Dr Georgakopoulos is a graduate of the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development of the Agricultural University of Athens in Greece. He received both his MSc in Business Economics and his doctorate in Accounting from Strathclyde University Business School in the UK. Georgios’ work has appeared amongst others and most notably in top tier accounting journals such as: Accounting Organizations & Society (ABS rank: 4*); International Journal of Accounting, Auditing & Taxation (ABS rank: 3); Accounting & Business Research (ABS rank: 3); Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal; Accounting Forum (ABS rank: 3); Public Money & Management (ABS rank: 2); and in book chapters in prominent international research volumes. His research interests are in the areas of: the Jurisdictional Expansion of the Accounting Profession; Social and Environmental Accountability and Corporate Social Responsibility; Sustainability Assurance; Capital Markets and Financial Accounting. Georgios’ teaching is focused on Financial Accounting and in specific on International Financial Reporting Standards at undergraduate, specialised postgraduate and MBA programmes. He has also taught amongst others: Basic; Intermediate; and Advanced Financial Accounting; Accounting & Finance; Management & Cost Accounting; Financial Statement Analysis & Firm Valuation; Banking Management; and Sustainability, Accountability & Ethics.

Andreas Drichoutis is a Professor of Consumer Behavior. He received his undergraduate diploma in Agricultural Economics in 2002 and a postgraduate degree in Agribusiness Management (MBA) in 2004 from Agricultural University of Athens. In 2004, after spending a semester at Texas A&M University, he continued his studies in AUA pursuing a PhD which he completed in 2008. Prior to joining the Department of Agricultural Economics at Agricultural University of Athens, he was a faculty member at the Department of Economics at University of Ioannina for 4 years. Based on IDEAS RePEc’s ranking list, he is currently ranked at the Top 10% of economists globally and at the Top 4% of economists in Greece (this ranking takes into account only publications in the last 10 years, for authors registered with the RePEc Author Service).

Dr. Drichoutis is or had been working for several EU and national projects. He has also worked as a consultant for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations as well as for a project funded by United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and Women Empowerment. His research interests are focused on, but not limited to, the economics of nutrition/obesity, contingent valuation and experimental auctions methods to elicit consumers’ valuations, choice under risk, inter-temporal decision making and applied demand analysis. Most of his research applies experimental economics methods to answer questions relevant for agricultural economists and decision scientists.

He has published >50 peer reviewed papers in several scientific journals including The Economic Journal, Experimental Economics, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Journal of the Economic Science Association, Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Econometric Reviews, Journal of Applied Statistics, Journal of Economic Psychology, Judgement and Decision Making, Journal of Economic Surveys, Kyklos, American Journal of Agricultural Economics, European Review of Agricultural Economics, Food Policy, Economics Letters, Southern Economic Journal, Journal of Wine Economics, Economic Modelling, Empirical Economics etc. His work has been cited at least 2,400 times in journals such as Science, Nature Human Behavior, Games and Economic Behavior, Experimental Economics, Economics Letters, Health Economics, Journal of Health Economics, Management Science, Experimental Economics, Journal of Economic Psychology, American Journal of Agricultural Economics, European Review of Agricultural Economics, Journal of Risk and Uncertainty etc.

Dr. Drichoutis is a regular reviewer for many field journals like the European Review of Agricultural Economics, American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Food Policy etc. as well as for experimental economics journals like the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, Journal of Economic Psychology etc. His verified reviewer profile can be found online at publons.

Professor Stavros Zografakis has a Bachelor of Science degree (BSc) (1985) and a Ph.D. (1997) from the Department of Economic Sciences of the National and Capodistrian University of Athens. He has lectured at the Department of Economics of the University of Patras. He has worked as an adviser at the Economic Office of the Prime Minister, of the Minister of Employment and Social Security (on employment and social exclusion issues) and of the Assistant Minister of External Affairs. He is currently teaching Theory and Policies of International Trade, Macroeconomic Theory and Political Economy.

His academic and professional interests are in the areas of general equilibrium models, social account matrices, income distribution, Inequality and Poverty, Migration, Consumer Prices and International Competitiveness.

