Board of Directors
The Board members who guide the vision and strategy of our organization.
Our Board of Directors consists of experienced professionals who share our passion for open knowledge and transparency.
Chairman of the Board
Dr. Charalambos Bratsas is the founder and chairman of the board of directors of the Open Knowledge Foundation Greece. He is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer and Electronic Systems Engineering at the International Hellenic University and participates as a researcher in the Laboratory of Medical Physics and Digital Innovation at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. His main research areas are Intelligent Software Systems, Open Data, Semantic Web, Knowledge Graphs, Open Linked Data (Coordinator of Greek DBpedia), Data Science, Data Mining, and Big Data applications with AI algorithms. He is also a scientific collaborator at the Laboratory of Complex Systems at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He holds a degree in Mathematics (1999), a masters degree in Medical Informatics and a doctorate in Knowledge Graphs in Medical Informatics (2008). He has participated in many research programs of the European Commission. He has more than 100 articles in scientific journals and conference proceedings in the fields of Semantic Web, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and Data Analysis.
Board Member
Panagiotis D. Bamidis is an Associate Professor of Informatics & Medical Education at the Laboratory of Medical Physics of the Medical School of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and a member of the Medical Education Office of the Medical School. He has conducted research at the Weizmann Institute of Science (Israel), Research Centre Juelich (Germany), University of Newcastle, University of Sheffield and Open University (England), while he has taught at various Universities in Greece both at undergraduate and postgraduate level. He has the scientific responsibility for more than 30 research programs, and the coordination of 5 of them at a pan-European level, while he has participated in various other research programs both National and European. He served as president of the International Conferences MEI2015, MEI2012, SAN2011, MEDICON2010, 6th GASMA/IAA 2010, iSHIMR2005, iSHIMR2001, while he has organized a series of workshops and special thematic roundtables within the framework of international conferences and programs. His research interests are in the applications of medical informatics and technology particularly in the field of elderly care, in the support and education of individuals/groups with special needs, educational technology and internet technologies in medical education, in the management of medical information and the organization/interconnection of health services, in human-machine interface and the study of emotion through applied neuroscience, as well as in the analysis of biosignals and development of bio-sensors. He has published over 250 papers in journals and conference proceedings, is a reviewer in over 30 journals, while he has served as Guest Editor in 17 special issues of some of them. Finally, he is a member of various scientific committees, member of the Board of Directors of the Panhellenic Federation of Alzheimer Societies and related disorders, the Hellenic Society of Aerospace Medicine and Research, member of the International Academy of Aerospace, former alternate member of the Board of Directors of the Alexandria Innovation Zone of Thessaloniki, and president of the Board of Directors of the Hellenic Society of Biomedical Technology (ELEBIT). Since 2014 he has been a visiting researcher at the Dept of Learning, Informatics, Management and Ethics (LIME) of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm (collaboration with Prof. Nabil Zary). In November 2009 he was honored with the Excellence Award of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, for his research activity as a member of the teaching staff-young researcher in funded projects. In October 2015 he was given the title of Honorary Professor at Karaganda State Medical University of Kazakhstan and was awarded the Pospelov medal for his contribution to the development of Medical Education by the same University.
Board Member
After graduating from the Physics Department of the University of Athens, Ioannis Antoniou investigated different fascinating aspects of Complexity together with Ilya Prigogine (Nobel Prize 1977) at the Solvay Institutes, Brussels. Since 2001, he is teaching Information Theory, Chaos, Mathematical Modeling and Internet Traffic at the Mathematics Department of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Ioannis Antoniou has served as Deputy Director of the International Solvay Institutes of Physics and Chemistry in Brussels and Head of the Mathematics Department of the AUTH. Today, he is Director of the Graduate Studies of the Mathematics Department of the AUTH and Member of the Scientific Council of the International Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) in Dubna, Russia and 9 International Scientific Associations. Ioannis Antoniou has directed 7 PhD Theses, 10 MSc Theses and 20 Graduation Theses. He has also been Member of the Examination Committee of 17 PhD theses and 12 M.Sc. Theses. He has coordinated 14 RTD Projects (EC:9, IST Luxembourg:4, INTAS:1), 4 International Research Collaborations and participated in 6 RTD Projects (EC:2, NATO:2, INTAS:2). He has organized 23 Conferences and participated in 175 Conferences. He is the author of 133 papers in journals, 41 papers in conference proceedings, 18 research reports, co-editor of 11 books, 5 translations, 10 letters, 2 patents and 11 articles/interviews for the general public. Ioannis Antoniou has served as Referee in 14 Journals, Member of the Editorial Board of 9 Journals, Reviewer of RTD Projects (EC, NSF, DOE, Guggenheim, NATO, UNESCO). Ioannis Antoniou is Professor Honoris Causa of Lomonosov Moscow State University and St. Petersburg State University and Member of the European Academy of Arts, Sciences and Humanities. He was awarded the Kapitza Medal of Russian Academy, the De Donder Prize from the Royal Academy of Belgium (1991-1993) and the Prigogine Price (2008).
