Research Team
About us
Research Team
Senior Research Associates
Dr. Kyriakos Manoli
Chemical Engineer
PhD in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering
Dr. Kyriakos Manoli obtained a five-year diploma (equivalent to MEng) in Chemical Engineering from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, in 2012, and a PhD in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering from the University of Western Ontario, Canada, in 2017. He completed both industrial and academic postdoctoral fellowships at Trojan Technologies, Canada (2017-2019), and Texas A&M University, USA (2019-2020), respectively. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher at Nireas-International Water Research Center of the University of Cyprus. He is interested in reaction engineering and environmental engineering, and his research focuses on the development, modeling and optimization of oxidation and disinfection processes for water and wastewater treatment.
During his PhD studies and postdoctoral fellowships, he collaborated with universities, governmental agencies as well as municipalities on various projects related to wastewater treatment. He spent 4 months as a visiting researcher at Toronto Water-City of Toronto, where he worked on the modeling, simulation (BioWin) and optimization of the biological wastewater treatment (nitrification/denitrification) of the largest wastewater treatment plant in Canada. He collaborated with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada on projects related to the identification and oxidation of pharmaceuticals and pesticides in secondary effluent wastewaters. He was the site team leader for a full-scale testing of a disinfection control technology, in a wastewater treatment plant in Toronto, during collaboration between Trojan Technologies and Toronto Water-City of Toronto.
In 2010, he received a scholarship by the Hellenic Republic for the first place among third-year chemical engineering undergraduate students of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, for excellence in studies and ethics. In 2013, he was awarded the University of Western Ontario Graduate Research Scholarship for his PhD studies in Canada. The Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Undergraduate Students Society of the University of Western Ontario gave him the award “Best Graduate Teaching Assistant” for Excellence in Teaching for the academic year 2015-2016. His research was recognized by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) with the “Session’s Best Paper/Presentation Award” at the 2016 AIChE Annual Meeting which took place in San Francisco, CA, USA (Session: Liquid Phase Reaction Engineering). Couple of years later, he was awarded the “Second Prize” in the “3 Minute Research Competition” of the Postdoctoral Research Forum 2018, at the University of Western Ontario, for his 3-minute presentation entitled “New lifestyle; Different needs; Novel water treatment technologies”. At the same year of 2018, the Water Environment Federation selected his WEFTEC conference paper on pilot- and full-scale wastewater disinfection studies for publication in the magazine, Water Environment & Technology. This paper entitled “Smarter Dosing for Disinfection” was exposed to water professionals resulting in commercialization interest. In 2020, he was one of the 2 representatives of Texas A&M University as a postdoctoral researcher for the prestigious conference “The Academy of Medicine, Engineering & Science of Texas 2020 Annual Conference: Innovating Texas”, in Dallas, TX, USA.
- manoli.kyriakos@ucy.ac.cy
Dr. Popi Karaolia
Biologist
PhD in Environmental Engineering
Dr. Popi Karaolia received her first degree in Biology, from the University of Nottingham, UK in 2006 and an M.Sc. in Environmental Management from the same university. Moreover, she received an M.Sc. in Environmental Health from the Cyprus University of Technology in association with the Harvard School of Public Health. She has successfully defended her Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering at the University of Cyprus in February 2019 and since then, she is a post-doctoral fellow at Nireas-IWRC of the University of Cyprus.
Her research focuses on the removal potential of biological and advanced oxidation processes of antibiotics, antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB), antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and other genetic biomarkers of human pollution. She is also currently working on the investigation of the presence of illicit drugs in urban sewage, and the subsequent application of a wastewater-based epidemiological approach for the evaluation of drug consumption in urban areas. Moreover, she is occupied with the occurrence of various contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) including antibiotics, ARB&ARGs in treated wastewater, their accumulation in soil irrigated with treated wastewater and their subsequent uptake by various crops under both hydroponic and real agricultural field conditions.
She is actively involved in several collaborative water-related research projects funded by various Cyprus-based, European and international funding bodies. Dr. Karaolia has participated in a number of scientific conferences, has published more than 11 refereed journal papers in high-impact international scientific journals, has co-authored 3 book chapters, she has taught various university courses and has given numerous seminar presentations on water-related topics, in Cyprus and abroad.