Athanasios Kampas is Professor at the Agricultural University of Athens. He teaches environmental economics at the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development. He holds an MSc from the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania (MAICh) and a Ph.D. from the University Newcastle upon Tyne (UK).

His research interests include the design and analysis of environmental policy.

Pavlos Karanikolas is a graduate of the Agricultural University of Athens (B.Sc., Ph.D.) and the Regional Development Institute (M.Sc.). He’s currently a Professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development of the AUA. He teaches Introduction to Economic Theory, Political Economy, Economics of European Integration (undergraduate) and Rural Development Policies (graduate). He has taken part to national and EU research Projects such as “Farming Transitions: Pathways Towards Regional Sustainability of Agriculture in Europe” (“FarmPath”, EU-FP7), and “Small farms, small food businesses and sustainable food security” (“SALSA”, EU-Horizon 2020).

His areas of interest include the political economy of agriculture, rural development, the design and implementation of rural development policies, as well as transition to sustainability.

Professor Klonaris is a Professor of the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development. His research interests are focused on the economics of food policy and quality, modelling agricultural markets and on Common Agricultural Policy issues. He is teaching Quantitative Methods, Applied Statistics and Microeconomic Analysis II at the undergraduate level and Applied Statistics and Microeconomic Analysis at postgraduate level. Dr Klonaris received his PhD from Reading University. Prior to joining the agricultural University of Athens, he has working for the Ministry of Rural Development & Food as member of the Greek delegation responsible for the fiscal policy an as consultant in the private sector.

His research interests are focused on the economics of food policy and quality, modelling agricultural markets and on Common Agricultural Policy issues.

Prof (Dr) Alex Koutsouris is the Head of the Lab of Agricultural Extension, Agricultural Systems & Rural Sociology, Dept. of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, Agricultural University of Athens. He is a graduate of AGSA (Higher Agricultural School of Athens), holds an M(Agr)Sc in Agricultural Extension from University College of Dublin, Ireland, and PhD in Extension Education from AUA. He teaches, at the undergraduate level, the courses Agricultural Extension, Agricultural Education, and Agrotourism as well as the course Worldwide Agricultural Systems with Assistant Professor G. Vlachos. At postgraduate level he is responsible for the module “Innovation Communication/ Councelling and Skills Development”. His research interests revolve around sustainable rural development focusing on topics such as agricultural extension (interactive innovation & communication), training & education, project design and evaluation, with emphasis on systemic and participatory approaches. He has served as coordinator and member of research teams (among others, recently in HORIZON2020: AgriFossilFree, i2connect, FAIRshare, AgriLink, INNOSSETA, AgriDemo-F2F, AgriSpin), scientific networks (including Presidency of ETAGRO, ESEE, IFSA) and executive of development companies/Local Action Groups (LEADER II).

His research interests revolve around sustainable rural development focusing on topics such as agricultural extension (interactive innovation & communication), training & education, project design and evaluation, with emphasis on systemic and participatory approaches.

Constantina Costopoulou is an professor at the Informatics Laboratory of the Agricultural Economics & Rural Development Dept. of the Agricultural University of Athens. She holds a BSc in mathematics from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece, an MSc in software engineering from Cranfield University (former Cranfield Institute of Tecnology) and a PhD from the National Technical University of Athens, Greece. She has published more than 120 papers in scientific journals, edited volumes, and refereed conferences. She has also served as the scientific responsible or member of the working group of several funded projects in the above research areas.

Her research interests include rural area networks, Web services, e-commerce, e-government, e-learning, and e-services for the agricultural sector.

Mr. Christos Papadas is a graduate of the Department of Economics of the Athens University of Economics and Business (AUEB), holder of a postgraduate degree (M.Sc.) and a doctorate (Ph.D.) in Agricultural and Applied Economics, which he received from the Department of Applied Economics, University of Minnesota (USA). He has worked as a researcher at the University of Minnesota. He has taught at Queen’s University in Northern Ireland as a full faculty member in the Department of Agricultural Economics, in undergraduate and postgraduate courses and programs.

