Director of the MSc

Professor Christos Karydis
Department of Environment

Dr. Christos Karydis is Professor at the Ionian University- Department of Environment, Greece. Director of the Lab PreServe. Director of the MSc 'Preservation & Management of Cultural Heritage' at the Ionian University (2024-today). Director of the School of Iconography 'Fotis Kontoglou' established by the Holy Metropolis of Monemvasia & Sparta (2017- today). He is also teaching several postgraduate courses mainly at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (ARCHMAT, Natural and Chemical Methods for Diagnosis of Damage to Cultural Heritage Materials, etc.) and at the University of the Aegean. Academic responsible and co-author for four (4) e-learning programs at the University of Athens.  He has been working in Churches and monasteries at Mount Athos, Jerusalem, Constantinople, Colombia, Eritrea, Spain, UK and Greece since 2002. He is an external adviser in monasteries at Mount Athos. He has participated in EU projects, Digital Documentation of treasures from Mount Athos with the National Research Centre- Institute of Byzantine Studies, etc. Additionally, he has published four (4) monographs and more than 100 papers in scientific journals, international and national conferences etc. He is the author of the first book of preventive conservation of textiles written in Greek appeared in 2006 (Futura publications) and he is co-editor and author of the ‘Science in Preventive Conservation: Preservation & Management of Collections’ published in 2013 (Time Heritage publications). Editor and author of the catalogue ‘The late antiquity textile collection of the Holy Basilic, Patriarch and Stavropegic Monastery of St. John the Theologian in Patmos’ Documentation, scientific analysis and preservation. He has established and organize more than four (4) full conservation labs in Greece, Constantinople, Jerusalem and Mount Athos.

Members of the IPSP Program Studies Committee

Professor Stavros Vlizos
Department of Archives, Library Science & Museology

Graduate of the University of Ioannina and PhD holder from Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich. He initially worked as a contract archaeologist at the Hellenic Ministry of Culture (1997–2001) and subsequently at the Benaki Museum (2002–2013) as researcher and scientific associate of the Director, Professor Angelos Delivorrias.

At the Department of Archives, Library Science and Museology of the Ionian University, he teaches as Associate Professor a wide range of courses in Museology and Archaeology. From 2003 to 2017 he served as a member of the Academic Advisory Staff of the Hellenic Open University. He is Director of the Ionian University Museum Collections (museum.ionio.gr) and of the Amykles Research Project (amyklaion.gr), a member of the Archaeological Society at Athens, corresponding member of the German Archaeological Institute, member of ICOM, and founding member of the “Roman Seminar.”

As Scientific Coordinator of co-funded (NSRF) projects, he directs research related to the promotion of archaeological heritage through new technologies. His research interests and publications focus on the presentation and management of cultural heritage and archaeological assets, as well as on the material culture of Roman Greece and the diachronic significance of ancient sanctuaries.

Email: vlizosst@ionio.gr
University Museum website: https://museum.ionio.gr/gr/

Associate Professor Manolis G. Drakakis
Department of Archives, Library Science & Museology

Graduate of the Department of History and Archaeology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Crete. He completed postgraduate studies in Archival Science and Palaeography at the Vatican Schools of Archival Science and Palaeography in Rome and at the State Archives School in Venice. He holds a PhD from the Department of Primary Education of the University of Crete (grade: Excellent).

He served for many years as Director of the General State Archives of Greece (Heraklion Prefecture) (1993–2016), as Laboratory Teaching Staff (EDIP) at the Department of Primary Education, University of Crete (2014–2018), and as instructor of History and Palaeography at the Patriarchal Higher Ecclesiastical Academy of Crete (1993–2007, 2013–2015).

He has published fourteen monographs and twenty-nine articles in Greek scientific journals. His research interests focus on the history of Crete (16th–20th centuries), with emphasis on the research, study, publication, and commentary of archival sources.

Email: mdrakakis@ionio.gr

Professor Konstantinos Poirazidis
Department of Environment

Dr. Konstantinos Poirazidis is a faculty member of the Department of Environment at the Ionian University. His academic career in the Ionian Islands began in 2008 at the Technological Educational Institute of the Ionian Islands, where he initially served as a scientific associate and later as a permanent faculty member. Since 2018, he has continued his teaching, research, and administrative work in the Department of Environment at Ionian University. He holds a degree from the Department of Forestry and Natural Environment of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and a Ph.D. from the Department of Biology of the same university. His scientific work focuses on wildlife ecology, biodiversity conservation, landscape ecology, protected area management, and the application of modern geoinformatics and remote sensing methods for ecosystem monitoring and the assessment of environmental change. He worked for several years at WWF Greece, primarily in the Dadia–Lefkimi–Soufli National Park, where his research focused mainly on raptors. He also served as President of the Board of Directors of the Management Body of the Dadia–Lefkimi–Soufli National Park. Since 2008, his research activities have expanded substantially across the Ionian Islands, with particular emphasis on biodiversity, protected areas, natural hazards, land-use and land-cover change, and ecosystem mapping and monitoring. In parallel, he teaches in undergraduate and postgraduate programs and supervises undergraduate, master's, and doctoral theses. His teaching and research cover Geographic Information Systems, Remote Sensing, Spatial Analysis, ecological data modeling, and the management of natural resources and protected areas. He is the author or co-author of 56 peer-reviewed articles in international scientific journals, two book chapters, and 18 full papers published in conference proceedings, and has also developed educational material and university course notes in GIS, Remote Sensing, and landscape analysis. His scientific career integrates ecology, biodiversity conservation, and modern geoinformatics technologies, with a strong emphasis on research, education, and applied environmental management.

Email: kpoiraz@ionio.gr

Assistant Professor Athanasia Petala
Department of Environment

Assistant Professor at the Department of Environment of the Ionian University. She received her Diploma in Chemical Engineering (2011) from the University of Patras and her MSc (2013) and PhD (2017) in Chemical Engineering from the same university. From 2017 to 2022 she worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Chemical Engineering of the University of Patras and in 2022 joined the academic staff of the Department of Environment of the Ionian University.

Her research activities focus on heterogeneous photocatalysis and advanced oxidation processes, particularly on the synthesis and physicochemical characterization of catalytic materials, the development and evaluation of (photo)catalysts, and the investigation of reaction kinetics and mechanisms, with emphasis on energy and environmental applications. She is co-author of 47 articles in peer-reviewed international journals. Her published work has received more than 1,692 citations (Scopus), with an h-index of 25, and has been presented at 27 international and 24 national conferences.

Email: apetala@ionio.gr