- pkarao01@ucy.ac.cy
Dr. Marinos Stylianou
Chemical Engineer
PhD in Chemical Engineering
Dr. Marinos Stylianou graduated from the Chemical Engineering Department of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) in 2002 and awarded a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering in the field of Waste Management in 2012, also from NTUA. From 2012 until 2019, he was working as a special scientist (postdoctoral researcher) at the Nireas International Water Research Center at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of the University of Cyprus and he was responsible for the laboratory work (research, sampling, and analysis) of the Subsurface Research Laboratory. He is now involved in a Water JPI project under the supervision of Prof Papanastasiou. In parallel, he elaborates his 3rd postdoctoral research (2019-2022) which concerns the bio-desulphurisation of oil, a collaboration of the University of Cyprus with Cyprus University of Technology and NORTEST Ltd (Research Program: DIDAKTOR).
His research interests focus on chemical and environmental engineering such as: (i) design of decontamination processes, (ii) characterization of waste, (iii) development of sorbent materials, (iv) oil and natural gas, (v) remediation of abandoned mines. His teaching experience includes teaching relevant courses at the University of Cyprus, Cyprus University of Technology, the European University of Cyprus as well as the Open University of Cyprus.
His employment experience includes working in the industry for almost a decade in several European and non-European projects in environmental-related fields (2003-2020). In total, he was involved in 18 projects. He is also accredited as ISO consultant by TUV Hellas (TUV NORD) for ISO9001:2000 STANDARD and ISO14001:2004 STANDARD. He has (co)authored 34 refereed journal papers in high-impact international scientific journals, 2 book chapters, and he presented his work in high-level scientific conferences (59 papers).
He is also the president of the Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) “Almyras – Cultural and Environmental Workshop” which deals with cultural and environmental issues at the wider regions of southern Nicosia and generally in the Cyprus countryside.
- stylianou.a.marinos@ucy.ac.cy
Dr. Fotos Stylianou
Physicist
PhD in Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering
Dr. Fotos Stylianou holds BSc and MSc degrees in Physics from the University of Cyprus. He received his PhD from the MME Department at the University of Cyprus in 2016. He received a PhD Scholarship from the Cyprus State Scholarship Foundation.
Since 2010 he has been an active member at the Computational Sciences Laboratory (UCY-CompSci), and from 2015 he has joined the COST action “Simulation and pharmaceutical technologies for advanced patient-tailored inhaled medicines” (SimInhale).
He is involved in research projects funded by various Pharmaceutical Companies. He has also been involved in research projects funded by the Cyprus Research Promotion Foundation, and the US Army International Technology Center and the US Air Force European Office of Aerospace Research and Development.
His main research interests are on the reduction of extrathoracic drug losses of inhaled medications, and on the design/optimization of Dry Powder Inhalers. More specifically he performs high-fidelity numerical simulations of airflow and particle transport (including heat transfer, water vapor transfer, hygroscopic aerosol growth, and water evaporation from the mouth-throat tissue) in a realistic human mouth-throat geometries.
He has published several papers in scientific journals and conferences.
- stylianou.fotos@ucy.ac.cy
Dr. Constantinos Panagiotou
Physicist
PhD in Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering
Dr. Constantinos Panagiotou is a physicist with a strong interest in fluid flows and their associated mass and heat transport phenomena. He holds BSc degree in Physics from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece. He received a PhD degree from the Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering at the University of Cyprus in 2016. During his PhD studies, he was involved in research projects funded by different agencies, such as Cyprus Research Promotion Foundation (RPF), EUROfusion, the US Army International Technology Center and the US Air Force European Office of Aerospace Research and Development.
After the completion of his PhD, he worked for two years as a PostDoctoral fellow at the University of Tokyo in Japan. His work there was funded by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST). Among other activities, he was involved in the development of optimization algorithms for use in robotic systems, such as Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV) and walking robots.
Since 2019 he is an active member of Nireas-International Center under the SMART-Control project, funded by the Cyprus Research and Innovation Foundation. His main focus is to reduce the risks in the application of sustainable groundwater management through the development and implementation of an innovative web-based, real-time monitoring and control system in combination with risk assessment and management tools.
He has published several papers in scientific journals and conferences.
