Experts

Εxperts' role

Experts are people - sources with knowledge relevant to the subject area. They introduce themselves to the group and are there to take questions, solve queries in order to enrich the students' proposals on climate neutrality in the topic they are working on.

Experts:

Iro Alampei (Chemist, Med) is education officer at MEdIES (www.medies.net). The Mediterranean Educational Initiative for the Environment and Sustainability (MEdIES), the main educational initiative of MIO-ECSDE on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). Her main tasks include authoring educational materials, designing environmental awareness programs for students,
youth and teachers, organizing trainings-for-trainers (ToTs) on ESD in many countries, running e-learning courses, organizing summer schools, designing exhibitions, etc. Examples of her work focus on topics of water resources, consumption, marine litter, Sustainable Development Goals, etc.

Maria Bololia is a Mechanical Engineer T.E. She has been working at the Centre for Renewable Energy Sources and Energy Saving since 2002. From 2002 to 2010 she worked in the Technical Support and Procurement Department, and from 2010 until today she works in the Buildings Department of the Energy Efficiency Division. Her main activities include energy audits and studies, energy analysis of buildings using software models (TRNSYS, RETScreen, DesignBuilder, KENAK) and energy design according to the principles of bioclimatic design, RES and EE. Finally, he has participated in Community projects (LIFE, Intelligent Energy Europe, Horizon 2020, MED) and other private projects - energy studies of public and private buildings.

Antonia Dardioti is an Environmental Education Coordinator for the Secondary Education Directorate of East Thessaloniki. She is a PhD Biologist and Secondary School Science teacher. As a Coordinator she provides support for secondary education teachers on the implementation of sustainability education projects. She organizes training seminars and experiential workshops for teachers in collaboration with several Municipalities, NGOs and Environmental/Sustainability Education Centers, as well as student meetings and outdoor team events, competitions and photography exhibitions involving a large number of students and teachers.

Maria Dimopoulou is a teacher and works at the A' Directorate of Athens as Coordinator of Environmental Education. She has studied Biology at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, Pedagogy at the Pedagogical Department of Primary Education of the University of Athens and Special Education at the Marasleio Teaching School. She has a Master's degree in Education Sciences with specialization in Continuing Education from the Open University of Cyprus. She has worked in teacher training and she has participated in the writing of school textbooks about Environment, various educational materials related to Environmental Education , the digital project Mitida of EKT / National Documentation Centre and the two educational guides of the program "The child, the city and the monuments".
She has participated in the pedagogical design and implementation of the educational programmes: "Healthy children - healthy planet" by WWF-Greece , "Sustainable Greek School" by ELLET, EUKI project "Open schools in climate protection and energy saving, Athens - Berlin"2017-19. She has been trained in the indicators of democratic education by the Council of Europe . She has participated as a lecturer and trainer in the programme "Skills Workshops" of the IEP/Institute of Education Policy. She is a member of the steering committee of the International Network of Eco-Schools of the EEPF. She was involved in the design and implementation for 2 years of the project "From Photography to Citizenship" in collaboration with the Department of Sociology, Goldsmith College, University of London, the Archives of Children's Photography and the Postgraduate Programme "Education and Human Rights" of the ESPA.
She has coordinate in 2022-23 two German-Greek exchanges on "Climate Neutrality in Schools , the road to 2030".
She has collaborate as an expert in the Thess-climate schools Network of with the support of the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Thessaloniki.
She is a certified trainer for the Climate Mosaic and a volunteer in many environmental NGOs. She has establish and coordinates since 2021 the Local School Network "Schools for Climate, Islands of Resilience and Change".

Vasiliki Ioakimidou has completed her PhD in Quality in Teaching and Learning in Distance Education at the Hellenic Open University (HOU). She graduated from the Department of Primary Education at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, followed by postgraduate studies in England, obtaining an MA in Drama in Education at the University of Central England in Birmingham with a scholarship from the Alexander S. Onsassis foundation. She has completed postgraduate training in teaching at the University of Patras and since 2000 she has been working as a teacher in private schools initially and later in public schools. Now, she is a Consultant of Education in the 3rd Region of Athens. In addition, she is a Lecturer Advisor at the HOU, in the module ETA63: Design, development and evaluation of distance education programmes in the master’s programme “Education and Technologies in distance teaching and learning systems - Education Sciences” (ETA). She recently worked at the Institute of Educational Policy as Coordinator of the European & International Educational Policy Unit. She has worked with groups of children and adults using Educational Drama in schools, museums, creative expression spaces, camps, training programmes, Vocational Training Institutions (IEK). She has publications in scientific journals, conferences and participation in edited volumes, she has written educational material for the Postgraduate Program of ETA, she has developed the Curriculum of Environmental Studies, she has developed two educational programs for Skills Labs and she has written books for children. She has presenter/educator in seminars, workshops, training courses on topics mainly related to higher and primary education and has participated in European and university projects.

