Cooperating for sustainable development

Nikos E. Papadakis (BA, MA, MA, PhD) is Professor and former Head of the Department of Political Science at the University of Crete. He is the Deputy Director of the Centre for Political Research and Documentation of the Department of Political Science, while he is a member of the Public Opinion Research Unit (POp.RUn) of the University of Crete. He has served as Assistant Professor at the Department of Social and Education Policy, University of Peloponnese (2004- 2006).

He is currently International Expert at the ETF (“Skills & VET Governance” project), while he is a member of the Scientific Committee of the “Social Multicentre”, namely the Institute of the Hellenic Federation of Civil Servants (ADEDY) since 2011and a member of the Higher Education Policy Network.He was recently a Special Adviser to the European Commission (2011 -2013). He participated the European Commission Education & Training Coordination Group (ETCG/2006-2010), while he was a member of the Advisory Board of the UNDP/ RCPAR (Regional Centre for Public Administration Reform/ 2008- 2011).

He was a Visiting Professorial Fellow at the UCL- IoE (Institute of Education/ March 2012- August 2012), while he has cooperated (as an external evaluator) with the Foundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (FCT) of the Ministry of Research and Technology of Portugal. Additionally, he was a member of the European Commission SGIB (Standing Group on Indicators & Benchmarks/ 2007- 2012). He participated the International High Level Advisory Group on Public Administration Reform in Greece (2008), and was a member of the Central Accreditation Committee of the National Centre of Public Administration of Greece (EKDDA/2011- 2012),

He has been involved as an expert- researcher in major reform- related projects, such as the following - Civil Service Reform & Modernization of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan (expert/ 2012),- Reorganization of the Local Administration of the Republic of Cyprus” (expert and member of the Scientific Committee/ 2009- 2010),- Development of Training Programmes (based on needs- assessment) for the Public Administration Human Resources in Greece (expert/ 2009).

He is currently the Team Leader of the EEA Grants- funded project “ResearchandComprehensiveInterventionforthesocialinclusionofamajorsociallyvulnerablegroup: Psychologicalprofile / psychopathology, skills' profile, needsassessmentandprogrammes' developmentfortraining-reskillingandpsychologicalsupporttowardsthere-inclusionof “youngpeoplenotineducation, employmentortraining (NEETS)” (EEA Grants- GR07/3757) 

He holds membership in a number of scientific and professional bodies in Greece and abroad {including European Sociological Association (ESA), International Society for the Study of European Ideas (ISSEI), Comparative Education Society in Europe (CESE) and Hellenic Political Science Association (HPSA)}.

He has been a visiting lecturer and/ or held seminars and lecturesat several European universities (including University of London/ IoE, Facultiet Universitas Katholiques de Mons (FUCAM), European University of Krakow, University of Stirling, DP University of Copenhagen- University of Aarhus etc). Additionally has taught at  the National Centre of Public Administration of Greece (EKDDA), the Cyprus Academy of Public Administration and the Academy of Public Administration of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

He has 102 publications, in Greek, English and French, includingjournal articles, conference proceedings and book chapters. He is the author of 6 books- monographs, in Greek and English, while he has edited 7 books.  135 presentations in Conferences and Workshops in Greece and abroad (68 out of them, in International Conferences and Workshops). He has participated (or currently participating) 34 (mainly research) Projects in Greece and abroad, either as Team Leader or as researcher/ expert.

He is directing the Scientific Publication Series on “Human Resources and Public Policies” in I. Sideris Publications in Athens.

Member of the Editorial Board of the international journal “Journal of Education and Learning (JEL)”, a member of the Scientific/ Advisory Board of the international journals “Foro de Educaciόn” and “Academia”, as well as Reviewer in International Scientific Journals, including the “European Legacy”, the “Espacio, Tiempo y Educación”, the “Educational Research and Reviews” and the “Asian Journal of Humanities & Social Studies”.

For full brief CV, please click here !

Maria Gravari-Barbas  (FR)

Maria Gravari-Barbas is the Director of the Institute for Research and High Studies on Tourism (Institut de Recherches et d’Etudes Supérieures du Tourisme, IREST) of Paris 1 – Sorbonne University. She has a degree in Architecture and Urban Design (University of Athens, 1985), and a PhD in Geography and Planning (Paris 4 – Sorbonne University, 1991). She was Fellow at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA (1990).

She is the director of the EIREST, a multidisciplinary research laboratory focusing on tourism, in relation to cultural heritage and development.

She is also the director of the UNESCO Chair “Tourism, Culture, Development” of Paris 1- Sorbonne University and the coordinator of the UNITWIN network of the same name, comprising more than 25 top level universities all around the World. She is invited professor in different Universities in Europe, the States and Latin America. She is the author of several books and papers related to Tourism, Culture and Heritage.

Dr. Konstantinos Kalkanis (M) holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering (2002) and Master’s Degree in Advanced Manufacturing Technology (2003) from the University of Portsmouth. He was awarded his PhD from the National Technical University of Athens in 2009. The thesis involved strength of composite materials and health monitoring thereof. He has worked in the construction sector of public works, being responsible for project management of important infrastructure projects. Furthermore, he has participated in 10 European Union funded scientific programs, with the Greek counterpart being, the National Technological University of Athens and the Technological Institutions of Athens and Ionian Islands. The wide spectrum of tasks included but was not limited to the behavior of composites under fatigue loading, experimental and analytic approaches towards structural repairs, development of novel materials, smart structures via the incorporation of sensors, cure cycle examination and certification. Author and contributor of 11 published papers in International peer-reviewed journals, and responsible for numerous oral presentations in National and International Conferences. Elected member in the BoD Of the Hellenic Society for Nondestructive Testing from 01/01/09 to 31/12/15. Responsible of Public Relations and the connection of the NDT certification to the Greek educational system.

He has also engaged in activities related to Renewable Energy Sources (RES, promotion of sustainable construction and high environmental quality considered as policies for sustainable development to provide advice to individual local authorities in order to create their own ecological building systems tailored to local conditions. He has been involved actively in the design, formulation and implementation of programs and projects of environmental quality, enhancing and transfer the exchange of innovative techniques, processes, tools and implementation mechanisms of building structures by applying RES.