Archives

Ms. Nahida Rahman Shumona

Ambassador designate of Bangladesh to Hellenic Republic Mrs. Nahida Rahman Shumona just completed a 04-year tour of duty as the High Commissioner of Bangladesh to Brunei Darussalam. She is a senior career foreign service officer who has served in various diplomatic roles over the past two and half decades.

Prior to her appointment as High Commissioner to Brunei, Shumona held the position of Director General at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, heading the Consular & Welfare Wing and the Regional Organizations Wing. She has also served as Chargé d’Affaires at the Bangladesh Embassy in Brasilia, as well as Counsellor/Acting High Commissioner at the Bangladesh High Commission in Ottawa. Earlier in her career, she served in Kolkata and Canberra.

Shumona holds a Master’s degree in Diplomacy and International Trade from Monash University, Australia, and Master’s and Honours degrees in English Literature from the University of Dhaka. She also received a fellowship in Transboundary Water Law from the University of Geneva.

She has keen interest in social issues involving children and women, she supports a number of charities for underprivileged children and children with special needs across Bangladesh, Brazil, Brunei, India and Nepal. She is an avid reader, nature enthusiast and cultural collaborator. She also has interest in interfaith dialogue, sustainable living and gender equality.

Shumona is married to Additional Secretary (Retired) of the Government of Bangladesh Mr. Aslam Iqbal, and they have two sons.

Dr. Vasileios Takavakoglou

Dr. Vasileios Takavakoglou: Agronomist (MSc, PhD). Senior Researcher at the Soil and Water Resources Institute of the Hellenic Agricultural Organization “DIMITRA.” Over 20 years of professional and research experience in both the public and private sectors, with emphasis on agri-environmental management, and “blue–green” nature-based solutions for supporting rural development and enhancing the resilience of Mediterranean agri-food systems. Participation in more than 50 national and European projects on agri-environmental monitoring and management and author of over 80 publications in international scientific journals, conferences, and books. Actively involved in the EU Soil Mission and the EU Mission for Oceans and Waters. Active member of the European Innovation Partnership for Agricultural Productivity and Sustainability (EIP-AGRI), participating in the EU Focus Groups of experts “Water and Agriculture” and “Nature-Based Solutions for Water Management under Climate Change.”

Mr. Dimitris Bliziotis

Dimitris Bliziotis is an Earth Observation expert with over a decade of experience in geospatial technologies, satellite data applications, and strategic programme management in the private and governmental sector.

He currently serves as the national Programme Manager for the Earth Observation component of Greece’s national satellite programme and as Scientific Officer at the Hellenic Space Center, Greece’s Space Agency. Dimitris is also Advisor for Space Matters to the Secretary General of Telecommunications and Post at the Ministry of Digital Governance, and National Delegate to EU EO boards as well ESA’s Programme Board for Earth Observation (PB-EO) and DOSTAG.

He has led multidisciplinary teams (>30 people) in delivering cutting-edge EO and GIS solutions for key institutional stakeholders, including ESA, the European Commission, FRONTEX, EU SATCEN, EEA, JRC and national Ministries of Defense. His work bridges technology and policy, focusing on AI integration, geospatial intelligence (GEOINT), and satellite-based applications in security, environment, and emergency response.

Mr. Konstantinos Karyotis

Kostas Karyotis graduated from the School of Mathematics at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in 2013 and received an MSc in Webscience from the same faculty in 2016. Since 2018, he has been working as an associate researcher at the Interbalkan Environment Center and the Laboratory of Remote Sensing of the Aristotle University, focusing on modeling physicochemical soil properties using spectroscopy and remote sensing techniques. He has actively participated in more than 20 European and National research projects related to Earth Observation. Since 2020, he is serving as the secretary of the “IEEE P4005: Standards and Protocols for Soil Spectroscopy” initiative.

Dr. Paraskevi Chantzi

Her research focuses on the interaction between natural and anthropogenic environments, aiming to enhance ecosystem health ανδ climate resilience by addressing soil health, the quality of inland and coastal waters, agri-livestock production systems, food safety and, consequently, human health. She specialises in biogeochemical cycles in Earth system, with emphasis on both abiotic and biotic environments, and in the use of MRV methodologies for the quantitative assessment of environmental impacts for the implementation of sustainable management policies. Her work integrates isotopic techniques, process-based models with AI tools, and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). She has participated in more than 34 national and European research projects, coordinating the scientific work in 13 of them, and has published over 35 scientific papers. Her work contributes to monitoring soil health and water quality, reducing environmental footprint, and supporting the implementation of sustainable policies aligned with the EU strategies for healthy soils, ecosystem restoration and the One Health approach.

Dr. Panos Panagos

Panos Panagos is a senior scientist at JRC (Joint Research Centre, European Commission). He has more than 24 years’ experience in environmental modelling and policy developments in the European Commission.  Panos Panagos is the Project and Team leader of EU Soil Observatory (EUSO).  Panos supports a wide range of policies in the EU, including the recently adopted Soil Monitoring Law, the EU Soil Strategy 2030, the Carbon Removals Certification Framework (CRCF), the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), and the Zero Pollution Action Plan. Panos is also responsible for the scientific and technical support of the JRC to the HORIZON Europe Mission “A Soil Deal for Europe”. He leads the innovative soil health assessments such as the ones in soil erosion, soil organic carbon, soil nutrients and diffuse pollution. He has more than 250 publications in peer-review journals and he has been awarded the Web of Science highly influential scientist award (7,000 influential researchers worldwide) for the last 7 years (2019-2025).

Dr. George Zalidis

George Zalidis is an Emeritus Professor at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, where he previously served as Professor of Soil Pollution and Degradation and Director of the Laboratories of Applied Soil Science and Remote Sensing, Spectroscopy and GIS. He holds a degree in Agriculture and a PhD in Soil Science from Aristotle University, and completed post-doctoral research in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Michigan State University. Since 2007, he has been Director of the Interbalkan Environment Center (i-BEC).

His research focuses on Earth Observation (EO) data and services supporting GEO Social Benefit Areas and the UN SDGs, including spectral monitoring of agricultural and natural ecosystems, NEXUS-based environmental management, and circular-economy applications such as carbon-footprint protocols.

He has coordinated more than 150 national and European projects, published over 100 peer-reviewed articles, authored books and reports, served on international committees, and supervised numerous doctoral theses in Greece and the United States.

Dr. Emmanuel Flemetakis

Prof. Emmanouil Flemetakis serves as the Vice-Rector of the Agricultural University of Athens (AUA) and Director of the Environmental Biotechnology Laboratory within the Department of Biotechnology of AUA. His research encompasses cutting-edge molecular biology, biochemical, and biotechnology methodologies and their applications. This includes expertise in genomic, metagenomic, transcriptomic, and metabolomic platforms, as well as proficiency in protein-protein interaction techniques and genetic transformation technologies for plants and microbes. In recent years, Flemetakis’s group has focused on elucidating the genetic, molecular, and biochemical mechanisms that govern the interaction between organisms and their biotic and abiotic environments. They are actively involved in developing environmentally sustainable biotechnological processes and applications. Their work leverages, N2-fixing symbiotic soil bacteria, bacteriophages, marine and freshwater microalgae, and other beneficial microorganisms to enhance the resilience and productivity of plants and animals in response to climate change challenges. He has coordinated or actively participated in more than 25 national and international research projects.  Dr. E. Flemetakis has published more than 150 research papers in refereed journals and 160 abstracts in national and international conferences.  He is a member of the editorial board of the Plant Biology and Marine Biotechnology journals, and active reviewer in many high impact scientific journals (Plant Physiology, New Phytology etc).