Board Member
Vasileios Veskoukis, co-founder of the Greek chapter of the Open Knowledge Foundation and a member of its Board of Directors, is a Diploma holder in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens (1991) and holds a PhD in Engineering from the same institution (1996). Since 1987, he has been working in the field of information technology, focusing on the development of information systems, quality assurance, e-learning and e-governance, as well as environmental crisis management. Since 2006, he has been an Assistant Professor at the National Technical University of Athens. His research interests focus on information systems, with emphasis on the integration of heterogeneous distributed systems for risk management and operational planning, the optimization of spatially distributed network systems and services, and the dynamic behavior of semantic networks.
Board Member
Dr. Marinos Papadopoulos is a lawyer registered with the Athens Bar Association since 1996. He holds a doctoral degree (PhD/JSD) from the Law School of the University of Athens in the field of intellectual property on the internet with a focus on Openness; he is a graduate of the Law School of the University of Athens (JD) and holds a Master of Science (MSc) degree in Corporate Communication—Public Relations from Boston University. He also has postgraduate studies from Harvard University in Legal Informatics, and George Washington University in Management. He participates in international fora on Legal Informatics (Information Technology and Legal Science), Information Society and Digital Strategy and has extensive experience in handling cases of Greek and foreign clients regarding Legal Informatics in areas of Civil, Criminal and Commercial Law. He was the Legal Lead and creator of Creative Commons licenses v. 2.5 & v. 3.0 in Greece; he is a founding member of the Open Knowledge Foundation Greece and creator of the Greek Open Data Common (ODC) Open Database License (ODbL) of the Open Knowledge Foundation. He has extensive experience as a special scientific and legal advisor in innovation projects funded by the European Commission implemented in Greece and abroad (Turkey, Lithuania, Azerbaijan, France, England, Italy, etc.). His written work includes numerous scientific articles and publications in university and scientific editions in Greece, USA, Great Britain, and India.
Board Member
Is Head of the Media Informatics Lab and Professor at the School of Journalism & Mass Communication at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He received his BSc in Physics, MSc in Electronics and Communications, and PhD in Computer Science from Aristotle University. From November of 2010 until February of 2015 he was Head of the postgraduate program of the Department of Journalism and Mass Media Communication, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. In March of 2012 he was elected Deputy Chairman of the Department of Journalism Mass Media Communication. His research interests include information technology in journalism, new media, course support environments, data journalism, open data and distance learning. He is the author or co-author of 12 books, he has published 58 papers on scientific journals and he has presented 86 papers in international and national Conferences. Professor Veglis has been involved in 25 national and international research projects. Proudly he is the School of Data Greece Coordinator.