His works have been published in international scientific journals and presented at scientific conferences. Mr. Papadas teaches (co-teaching) the undergraduate, compulsory courses “Agricultural Product Price Analysis” (8th semester), “Rural Development Theory and Policy” (9th semester) and the postgraduate courses “Applied Microeconomics” and "Agro-Economics in Of agricultural development".

His research interests are in the areas of development economics, rural development, input-output analysis, and the application of new quantitative methods to investigate the impact of economic policies on rural development, economic convergence, and income distribution.

Professor Antonios N. Rezitis graduated from the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development of the Agricultural University of Athens in 1986. He earned two Master degrees, one in Agricultural Economics (MSc) from Rutgers University (The State University of New Jersey, USA) in 1990 and the other in Economics (MA) from the National University of North Carolina. (North Carolina State University, NCSU, USA), in 1991. He received his Ph.D. in Economics from the Department of Agricultural Economics and Natural Resources Economics of the National University of North Carolina, USA (Department of Agricultural and Recourse Economics, NCSU, USA), 1995.

For the period from September 1995 to June 1997, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Natural Resources Economics at the National University of North Carolina, USA. During the period from March 1998 to August 2000, he taught as a Specialist in various University Departments of the country, namely in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Development of the Agricultural University of Athens, Department of Agriculture of the University of Thessaly and Department of University Economics.

In August 2000 he was appointed Lecturer with the subject “Economic Theory and Quantitative Methods” at the Department of Economics of the University of Ioannina. In 2002 he was appointed Assistant Professor in “Economics” at the Department of Business Administration of Agricultural Products and Food of the University of Patras based in the city of Agrinio. In September 2008 he was promoted to Associate Professor and then in May 2013 to Professor with the subject “Economy and Rural Economy” in the same Department and served this Department until July 2018.

In July 2018 he was appointed Professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Development of the Agricultural University of Athens. From January 2015 to January 2018 he held the position of Professor with the subject “Agricultural Policy” at the Department of Economics and Organization of the University of Helsinki (Finland). He has taught a wide range of courses in Agricultural Economics and Economics at both undergraduate and postgraduate level.

His research focuses on Rural Economy, Price Transmission and Volatility, Price Analysis and Market Structure, Efficiency, Technological Changes and Productivity Analysis, Convergence, Supply and Demand Analysis. He has taught a wide range of courses in Agricultural Economics and Economics at both undergraduate and postgraduate level.

Dr Tsimpoukas Konstantinos is Professor of the Laboratory of Agribusiness Management, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development in the Agricultural University of Athens for more than 30 years. Full member of the Hellenic Agricultural Academy – Department of Economic and Social Sciences.

He is a graduate from the Agricultural University of Athens and has a M.Sc. from the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Montpellier , D.E.A. and a Ph.D. in Planning of Rural Areas  of Montpellier III University, France.

During the period 2010-2011 he was Chairman of the Board. of the National Agricultural Research Foundation (NAGREF), while in the period 2014-2016 he served as President of the Department of Agricultural Economics and Development at the Agricultural University of Athens and Director of the Interdepartmental Postgraduate Program “Entrepreneurship and Consulting in Rural Development” during the periods 2014-2016 and 2018 until 2020. For the period 2019-2022, he has been elected Dean of the School of Economics and Social Sciences of the Agricultural University of Athens. Also for the period 2023-2025 he has been elected, by vote of the members of the University Council, as Dean of the Faculty.

He teaches at undergraduate and postgraduate level, calculation of cost and economic results of agricultural production systems, decision-making during the implementation of productive activities in the agricultural sector.

His research interests focus on the analysis of economic results of agricultural activity and the investigation of economic viability in agricultural production and especially in complex problems of animal production. He has a significant number of international publications in the technical-economic analysis of the production systems of the primary sector and in the construction of models for decision-making in agricultural enterprises as well as for the evaluation of Agricultural Policy measures. Finally, he has a large number of participations in competing research programs (international and national) either as a scientific officer or as a researcher, in respective research subjects.

Dr. George Vlahos is Αssociate Professor in the Agricultural University of Athens and has collaborated in various research projects focusing on rural and agri-environmental policies. He is author of various articles on these subjects and collaborated in books. He is currently chairing the Board of Trustees of WWF Hellas.

