The Team

Dr. Loucas Louca

Dr. Loucas Louca is the Director of the The Center of Excellence in Research & Innovation. He is an Associate Professor of Science Education and the Director of the Inquiry in Science and Math Education Research Group at the Department of Education Sciences at the European University Cyprus. He has a long-standing interest in supporting teacher’s professional development in science education. He also brings in broad expertise in cooperating in various EU projects. His research interests focus on student abilities for inquiry in STEM, and on teachersʼ instructional strategies for promoting student inquiry in STEM, as well as teachers’ responsiveness to student abilities in scientific inquiry. He has been involved in several nationally funded projects as well as European funded projects, focusing on student thinking in science, teacher professional development, modeling-based learning in science, development of curriculum materials, promoting opportunities for gender balance in science education, and promoting inquiry-based teaching and learning in STEM education. He is also interested in the use of authentic videotaped lessons as tools for teachersʼ pre-service and in-service professional development.

Dr. Marios Vryonides

Marios Vryonides is Professor of Sociology, Sociology of Education and Research Methods and Dean of the School of Humanities, Social and Education Sciences. He served as National Coordinator of Cyprus in the European Social Survey (European Social Survey) from 2007-2013 and 2017-2019 and represents Cyprus in the Τhematic Committee for the social changes of Horizon 2020 of the European Union. This period he coordinates the program ESOI (European Safe Online Initiative) funded by the EU. In the past he coordinated programs such as: (a) ELMIP (Learning Models in Empowering Prison), (b) PEBBL BAsic Education and SKills Training in Prisons (2013-2015), (c) FREE (Fundamental Rights Education) (European Commission funded program) and (d) “Children’s voices: exploring the interethnic violence in school environment” (2011 – 2012). These programs are practical applications of educational research, a discipline that he teaches in higher education in the past 16 years.  He is the President of the Research Committee on Sociology of Education of the International Sociological Association (2018-2022). His research interests lie in contemporary sociological theory with applications in education, in qualitative and quantitative research methods, theories of cultural and social capital and the sociological dimensions of New Forms of Education.

Dr. Katerina Mavrou

Dr. Katerina Mavrou is an Associate Professor in Inclusive Education and Assistive Technology at the European University Cyprus, where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in inclusive education policy and practice and course of technology and disability, at the Department of Education Sciences and the Department of Health Sciences. She holds a PhD in Technology and Inclusive Education, from the University of Birmingham. She has prior experience as a special education teacher and as an assistive technology coordinator at the Cyprus Ministry of Education. Her research interests focus on assistive technology and inclusive education policy and practice, and universal design for learning. She is actively involved in European and global projects, associations and initiatives especially for promoting human rights for disability, accessibility, digital inclusion and assistive technology. She is currently the President of the Association for the Advancement of Assistive Technology in Europe (AAATE), one of the founding members of the Global Alliance of Assistive Technology Organization (GAATO).  She is also actively involved in initiatives (GATE & GREAT) of the World Health Organization, working towards the development of the policy and research agenda for promoting assistive technology as a priority in low income countries.  Further, she is the Cyprus National Contact Person of EASTIN (Global Assistive Technology Information Network)and has been the national expert at the Academic Network of European Disability experts (ANED). She has participated in various locally and internationally funded projects. A number of these have been European co-funded projects which deal specifically with issues of inclusive education (e.g. ESIPP, Living Book, ReadTwinning), social inclusion (e.g. BONDS, SIDE), accessibility and assistive technology (e.g. ENTELIS+, NEMO). Her publication record includes peer reviewed journal papers, book chapters and reports, scientific encyclopaedia entries, policy position papers, and two edited book volumes.

Dr. Elena Stylianou

Dr. Elena Stylianou is Associate Professor in Art and Art History at European University Cyprus, President of the International Association of Photography and Theory (IAPT)and the founder and coordinator of theCultural Studies and Contemporary Arts Unit. She has published widely on contemporary art and photography, as well as on museums with particular emphasis on the uses of technologies and curatorial practices. She is co-editor of Museums and Photography: The Display of Death (Routledge, 2018),Ar(t)chaeology: Intersections of Photography and Archaeology (IAPT Press, 2019), and Contemporary Art in Cyprus: Politics, Identity and Culture Across Borders (Bloomsbury, Spring 2021). She is recipient of numerous awards and grants, including a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University College London, Institute of Education, UK (2007-2009), an Art Table Museum Fellowship in the Curatorial Department of the Museum of Arts & Design, NY (2004) and a Fulbright Scholarship (2002-2004). She has prepared educational programs for, and taught in well-known museums in New York, such as the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and the Museum of the City of New York and she was the first Saturday Academy Coordinator of the Museum of the City of New York (2006-2007). She has also been on the research team hired by the Ministry of Education and Culture, Nicosia for preparing the cultural policy for the newly established State Museum of Contemporary Art in Cyprus.She has curated a number of international exhibitions of contemporary art in Cyprus and she is the lead researcher of many funded projects. 