Board Member
Born in Thessaloniki, Greece in 1945, Prof. Metakides received as a Fulbright scholar a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering and Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematical Logic from Cornell University in 1971. He pursued an academic career in the U.S.A. at MIT, Cornell University and Rochester University until 1978, when he returned to Greece to take the Chair of Logic at the University of Patras. He has published numerous articles and books in the areas of Mathematical Logic, Computer Science and Science Policy and is a frequent invited speaker at major international conferences. He holds honorary doctorates from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the Technical University of Bucharest and the University of Thessaloniki and is an honorary professor of the University of Moscow. He is a foreign member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences and an honorary member of the Romanian Academy of Science. He has received the Medal of Honour of the Bulgarian Academy of Science, the Polish Information Society Recognition Award, for his efforts to build co-operation between IT professionals in Poland and the EU, and the Telecom Europe Prize Salvà I Campillo for his contribution to the development and dissemination of new information and communication technologies in Europe. Since 1984 he has held senior positions with responsibility for R&D policy, funding and international co-operation in European institutions, including president of the Research Group of the European Council and member of the ESPRIT (European Strategic Programme of Research in Information Technology) Management Committee and of the NATO Science Committee at different times between 1984 and 1987. He established and headed the department for Basic Research and International Scientific Relations in Information Technologies at the European Commission from 1988 to 1993. He was the director of the 2 billion Euro ESPRIT Programme in the European Commission’s Industry Directorate General from 1993 until its completion in 1998. Until November 2002 he was director of Essential Technologies and Infrastructures in Europe’s 4 billion Euro Information Society Technologies (IST) Programme (1998-2002), in the Information Society Directorate General which – besides funding and co-ordinating R&D in information and communication technologies in the European Union – also covers information society and telecommunications policy and regulation. He is an active contributor to the promotion of co-operation between the European Union and other regions. He has instigated the establishment of research agreements between the EU and the USA (including the launch of the World Wide Web Consortium, W3C, and a joint initiative on the dependability of critical infrastructures). In addition to collaborative activities with Japan, China, Russia and the countries of Latin America, he leads a number of joint actions in Central & Eastern Europe as well as the Balkan and Mediterranean regions.
Board Member
Dr. Anastasia Martzopoulou is a Mechanical and Agricultural Engineer and belongs to the academic staff of the Department of Architecture – Polytechnic School – Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, where she completed her PhD thesis entitled «Energy and environmental management in industrial concentrations.» Her research activity started in 1999, where she collaborated with the Departments of Civil and Agricultural Engineering, and later on with the URENIO Research Unit – AUTH. Some scientific fields she is interested in: Urban/Regional Planning and Innovation, Smart Specialisation, Smart Energy Cities, Environmental Planning, Industrial Symbiosis and Ecology, Eco – Industrial Parks, Emergy Analysis, Agricultural Engineering, Alternative Energy Sources. She teaches at the Schools of Architecture and Agriculture.
Board Member
Pavlos Spirakis was born in 1955, is a distinguished graduate Electrical Engineer from the National Technical University of Athens (1978) and holds a PhD from Harvard (1982) in Computer Science. He served as a Postdoctoral Researcher at Harvard and Assistant Professor at New York University (until 1987). He was elected Professor in 1990, at the Department of Computer Engineering and Informatics of the University of Patras, where he served as Head of the Department for six years. He has been repeatedly honored with international awards and grants (e.g. the National Science Foundation of the USA), as well as with the first Panhellenic award of the Hellenic Mathematical Society. He is a distinguished visiting scientist of Max Planck Informatik. In 2005 he was recognized among the 50 top scientists worldwide in computer science according to "The Best Nurturers in Computer Science Research". Since May 1996, Mr. Spirakis has been Director of the Computer Technology Institute and Press "Diophantus" (CTI) of the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs.
Board Member
Dr. Sotirios Zygiaris field of expertise is innovation management and business modeling for smart ecosystems. He is a 1986 graduate of Lamar University USA holding a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science with minor in Business Administration. He has a Master’s of Science degree, awarded in 1988 from the same university in USA in the field of Management of Information Systems (MIS). He was awarded a Ph.D. degree from Aristotle University, in 2009 in the analysis of innovation ecosystems. From the years 2005 to 2013 he had participated in various European Policy Committees, as a European Union International Expert in DG Regional Policy and DG Enterprise and Industry. As international peer expert had participated in European Commission review committees related to technological innovation and entrepreneurship policies. He was also an expert reviewer for smart city policies for the Ministry of Education, Universities and Research (MIUR) of Italy. He had valuable Information and Communications Technology experience in the industry working for the petroleum industry in USA for four years from 1986 to 1990. He had also worked as business consultant in technological change in large-scale Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) projects. In 2000 he joined Aristotle’s University Research Committee, up to 2013, as project manager working in forty international research projects under the umbrella of Urban and Regional Innovation Research Unit (URENIO). His research projects mainly dealt with technological uptake policies for regional innovation, business cluster formation policies and business intelligence methodologies. Currently he is faculty of PMU University as an Assoc. Professor in the Management Information Systems Department of the College of Business Administration. From the years 2000 up to 2013 he was a Visiting Professor at Executive Post-Graduate School of Athens and University Peloponnese teaching the subject of “Technology and Organizational Change. He was a lecturer for six years at the University of Sheffield, Computer Science Department teaching programming, software engineering and MIS subjects. He had also worked in curriculum design for a post-graduate degree in Innovation Management.
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