Mr. Chrysovalantis Malesios is an Associate Professor at the Department of Agricultural Economics and Development of the Agricultural University of Athens, and teaches courses in the fields of statistics / econometrics and mathematics.

He has worked at the Department of Rural Development, Democritus University of Thrace for 10 years as a laboratory specialist and as a statistician at the Institute of Statistical Research, Analysis and Documentation of the Athens University of Economics and Business.

He has published over 60 papers in international peer-reviewed journals such as: British Journal of Management, Ecological Economics, Ecological Indicators, Statistics in Medicine, Journal of Cleaner Production, PLOS ONE, Business Strategy and the Environment, Annals of Operations Research, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Scientometrics, Journal of Socio-Economics, European Societies and South European Society and Politic.

His primary research interests include the application of classical and newer statistical/econometric methods and approaches in the following scientific fields: Environmental data, environmental economics, epidemiological data with emphasis on zoonoses and their transmission mechanisms in space and time, sustainable development, environmental responsibility, sustainability indicators, forestry data.

Maria Ntaliani is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development of the Agricultural University of Athens with specialization in “Digital Services and E-Government in Rural Areas”. She has received a scholarship from the State Scholarships Foundation for her doctoral research. She has previous teaching experience at the Hellenic Open University, the University of West Attica, the University of Piraeus, and the Technological Educations Institutes of Sterea Ellada and Western Greece. She has participated in European and national research and development programs. Her research has been published in peer-reviewed journals, in special volumes/ collections of articles, and in peer-reviewed conferences (international and national). She has been a reviewer of international scientific journals and a member of conference organizing and scientific committees.

Her research interests include e-government, e-business, e-learning, and digital services and applications for agriculture and rural areas.

Mrs. Angelidou is an Assistant Professor of the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development of the Agricultural University of Athens. She holds a Ph.D from the School of Management of the University of Leeds (Ph.D. 2017). She has worked as a researcher at the University of Manchester and as an associate professor at the University of Liverpool. Her research work has been published in prestigious scientific journals such as Research Policy (ABS:4*, Impact Factor: 9.473), Journal of Operational Research (ABS: 4-rated, Impact Factor: 6.363), Technological Forecasting and Social Change (ABS: 3- rated, Impact Factor: 10.884), Technovation (ABS: 3-rated, Impact Factor: 11.373), Journal of Business Research (ABS: 3-rated, Impact Factor: 10.969), Industrial Marketing Management (ABS: 3-rated, Impact Factor: 8.890), and European Journal of Marketing (ABS: 3-rated, Impact Factor: 4.647).

Her work has been presented in scientific journals of international prestige such as the Academy of Management, Druid, the British Academy of Management, etc.

Dr. Achilleas Vassilopoulos is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Agricultural Economics of the Agricultural University of Athens, Greece. He holds an BSc, an MBA and a PhD in consumer theory from the same department and has served as as a tenured assistant professor at the Department of Economics, University of Ioannina, Greece and a visiting scholar at the University of Arkansas, USA (Dale Bumpers College, Dept. of Agricultural Economics & Agribusiness). He has worked a consultant-economist for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (UN FAO) and has participated in more than ten EU-funded projects on behalf of both public and private institutes in Greece and abroad.

His research interest focuses on the analysis of economic behavior using quantitative and experimental methods. His academic work has been published in journals such as Economic Modelling, Economics Letters, Journal of Economics and Management Strategy, Journal of Applied Statistics, Journal of Consumer Affairs, European Review of Agricultural Economics and others.

Elias Giannakis is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development of the Agricultural University of Athens. He holds a Ph.D. (2011), M.Sc. (2006) and BSc (2004) from the Agricultural University of Athens. Prior to joining the Agricultural University of Athens, he has worked as a Special Scientist at the Cyprus University of Technology, Department of Agricultural Sciences, Biotechnology and Food Science, as a Postdoctoral Researcher and Associate Research Scientist at the Cyprus Institute, Energy, Environment and Water Research Center, and as a Visiting Researcher at the University of Cyprus, Economics Research Center. His research work has been published in high-ranking international journals such as Regional Studies, Papers in Regional Science, The Annals of Regional Science, European Planning Studies, Ecological Economics, Science of the Total Environment, Energy Strategy Reviews, Land Use Policy. He has participated as researcher in many national and European research projects.

