Dr. Orestis Kairis received his BSc degree in agricultural sciences and agricultural engineering (2001), his MSc degree in sustainable soil management (2003), and his PhD degree in land degradation and desertification (2015) from the Department of Natural Resources Development and Agricultural Engineering of the Agricultural University of Athens (AUA).

His experience and expertise are in soil mapping and soil surveying, qualitative and semiquantitative soil suitability evaluation, soil erosion metrics and modelling, and in land degradation and desertification assessment. He has participated as an agricultural engineer or Dr. soil scientist-researcher in over 35 EU-funded or financially supported by the Greek State research projects or studies.

He has authored/co-authored 20 papers in peer-reviewed journals, a book chapter of an international publishing house (Scopus: h index 13, citations 795) and a treatise published by the Academy of Athens. He served as a member of the Greek National Committee for Combating Desertification which was formed in June 2021. Since June 2022, he has been elected Assistant Professor, of the Department of Natural Resources and Agricultural Management, in the field of Soil Mapping and Evaluation at the AUA.