- panagiotou.konstantinos@ucy.ac.cy
Dr. Magda Psichoudaki
Chemist
PhD in Chemical Engineering
Dr. Magda Psichoudaki is a Chemist who graduated from the University of Patras where she also received her MSc in Environmental Chemical Analysis (University of Patras, Dpt of Chemistry, Award of Excellence from the same University). She defended her Phd in Chemical Engineering in 2014 (University of Patras, Polytechnic School). Her doctoral and postdoctoral work (University of Gothenburg, Dpt of Chemistry & Molecular Biology, Sweden) focused on the interactions of atmospheric organic compounds with water and their cloud formation ability, the physicochemical characterization of atmospheric emissions and their photochemical oxidation, source apportionment, novel instrument development and optimization for atmospheric nanoparticles sampling and measurement, and analytical method parameterization. She has previously worked as a chemical analyst and research project manager at the private sector, focusing mainly on Persistent Organic Pollutants, (POPs) e.g. toxins and pesticides analysis of food and environmental samples, chromatography-based method development, method validation and quality assurance. She has participated in various European research programmes (e.g. MEGAPOLI, THALIS, PEGASOS, Vinnova) and collaborated with various European and American Universities and Institutions.
Magda’s instrumental experience includes Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry-based techniques (e.g. Chemical Ionization MS, Aerosol MS, Gas Chromatography-MS/MS, Liquid Chromatography MS/MS, Ion Chromatography, High Performance Liquid Chromatography), as well as particle number and size distribution, Organic Carbon measurement, etc. Her previous work has been presented in more than 20 European, American and international conferences and published in high-impact journals (11 publications). She is a member of various committees and she is often selected as a reviewer in various journals.
Junior Researchers
Dr. Iakovos C. Iakovides
Chemical Engineer
PhD in Environmental Engineering
Iakovos C. Iakovides is a Chemical Engineer graduated from the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Patras in 2012. He also obtained his M.Sc. in “Energy and Environment” from the same department in October of 2015. He received his Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering at the University of Cyprus in September 2022 and since then, he is a post-doctoral fellow at Nireas-IWRC of the University of Cyprus. He was an early-stage researcher in the ANSWER project (H2020-MSCA-ITN-2015/675530) at Nireas-International Water Research Center of the University of Cyprus from April 2016 to March 2019.
His research activities focus on the (i) development, application and optimization of advanced wastewater treatment processes for the removal of contaminants of emerging concerns (CECs) in urban wastewater, (ii) assessment of the efficiency of the advanced wastewater treatment processes to remove antibiotic resistance determinants, as well as toxicity, and (iii) evaluation of the accumulation of chemical and biological CECs in soil irrigated by treated wastewater and their subsequent uptake by selected crops (i.e. cucumbers and lettuce) under real agricultural field conditions.
He has participated (or he is currently involved), in several collaborative water-related research projects funded by the European Commission, the Cyprus Research and Innovation Foundation, the Greek national funds and the Institute of Chemical Engineering Sciences (FORTH/ICE-HT). He has (co)authored 6 refereed journal papers in high-impact international scientific journals, and he has presented his work in high-level scientific conferences. He has also been involved in various outreach activities such as the Cyprus Researchers Night, radio talks, café scientific, visit to schools and writing articles for the local newspaper and web-sites in layman form in order to disseminate the outcome of his research to the wide public.
- iakovidis.iakovos@ucy.ac.cy
Dr. Vasiliki Beretsou
Analytical Chemist
PhD in Environmental Engineering
Vasiliki Beretsou received her B.Sc. in Chemistry in 2013 and her M.Sc. in Analytical Chemistry in 2015 from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (Greece). In April of 2023 she received her Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering at the University of Cyprus. She was an Early Stage Researcher (ESR) of the ANSWER project (H2020-MSCA-ITN-2015/675530) at Nireas-International Water Research Center of the University of Cyprus from April 2016 to March 2019.
Her research focuses on the (a) occurrence and fate of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) in engineered and natural environments, with emphasis on the identification of transformation products (TPs) of CECs by applying state-of-the-art analytical techniques (LC-QTOFMS), and suspect and non-target screening approaches, (b) assessment of the biological potency of CECs and of their TPs through the application of bioassays, (c) assessment of the efficiency of UV/H2O2 process to remove antibiotic resistance determinants, and, (d) accumulation of CECs in soil irrigated by treated wastewater and their subsequent uptake by crops.
She has gained working experience at the academic and non-academic sector; as an intern, at the Pesticide Residues Laboratory of the General Chemical State Laboratory (Greece) in 2013, as an analytical chemist, at the Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (Greece) in 2015, and as an ESR in the framework of the ANSWER project, at the private sector and at research centers, during her secondments at Biodetection Systems b.v. (The Netherlands), Environmental Institute s.r.o. (Slovakia), HighChem (Slovakia), Agricultural Research Organization-Volcani Center (Israel) and Istituto Superiore di Sanità (Italy) from 2016 to 2019.