His research interests include regional economics, quantitative methods in regional development, rural development, design and implementation of regional development policies, productivity and environment.

Konstantinos Demestichas received his Diploma (2005), as well as his PhD degree in Telecommunications (2009), from the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA). He also holds an MBA degree (2012) in Techno-Economic Systems through the joint postgraduates’ programme of NTUA and University of Piraeus, as well as an MSc degree in Quality Assurance (2015) from the Hellenic Open University. In 2021, he joined the Agricultural Economics and Rural Development Dept. of the Agricultural University of Athens as Assistant Professor, and he serves as a member of the Informatics Laboratory ever since. Before joining the Agricultrual University of Athens, he served as a lecturer at NTUA, the University of Western Macedonia, the University of West Attica and the Hellenic Open University. Since 2005, he has been actively involved in several European and national research projects. He was the concept initiator and primary proposal author of several EU funded projects, often assuming the role of scientific or project coordinator. He has participated in the Technical Program Committees of international conferences and has assisted as a reviewer and editor in top ranked scientific journals. He has authored over 200 publications and has also served as a technical expert for the European Commission.

His primary research interests include Artificial intelligence, Machine Learning, and Big Data analytics, as well as secure digital and network technologies for agriculture and the environment.

Sotirios T. Karetsos is an Assistant Professor at the Informatics Laboratory of the Agricultural Economics & Rural Development Dept. of the Agricultural University of Athens. He holds an MSc (integrated master) and BSc in Agricultural Biotechnology from the Agricultural University of Athens, and MBA degree in Economic – Engineering Systems by the joint postgraduates’ programme of National Technical University of Athens and the University of Piraeus, and a PhD from the Informatics Laboratory of the Agricultural University of Athens. He worked for the Ministry of Rural Development and Food, he served as Seconded National Expert and external collaborator at the Joint Research Center of the European Commission, Italy, as well as Researcher at the Agricultural University of Athens. He has published more than 60 papers in scientific journals, edited volumes, and refereed conferences and more than 60 reports for the European Commission.

His research interests include the design, development and implementation of information systems for Internet services provision, the use of Internet technologies for services provision (e-commerce, e-government, e-learning), social network analysis, mobile apps development, business models and innovation services in the digital economy, information systems modeling and business process analysis. He has also served as member of working groups of several funded projects in the above research areas.

Dimitris Kremmydas is a member of the Laboratory and Teaching Ftaff in the Laboratory of Agribusiness Management, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development in the Agricultural University of Athens. He has a BSc from Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development (Agricultural University of Athens) and from the Department of Informatics (Hellenic Open University). He also has a MSc on Integrated Rural Development. He has s PhD in the field of agent based modeling for agricultural policy evaluation. His current activity on the department includes technical support and software development (GIS, Matlab, C, Java).

His research interests include farm level economic modeling, operations research in farm management and agent based modeling.

George Lagogiannis graduated from the Department of Computer Engineering and Informatics, (University of Patras, Greece) on September 1995. In 2000 he received a Master’s degree in Computer Science, from the Department of Computer Engineering and Informatics, of the University of Patras. In 2003 he received a PhD from the Department of Computer Engineering and Informatics of the University of Patras. Title of PhD thesis is “Tree structures for searching, on a Random Access Machine and on a Pointer Machine.” The supervisor was Professor Α. Tsakalidis.

On October 2004, he was elected lecturer in the Department of Science of the Agricultural University of Athens. In 16/3/2006 he started working as a lecturer, in the Department of Science of the Agricultural University of Athens. In 10/7/2013 the Department of Science ceased to exist, and he entered the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural development, of the Agricultural University of Athens. In 31/7/2013 we started working as an assistant professor at the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural development, of the Agricultural University of Athens.

His field of expertise is “Data structures and algorithms”.

