his Ph.D. from the University of Washington Department of Computer Science, where he was a member of the Cecil group led by Craig Chambers. Prior to that, he completed his undergraduate studies at Brown University under the guidance of Paris Kanellakis and Pascal Van Hentenryck. Millstein's research spans several areas of programming languages and systems with a focus on reliability. He has made significant contributions to network verification, developing the Batfish network configuration analyzer which is now managed by Amazon Web Services and forms the basis of Oracle Cloud's Network Path Analyzer. His work has been recognized with the ACM SIGCOMM Networking Systems Award in 2025. He also works on interactive program verification through lemma synthesis and scalable reasoning methods for probabilistic programming languages. His research bridges programming languages theory with practical systems challenges, as highlighted in his SPLASH/OOPSLA 2024 keynote "Everything is a Program (even if it's not)". Millstein's recent publications demonstrate a consistent focus on verification and reliability across multiple domains. His work shows a progression from foundational programming language techniques to practical applications in networking and probabilistic systems. Key themes include data-driven approaches to program analysis, synthesis of verification artifacts, and applying programming languages techniques to non-traditional domains like network configuration. Millstein's scientific achievements have been recognized with numerous prestigious awards including an NSF CAREER Award, an ACM SIGPLAN Most Influential PLDI Paper Award, an ACM SIGCOMM Networking Systems Award, IEEE Micro Top Picks selection, best-paper awards from PLDI, OOPSLA, and SIGCOMM, a Microsoft Research Outstanding Collaborator Award, an Okawa Foundation Research Grant, an IBM Faculty Award, and a Facebook Research Award. He has also received both the Northrop Grumman Excellence in Teaching Award (for junior faculty) and the Eon Instrumentation Inc. Excellence in Teaching Award (for senior faculty) from UCLA Engineering. Millstein advises several Ph.D. students including Ana Brendel, Poorva Garg (co-advised with Guy Van den Broeck), Rajdeep Mondal (co-advised with George Varghese), and Rathin Singha (co-advised with George Varghese). His research has been supported by various grants including an NSF CAREER Award, Okawa Foundation Research Grant, IBM Faculty Award, and Facebook Research Award. He has also been a Co-Founder and Chief Scientist of Intentionet, which was later acquired by Amazon Web Services. Millstein is actively involved in the Batfish project, an open-source network configuration analyzer that has had significant practical impact. Batfish is now managed by AWS, powers Oracle Cloud's Network Path Analyzer, and is used by dozens of companies. His research group continues to work on network reliability, developing techniques for scalable BGP policy verification and behavioral testing of protocol implementations.
Athanasios Mailis serves as Assistant Professor of Byzantine Archaeology at the Department of History and Archaeology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Crete. His scholarly work bridges archaeological fieldwork with theoretical analysis of cultural identity, focusing on religious architecture in the medieval Mediterranean. Dr. Mailis's educational background includes: Birth in Athens (1975) Graduation from University of Crete's Department of History and Archaeology (1998) Postgraduate studies at University of Crete Doctoral thesis at University of Göttingen (2005-2010) His research explores Byzantine architecture, medieval urban planning, iconography, and intercultural relations between Byzantium and Western Europe, with special emphasis on Crete during the Venetian period. Mailis examines how architectural elements like templon barriers evolved into iconostases, revealing how material culture expressed religious identity during cultural transitions. His work demonstrates how Orthodox communities used architectural features as 'material proof of cultural identity' during Venetian rule, showing both archaism and modernization in religious spaces. Dr. Mailis's publications reveal consistent methodological approaches combining archaeological evidence with art historical analysis. His research traces the evolution of religious spaces from the 11th to 16th centuries, documenting how physical transformations in church architecture reflected broader social and religious changes. He particularly focuses on transitional spaces like templon barriers, analyzing how their modification served as tangible expressions of religious identity during periods of political change. His scholarly recognition includes: Stanley J. Seeger Fellowship at Princeton University Wolfgang Fritz Volbach Fellowship at WissenschaftsCampus Mainz Dr. Mailis maintains a dual professional trajectory, having served in the Greek Archaeological Service from 2006 to 2022 while simultaneously pursuing academic work. During his tenure at the Archaeological Service, he conducted numerous excavations and restoration projects at Byzantine sites, working initially as an antiquities curator at the 24th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities in Lamia, and later as head of the Byzantine Monuments Department at the 28th Ephorate in Chania. Concurrently, he taught Byzantine Archaeology at the University of Crete during multiple academic years. His research connects with multiple international teams, particularly through his affiliation with the Leibniz-Zentrum für Archäologie in Mainz as an Associate Member. This position facilitates collaboration between Greek archaeological work and broader European research networks focused on early medieval and Byzantine archaeology. His fieldwork in Crete has involved close cooperation with local Ephorates of Antiquities, creating productive bridges between academic research and cultural heritage management.
Ioannis Theotokas is Professor of Maritime Business Administration and Department Chair of the Department of Maritime Studies at the University of Piraeus. He has extensive academic and professional experience in maritime business administration, having previously served as Secretary General of the Ministry of Shipping and Insular Policy and Deputy Secretary General of the Ministry of Economy, Infrastructure, Shipping and Tourism. Education: Studied at the University of Piraeus (Department of Economics) PhD in Maritime Business Administration from the Department of Maritime Studies, University of Piraeus Professor Theotokas' research focuses on Maritime Business Administration, Business Strategy, and Human Resource Management in shipping. His work explores critical areas including Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Governance, Innovation, and Competitiveness in shipping. His interdisciplinary approach bridges theoretical frameworks with practical applications in the maritime industry, examining how organizational culture, leadership, and strategic management impact shipping companies' performance and sustainability. His recent scholarly output demonstrates a clear trend toward examining contemporary challenges in shipping, particularly digital transformation, human resource management in the context of industry changes, and sustainable business practices. His work spans theoretical frameworks and practical applications, with a strong emphasis on Greek shipping companies while maintaining a global perspective on maritime business administration. Professor Theotokas has actively participated in numerous research initiatives, serving as a scientific manager or researcher in European and national research programs funded by the European Commission, the Niarchos Foundation, the Ministry of Development, the Panhellenic Maritime Federation, and the Academy of Athens. These projects include KNOWME, CAPTAINS, MELES, INNOSUTRA, RURAL eGOV, and SLIM-VRT, focusing on employment, entrepreneurship, strategy in shipping, maritime education, and distance learning. He is an active member of the International Association of Maritime Economists and the Association of Maritime Economists of Greece, contributing to the advancement of maritime economic research and education. His leadership extends beyond academia through his previous governmental roles where he helped shape maritime policy in Greece.