Dr. Chrystalla Papademetri

Dr. Chrystalla Papademetri is Assistant Professor in Early Childhood Education and Early Childhood Mathematics Education at the Department of Education Sciences at the European University Cyprus where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses. She is the coordinator of the BA program in Early Childhood Education. Her research interests focus on the professional learning of educators, the empowerment of their role as teacher-researchers, the contemporary understanding of active learning and its relationship with creativity and play and the development of meaningful mathematical activities for young children. She participates in various locally and internationally funded projects that relate to her research interests. A number of these are European co-funded projects and include designing, implementing and evaluating professional development programs for educators. Her work has been published in international peer review journals and in edited book volumes.  She was a founding member and first Chair for six continuous years of   OMEP (World Organization for Early Childhood Education)-Cyprus Committee. She was one of the main members of the scientific team that developed and supported, through professional development programs, the proposed Curriculum for Early Childhood Education that was announced by the Ministry of Education and Culture in 2011. This proposed curriculum constitutes the philosophical foundation of the New Curriculum that was announced in 2019 by the Ministry of Education and Culture. She has a long and rich experience in organizing Professional Learning Programs for Educations based on Action Research practices and organizing creative learning and play programs and settings for young children that are inspired by various learning theories and approaches (e.g. free play approaches, the Reggio Emilia Approach, The High Scope approach, The Maker movement-Makerspace, STEAM Education),

Dr. Maria Papazachariou – Christoforou

Dr.  Papazachariou – Christoforou, is a music educator and currently an Assistant Professor of Music Education & Pedagogy at the Department of Arts at the European University of Cyprus. She directs and teaches courses in undergraduate and postgraduate programs in Music, and she is the coordinator of the PhD program in Music. Her research interests include sociological dimensions of music pedagogy, meaning of musical experience and identities, contemporary democratic teaching approaches and informal music learning practices, Music Education in early childhood, and lifelong music engagement and wellbeing. She has worked in Public Primary Education in Cyprus as a music educator for 25 years (1993-2018) and served also from the position of Director Officer at the Pedagogical Institute Cyprus for Music Education in Early Childhood and Primary education. She has been a member of the Scientific Committee for the development, and implementation of the current Music Curriculum of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sport and Youth Cyprus (2010-2015) and she has prepared and taught education programs and interventions at schools (2007 – 2018) and in collaboration with the Cyprus Symphonic Orchestra. Dr. Papazachariou – Christoforou is actively involved in music education research projects in collaboration with music educators and researchers all over the world. She is a member of ISME, EEME, Cipem and GIML and she has presented research papers at conferences in Cyprus and abroad. Her network with seminal academics and researchers around the world directs and influences her practice according to the newest tendencies of music education worldwide.

Dr. Panos Christodoulou

Panos Christodoulou (PhD Ancient History) is Assistant Professor of Hellenic Studies at the Department of Humanities of the European University Cyprus. He teaches Ancient History at the European University Cyprus and the University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, and his research activities and publications focus on the political, cultural and social activity of the Greek communities during the antiquity. He is the coordinator of the Programme MA Hellenic Studies: History, Archaeology and Art, Education and Heritage Management and the co-founder and coordinator of the Multidisciplinary Research Unit History, Archaeology and Heritage Management. He is also the founder and coordinator of the ISTORIAI–Online Public Conferences. He is the co-founder and director of the Paralos–International Institute of Hellenic Studies (based in Paris), co-founder and Member of the Board of Directors of the Center of Cypriot Studies of the University of Belgrade, and member of the Research Center Anhima (UMR 8210, Anthropologie et Histoire des Mondes AntiquesAnthropology and History of the Ancient World) where he participates in several international projects. He is also member of the research team Heraisis–Lyon 3 / HiSoMA Les écoles philosophiques antiques & leurs représentants dans les inscriptions grecques et latines (VIe s. av. J.-C. – IVe s. ap. J.-C.)andmember of the Scientific Committee of the journal of ancient history and archaeology Topoi Orient-Occident.