His research interests include dynamic graph problems, query optimization, data structures with sublinear space, as well as other theoretical problems in the field of Data Structures and Algorithms.

Evangelos Pavlis is an Assistant Professor of the Department of Agricultural Economics & Rural Development at the Agricultural University of Athens in Greece with specialization in social analysis of rural space.

He holds a BSC in Countryside Change and Management (Geography Department in co-operation with Planning & Business Departments), an M.Sc. in Rural Change (Geography Department) from Coventry University in UK and a Ph.D on conscience and rural landscape from the Department of Geography at University of the Aegean. He made his Post-Doc research on ecomuseums employing a territorial approach to rural development at the Department of Social Policy at Panteion University in Athens and gaining a scholarship from the State Scholarships Foundation (IKY).

His teaching experience spreads in almost all levels of Greek education, as he has worked for the Hellenic Open University (still does), the University of the Aegean, the Public Institute of Vocational Training of Mytilene, and has been an appointed science teacher in Secondary Education.

He has participated in European and national research and development projects and has authored scientific papers, which have been published in peer-reviewed international and Greek scientific journals, in special/ collective volumes, announced in conferences, etc. At the same time, he has made interventions on pressing socio-spatial issues.

He has served and continues to serve as a reviewer of international scientific journals, as project evaluator (and evaluator of the Hellenic National Academic Recognition and Information Center – D.O.A.T.A.P.) and as a member of organizational and scientific committees of conferences, events, summer schools and workshops. Since November 2021 he has been the (elected) Secretary General of the Hellenic Association of Geographers.

His research interests generally concern the challenges of post-productive rural areas and are related to the transformation and multifunctionality of rural space, the protection, management and planning of the rural landscape, local entrepreneurship, the commons and the social economy, the production-processing-tourism-culture-sport interface and the promotion of history, collective memory and landscape values through ecomuseums and sustainable/ territorial development.

Konstantinos Chatzimichael is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development at the Agricultural University of Athens. Since 2010, he holds a PhD in Economics from the Department of Economics of the University of Crete. During the academic year 2006-07, he was an exchange visitor at the Department of Agricultural Economics and Sociology at Penn State University, USA. From 2012 to 2019, he worked as a Specialist Scientist at the Department of Commerce, Finance, and Shipping at the Cyprus University of Technology. His research interests focus on Applied Microeconomics, Production Economics, Agricultural Economics, Economics of Productivity and Innovation, and Panel Data Econometrics. His research has been published in peer reviewed academic journals. He has also participated in several research projects funded from the EU.

His research interests focus on Applied Microeconomics, Production Economics, Agricultural Economics, Economics of Productivity and Innovation, and Panel Data Econometrics.

Ms. Evridiki Spyropoulou has graduated the Department of Social Policy and Social Anthropology of Panteion University of Social and Political Studies. She is a postgraduate student of a Master of Science Degree in Integrated Development and Management of Rural Areas of ​​the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development. She is staff member at the Agricultural Museum of AUA since 2006 and has the responsibility of its collections as well as the various activities organized and performed by the Museum.

She has the responsibility of posting the books taught within the curriculum of the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development both on the platform of estudent system of AUA as well as on the one of EYDOXOS system.  She generally assists in the educational and research work of the Department.

- MSc in Waste management, Hellenic Open University

- BSc in Management of rural environment and natural resources, University of Thessaly

Ms. Alexia Giannouzakou is a member of the Laboratory and Teaching Staff at the Department of Agricultural Economics and Development. She has a BSc. in Agricultural Economics from the Agricultural University of Athens, an MBA in Tourism Business Administration by the Greek Open University and a MSc. in Sustainable Development with emphasis on Local Development by Harokopio University of Athens. Since 1995, in the framework of European and National Research Programs, she has been a collaborator of the scientific team of the Laboratory of Agricultural Policy & Cooperatives of the Department of Agricultural Economics and Development.

Her scientific interests relate mainly to the sustainable development of rural areas and agricultural holdings, to the enhancing socio-economic action of alternative forms of tourism and activities in the countryside and to the status of local products and especially local food in the globalized economy.