Dr. Djurdja Kerkez, associate professor at Faculty of Sciences, University of Novi Sad, RS, deals with scientific research work in the field of water quality (analysis of surface and underground water, treatment and analysis of wastewater, monitoring of water quality). She is currently involved in research regarding advanced wastewater treatment and setting methodological framework for circular economy application into this sector. Beside the topic of wastewater management, she also teaches courses regarding solid waste management. She is the author and co-author of over 30 scientific papers in journals of international importance, as well as a large number of announcements at international and national conferences. She carries out scientific work through international and national projects, and she is currently the manager of the WasteWaterForce PROMIS project, Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia, as well as the SmartWaterTwin, HorizonEurope project. The entire biography is available at https://www.dh.uns.ac.rs/durda-kerkez-phd-associate-professor/

George Liaskos is a graduate of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering in 1984. In his professional career to date he has been involved in the whole range of activities of Civil Engineering including Design and supervision of private projects, Construction of private projects of buildings, houses, offices, shops. As a Public Works Contractor, he has constructed Building, Road, Sewerage, Waterworks etc. In Elefsina, as a Public Works Contractor, he has constructed both the two sections of bicycle paths in the city and the Traffic Education Park. He was General Project Manager for the Technical Company ENERGO ATETVE of which he was Managing Director for 6 years. He is a founding member of the Elefsina Cycling Group and the Elefsina Sustainable Urban Mobility Group. He has organized and managed with the members of the groups, 22 Cycling Rides which included guided tours to areas of archaeological and informative interest in Elefsina, Magoula where they were accompanied by guided tours, Discussions on cyclist safety, proper regulation of bicycles, "Bicycle and Sustainable Urban Mobility in Elefsina 2023 European Capital of Culture" in cooperation with the ROC23, in which many citizens from different areas participated. With their members in the profiles of the groups have repeatedly developed the main axes and the strategy that the Municipal Authority of the Municipality of Elefsina should follow in order for the Municipal Units of Elefsina and Magoulas to become individually and combined sustainable mobility units.

Muriel Neugebauer is research associate at UfU. She accompanies numerous educational projects on climate issues and energy transition. Her background is on biology with a Master's degree that focuses on biodiversity, ecology and evolution. She previously worked as a freelance experiential educator.

Eleni Niarchou has been an appointed teacher in Primary Education since 1999. She has been serving as Environmental Education Officer at the 3rd Athens Primary School since 2008, a position she took up after a selection process. She continuously participates as a trainer and trainee in many seminars, conferences, experiential workshops etc. of various subjects. She carries out innovative environmental activities in the schools of the Directorate in which she works. She is the author of 6 books on Environmental Education and several publications with actions on the Environment. She participates as a researcher in university projects on environmental impact issues. She has a degree in European Culture, with a background in history, sociology, economics, politics, philosophy, arts, education, religion, etc. She holds a Master's degree in Education with specialization in Distance Education from the Hellenic Open University. She is a member of the steering committee of the International Network on Forests of the EEAWF. She has participated as a trainer in the "Skills Workshops" and "Training in the new CP" programme. IEP/Institute of Educational Policy. She has authored the training programme 'Caring for the climate' for the IEP/Institute of Education Policy. She is a certified climate mosaic trainer and a volunteer for several environmental NGOs. She has founded and coordinates since 2021 the local school network "Schools for Climate, Islands of Resilience and Change".

Georgios Pavlopoulos was born in Elefsina where he grew up and received his basic education.
He holds a degree in Economics and Political Sciences from the Law School of the University of Thessaloniki. He has a good knowledge of English with specialization in marketing. From a young age he tended to collect everything related to his place. Today he has a large collection of local interest consisting of.] A collection of 150 original engravings on Elefsina and neighboring areas which is considered as the largest and most complete collection on Elefsina, b] 400 original photographs of the area classified in various sections such as: Archaeological site, People, Performances - events, Industries, Views of the city etc., c] 800 books, and articles in books or magazines, related to Elefsina Eleusinian Mysteries or Eleusinian authors or residents, d] souvenirs and ephemera related to the daily life of the city.