She has participated (or she is currently involved) in several collaborative water-related research projects funded by the European Commission, Cyprus Research and Innovation Foundation and Greek national funds. She has (co)authored 4 peer-reviewed journal papers in high-impact international scientific journals and she has presented her work in several scientific conferences and workshops. She has also been involved in various outreach activities, such as Cyprus Researchers’ Nights, radio talks, videos, visits to schools and writing-up of informational material in layman form in order to convey her research and results to the general public.
- beretsou.vasiliki@ucy.ac.cy
Charalambos Kyriakou
Civil Engineer
PhD in Civil Engineering
Dr. Charalambos Kyriakou received a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Cyprus (2009), and a Master of Science degree in Construction Project Management at the University of Manchester (2010). Following his MSc graduation, he worked as a Site and Structural Engineer in both the public and private sectors. Dr. Charalambos Kyriakou received a PhD degree in Civil Engineering from the Department of Civil Engineering and Environmental Engineering of the University of Cyprus (2019). Currently, he is a Post-Doctoral Researcher of the EUPALINOS (Construction Engineering Laboratory and Water Distribution Networks Management Laboratory) of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Nireas International Water Research Center of the University of Cyprus.
- kyriakou.charalambos@ucy.ac.cy
Pantelis Koullapis
Mechanical Engineer
PhD in Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering
Dr. Pantelis Koullapis is a Mechanical Engineer, graduated from National Technical University of Athens, Greece in 2013. He received his PhD from the Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering Department at the University of Cyprus in 2018. He is a member of the Computational Sciences Laboratory (UCY-CompSci) since 2013, when he joined the Marie Curie Initial Training Network “HEXACOMM” as a PhD candidate, working on the assessment of human exposure to inhaled environmental pollutants using computer models. In 2015 he has joined the COST action “Simulation and pharmaceutical technologies for advanced patient-tailored inhaled medicines” (SimInhale).
The primary research activity of Pantelis is the use of high fidelity computer simulations for the prediction of drug deposition in the airways, in particular the prediction of regional deposition for various combinations of inhaler devices, patient groups and formulations. Pantelis is also pursuing the development of hybrid models coupling the upper airways to the lung pulmonary region as well as the investigation and understanding of complex phenomena during the transport of solid or aqueous particles in the lungs.
He has published several papers in scientific journals and conferences. He is involved in research projects funded by various Pharmaceutical Companies.
- koullapis.g.pantelis@ucy.ac.cy
Charalambos Frantzis
Mechanical Engineer
PhD in Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering
2014-2020
Dr. Charalambos Frantzis holds a diploma (BSc + Master Equivalence) in Mechanical Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens. He received his PhD from the MME Department of the University of Cyprus in 2019. At the beginning of his PhD studies, he joined the Marie Curie Initial Training Network “SEDITRANS” as a fellow. He also received a PhD scholarship from the University of Cyprus for the academic year 2018-2019. He has also been involved in a research project funded by the Cyprus Research Promotion Foundation.
Since 2014, he has been an active member at the Computational Sciences Laboratory (UCY-CompSci), working on coastal engineering and wave energy projects. He developed an efficient Navier-Strokes based Numerical Wave Tank, for the simulation of wave-induced flows that include the water-air interactions. He has also worked on the performance assessment of a wave energy converter (WEC) device, through experimental measurements. His main research interests are on the interaction of waves with coastal protection structures, and on the development of efficient numerical methods and tools for the simulation of water-air flows.
He has published several papers in scientific journals and conferences.
- cfrant02@ucy.ac.cy
Researchers
Eleni Maragkou
Chemist
Researcher in Environmental Engineering
Eleni Maragkou holds a B.Sc. in Chemistry specializing in Environmental and Food Chemistry from the University of Cyprus in 2019. As part of her thesis project, she worked at the Supramolecular and Fullerene Chemistry research laboratory, where she synthesized and fully characterized a new type of open-structured tether that targeted the regioselective synthesis of a pentakis-adduct of C60. From 2020-2021 she worked at the Radioanalytical and Environmental research laboratory at the University of Cyprus where she obtained her Master of Science degree in Chemistry. Her study focused on the interaction between hexavalent uranium (U (VI)) and calcium silicate hydrate (C-S-H) in the presence of the organic ligand EDTA. This research was funded by the European Joint Program on Radioactive Waste Management. From June 2021 until December 2023, she worked at the Food Composition, Quality & Nutritional Value Laboratory of the State General Laboratory of Cyprus. During her B.Sc., M.Sc. and working period, she gained valuable experience in analytical techniques and equipment such as NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance), Raman, IR, Alpha and UV-Vis spectroscopies, MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry, UPLC chromatography, HPLC chromatography, XRD and TGA analysis.