Ioanna Skaltsa holds a degree in Horticulture from Aristotle University of Athens, a MA in Landscape Design from Sheffield University, UK, a diploma in Pedagogical Studies, from the School of Pedagogical & Technological Education (ASPETE) and a Certificate in Counseling, Life Coaching and Mentoring, from the University of Aegean.

Between 1998-2018 she coordinated the establishment of AUA’s following structures: Career Services Office (CSO), Center for the promotion of employment and career (ΔΑΣΤΑ) and Structure for the support of young entrepreneurship at AUA, where she worked as Project Manager and Career Advisor.

Since 2018 she belongs to the teaching and research staff of the Laboratory of Agricultural Extension, Agricultural Systems & Rural Sociology, where she is also a PHD candidate.

She has long experience in coordinating and participating in European Programmes, in career counselling and mentoring students and young graduates of AUA and in facilitating workshops on competences and personal development, using experiential and participatory methods, inside and outside the classroom (outdoor education).

Her research interests are amongst others in the field of professional mindset and competences development of the modern agronomist agent of chance, transformative learning, and participatory approaches in teaching, with emphasis on the experiential method and in outdoor education and nature connectedness.

Dimitris Panagiotopoulos studied History at the Department of History and Archeology of the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Athens. In 2003 he was awarded a doctorate by the Department of History of the Ionian University. He is the Director of the Documentation Center for the History of Greek Agriculture of the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development of the Agricultural University of Athens. He was an Alternate Member of the Ephorate of General State Archives, while since 2009 he has been teaching the course “Greek State and Society in the 19th and 20th Century” in the Postgraduate Program “Historical Research, Teaching and New Technologies” of the Department of History of the Ionian University. He is the author of three books and several related articles in Greek and English. His latest book entitled: Petros Kanaginis. His contribution to the remodeling of the rural environment in the interwar period was released in 2013 by the publications of the Bookstore of Hestia.

His research interests include the history of Greek agriculture and agricultural development, as well as the political, economic and social organization of the modern Greek state and the rural area in the 19th and 20th centuries. Also, the formation and development of higher education and the scientific and academic elites in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Mrs. E. Oikonomopoulou is a graduate of the Department of Agricultural Economics and Development of the Agricultural University of Athens, holder of a Master of Science in Economic and Regional Development of the Department of Economic and Regional Development of Panteion University. Her scientific interests focus on rural and regional development and she has participated as a collaborator in European Research Programs, prepared at the Laboratory of Rural Economic Development, with Professor S. Efstratoglou as scientific supervisor. He also participates in the educational work of the Laboratory with the support of the laboratory exercises and the works of the students.

Her scientific interests focus on rural and regional development.

E. Nellas is a member of the Laboratory and Teaching Staff at the Laboratory of Agribusiness Management in Department of Agricultural Economics & Rural Development, Agricultural University of Athens. He has a BSc in Agricultural Economics from the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development – Agricultural University of Athens, a Postgraduate Diploma Specialization in Agricultural Economics “D.S.P.U.” from Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Montpellier (I.A.M.M.) and a Postgraduate Diploma Specialization in the Agricultural Applied Statistics and Computer Science. He has worked as researcher in the Agriculture University of Athens and he has taught courses with regard to PC use in programs of Postgraduate Training and in Private Technical Schools. He has participated in projects regarding the Rural Development and Farm Management, with emphasis in the Statistical Analysis of Economics Data with use of PC and in the Creation of completed Informative systems. From 2002, he teaches the laboratorial exercises of course “Research Methods in Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology” that is related with the Analysis of Data with use of SPSS/PC for Windows.

He has participated in projects regarding the Rural Development and Farm Management, with emphasis in the Statistical Analysis of Economics Data with use of PC and in the Creation of completed Informative systems.

Mr Athanasios  Makrandreou is a member of the Laboratory and Teaching Staff at the Informatics Laboratory of the Agricultural University of Athens.