Panagiotis Piliouras is a Teacher in Primary Education, he got a degree in Mathematics and a Master’s Degree in “Science Education”. He holds a PhD degree in Science Education. He has been working as a teacher for seventeen year and as a teacher advisor for twelve years in primary education and also he has been teaching for many years in higher education. Currently is been working in the position of the Scientific Counselor in the Institute of Educational Policy. His work involves teaching, in-service teacher-training as well as design and development of educational material in science and mathematics. His research interests focus on teachers professional development and in particular the teaching of science and mathematics in a collaborative inquiry mode, the analysis of social interaction in learning and instruction, the sociocultural perspectives in learning and development, the use of aspects of History of Science in teaching science and mathematics, the teacher in-service training, and the applications of educational technologies. He has participated in several national and international conferences on Science and Mathematics Education and has published a number of papers in greek and international scientific journals and in the proceedings of national and international conferences.

Elpida Polychroni is a mechanical engineer, MSc. She has been working at CRES, in the Division for Energy Efficiency / Department of Buildings since 2000. Her main field of work is energy saving in the building sector. This includes energy design of buildings with application of bioclimatic design principles, integration of RES and other energy saving / rational use of energy techniques for heating and cooling, energy performance analysis with the use of simulation models, and technical support and advice to architects and engineers, and the local State. She has been involved in the preparation of national technical guides for the implementation of EPBD in Greece, and has participated in numerous energy audits in buildings. She has participated and has been the project manager in several EU projects (SAVE, 6th Framework Programme, DG ENVIRONMENT, Intelligent Energy Europe, MED, Horizon). She has also been involved in several national projects and other private projects concerning applied research, integration and application of energy efficient and renewable energy technologies in the building sector, building energy design and building services and has participated in several seminars and conferences for the dissemination of project, both EU and national, results.

Cindy Prager is research associate at UfU. She holds an interdisciplinary Master's degree in "Sustainability Science and Policy" at Maastricht University in the Netherlands with focus on sustainability research, participation as well as policy making. She was previously involved in sustainability consulting projects.

Alexandra Tsigkou works as Environmental Education Coordinator at the Primary Education of Western Attica, based in Elefsina. She holds a degree in Civil Engineering from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki with a master's degree in Environmental Design of Cities and Buildings from the Greek Open University. She holds also a degree in Primary Education Teaching from the Athens Kapodistrian University and an MEd in Arts in Education from the University of Nicosia. As part of her responsibilities, she supports teachers in environmental projects with experiential workshops and educational materials, organizes training and facilitates the networking of schools. At the same time, she organises educational field activities for students in nearby forests, wetlands, beaches or parks in the city. She has established and coordinated the "The Sustainability Garden" and "Sustainable School" Local School Networks. For six years she was the coordinator of the National Network 'Nature without Garbage' of the Hellenic Society for the Protection of Nature, through which she organised a student conference on metal recycling. She participated in the organizing committee of the 2nd Summer University "Sustainable School - Sustainable Community", Spetses 2016, of the Hellenic Society for Environment and Culture. She is a certified trainer for the Climate Mosaic (Climate Fresk) and a volunteer in several environmental NGOs. She has founded and coordinates since 2021 the local school network "Schools for Climate, Islands of Resilience and Change". She participates in the Organizing Committee of the Student Conference "Transition to a climate neutral future"- Mystery 149, in the framework of 2023 Elefsina - European Capital of Culture. In her free time she paints and teaches painting to adults and children.

Evi Tzanakaki is an architect (Aristotelion Universtity of Thessaloniki) with a Master’s Degree from Arizona State University, with many years of experience at the Centre for Renewable Energy Sources and Saving (CRES) in energy efficiency in the built environment, supporting Municipalities and local society actors in energy and bioclimatic design, energy saving actions and implementation of renewable energy sources at city level. Through the Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy and other international initiatives, networks and European projects, local communities are guided in the transition to climate neutrality. CRES is the Greek organisation for Renewable Energy Sources (RES), Rational Use of Energy (RUE) and Energy Saving (ES). CRES has been appointed as the national co-ordination centre in its area of activity. Its main goal is the research and promotion of RES/RUE/ES applications at a national and international level, as well as the support of related activities, taking into consideration the principles of sustainable development. Among other things, CRES Maria Bololia is a mechanical engineer. She worked as a mechanical engineer at CRES, in the Technical Support and Procurement Department from 2002 until 2010 and she has been working in the Division for Energy Efficiency / Department of Buildings since now. Her main activities include energy audits and studies in the building sector, as well as energy analysis of building using software models (TRNSYS, RETScreen, DesignBuilder, and National tool for the Calculation of Buildings’ Energy Efficiency -TEE KENAK) and energy planning in accordance with the bioclimatic design principles, RES and Energy Saving. She has been participated in EU projects (LIFE, Intelligent Energy Europe, 7th , Horizon 2020 and MED) and other private - energy studies of public and private buildings.

Website design - content and maintenance:
Pedagogical Team of the Conference (M. Dimopoulou - E. Niarchou - A. Tsigkou - A. Dardioti)