Born in Cyprus, I enrolled to School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki from where I graduated in 1982 with a degree in Mathematics. Afterwards, in 1985 I received a postgraduate degree, in Informatics and Operation Research, from School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences of National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. Since February 2006, I am a holder of PhD degree from Informatics Laboratory of Agricultural University of Athens in the knowledge domain area of “Knowledge Base Systems”. From April 1985 until July 2000 I worked at the Animal Breeding and Husbandry Department of Agricultural University of Athens, with the Statistical analysis of data as my major responsibility. Since August 2000 I am a member of the Special Laboratory and Teaching Staff of the Agricultural University of Athens at the Informatics Laboratory, teaching classes on Computers Programming and Databases. In parallel, I participate in the development and maintenance of the administrative applications of the university. Major author or coauthor of the technical specifications, and member of the development team, for various programmes of the University related to ITC, funded through the 3rd Community Support Framework of the European Union (2000-2006) or the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) (2007-2013). Such programmes are the Improvement of undergraduate studies in Agricultural University of Athens, Equipment of tele-teaching and Advanced Network Services in Agricultural University of Athens, Modernization and enrichment of the library of the Agricultural University of Athens, Online Electronic Services at AUA and Design and Implementation of a Digital Repository of the AUA. Single author or co-author of several research papers concerning knowledge representation and management, repositories and digital libraries and ontology development and usage.

His interests cover the subjects of knowledge representation and management, knowledge base systems, system analysis and design of information systems, design and implementation of expert systems, ontology design and usage and development of web based systems using Java related technologies.

Sophia Leni was born in Athens. She holds a degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Patras and two MSc in “Engineering Infrastructure Works” from the Department of Civil Engineering of the University of Patras and “Environmental Design of Cities and Buildings” from the School of Sciences and Technology from the Hellenic Open University. She has worked in the private sector, in the public sector and as a laboratory assistant at the former TEI of Piraeus. She is a PhD candidate in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Development. PhD thesis in” Land Policy and rural Systems. A GIS Approach”.

Dr. Yiorgos Alexopoulos has been working at the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, Agricultural University of Athens since 2002. He holds an BSc./MSc. in Agricultural Economics and Rural Development from the Agricultural University of Athens, an MSc. in Regional Development from the Panteion University of Social Sciences in Athens and a PhD in Social Sciences from the Management Centre of the University of Leicester. Since 2007, he has taught in Post Graduate Programmes at the Agricultural University of Athens and since 2011 at the Department of Economics of the University of Trento, Italy, the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania, Greece, and the Technological University of Pireaus. He has also taught courses on “Co-operative Economics”, “Business Finance”, “Rural Development Policies”, “Agricultural Economics”, and “Common Agricultural Policy” for the undergraduate students of the Department.

His research interests are in the fields of social economy and co-operatives, with emphasis on financial co-operatives and social finance, local finance, and business finance as well as in rural and local development. He has worked on behalf of the University on several issues concerning the implementation of European regulations and development programmes.

Ioannis Goussios is a member of the Laboratory and Teaching Staff at the Laboratory of Political Economy and European Integration. He has a BSc in Agricultural Economics from the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development – Agricultural University of Athens and a MSc in Agricultural Policy from the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania (M.A.I.Ch.). Since 2004, he has taught in courses on “Macroeconomics”, “Farm Management”, “Agricultural Investment Appraisal” for the undergraduate students of the Department.

Contrary to popular belief, Lorem Ipsum is not simply random text. It has roots in a piece of classical Latin literature from 45 BC, making it over 2000 years old. Richard McClintock, a Latin professor at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia, looked up one of the more obscure Latin words, consectetur, from a Lorem Ipsum passage, and going through the cites of the word in classical literature, discovered the undoubtable source. Lorem Ipsum comes from sections 1.10.32 and 1.10.33 of "de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum" (The Extremes of Good and Evil) by Cicero, written in 45 BC. This book is a treatise on the theory of ethics, very popular during the Renaissance. The first line of Lorem Ipsum, "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet..", comes from a line in section 1.10.32.

The standard chunk of Lorem Ipsum used since the 1500s is reproduced below for those interested. Sections 1.10.32 and 1.10.33 from "de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum" by Cicero are also reproduced in their exact original form, accompanied by English versions from the 1914 translation by H. Rackham.