Eleni is currently employed as a researcher at Nireas-IWRC, where her primary focus is on the intoDBP project, which receives funding from Horizon Europe (HORIZON-CL6-2022-ZEROPOLLUTION-01-04, Grant agreement ID: 101081728). Her research involves the analysis of drinking water samples and the application of drinking water treatment processes aimed at minimizing disinfection by-products.
Antonis Michanikou
Chemist
Researcher in Environmental Engineering
Antonis Michanikou holds a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from the University of Ioannina, Greece, and a master’s degree in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Cyprus. After completing his bachelor’s degree, he began working in interdisciplinary projects at the University of Cyprus, Medical school, focusing specifically on climate change and its impact on human health, utilizing various air pollution monitoring devices and wearable sensors. He collaborated with interdisciplinary teams of researchers, clinicians, and industry partners. His work in the field of environmental health and exposure assessment has resulted in several publications in scientific journals. Currently he is a member of the Cyprus Harvard Endowment Program for the Environment and Public Health and a researcher at Nireas-International Water Research Center of the University of Cyprus.
Panagiota Loutsiou
Biologist
Researcher in Environmental Engineering
Panagiota Loutsiou is a graduate student currently completing her Master of Science degree in Public Health at the European University Cyprus. She gained her Bachelor of Science degree in Biological Sciences with a major in Microbiology from the European University Cyprus. Her thesis project was a review on the effectiveness and safety of the MMR and Priorix vaccine. She has previously worked at microbiology laboratories, including at the Cyprus State Laboratory, where she conducted food and water analysis. She is currently a researcher at Nirea’s Gaia Laboratory and her work focuses on the detection SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater.
Anaxagoras Violaris
Biologist
Researcher in Environmental Engineering
Anaxagoras Violaris is a Biologist, graduated from the Department of Biological Sciences of the University of Cyprus in 2020. He also received an M.Sc. in Taxonomy, Biodiversity and Evolution in 2021, from the Imperial College London in association with the Natural History Museum of London. His thesis project focused on the characterization, for the first time, of the bone damage and repair mechanism in a Middle Devonian-aged lungfish (393.3–382.7 million years ago). Currently he is a researcher at Nireas-International Water Research Center of the University of Cyprus, and his work focuses on the detection of SARS-CoV-2 genetic fragments in the urban wastewater of Cyprus.
Iakovia Ttofi
Chemist
Researcher in Environmental Engineering
March 2021 - August 2021
Iakovia Ttofi received a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from the University of Cyprus in 2017. Following, she obtained a Master of Science degree in Chemistry, with a minor in Chemical Biology from Leiden University (2019). Her thesis focused on the Design and Synthesis of tools to study the endocannabinoid system. During her thesis she has gained experience on the design and performance of multi-step synthetic processes, on the synthesis of glycolipid libraries, cell culture techniques, analytical techniques and fluorescent and electron microscopy. She is currently a Researcher at Nireas-IWRC (at Gaia lab) where she is involved in the NANO-CARRIERS project (P2P/WATER/1017/0004), concerning the interaction of contaminants of emerging concern in wastewater with micro- and nano-plastics.
Anna Korelidou
Biologist
Researcher in Environmental Engineering
2018-2020
Anna Korelidou received her first degree from the department of Biology of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in 2013. She also completed her Master’s degree in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology of plants at the University of Crete in 2016. Her thesis focused on the biodegradation of toxic phenols by green alga. During her Master studies, she had an internship at the Center for Research in Agricultural Genomics in Spain, at the Laboratory of Molecular genetics and Biochemistry (2015). She has previously worked as a clinical laboratory analyst and as a microbiologist in the private sector. She has gained work experience in microbiological analyses of food, water, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, air and sewage.
Laboratory Assistants
Eleni Chrysanthou
Biologist
Laboratory Assistant
Eleni Chrysanthou received her first degree in Biological Sciences, from the European University of Cyprus, in 2020. Her thesis focused on metformin and its therapeutic use in the treatment of ovarian cancer. She has previously worked in clinical laboratory and as a microbiologist, conducted tests and analyses of patients’ samples in order to determine best treatment. Also, she possess work experience in microbiological analyses in body fluids.
She is currently an intern at Nireas-IWRC (at Gaia lab) working as a laboratory assistant.
Maria Papalli
Laboratory Assistant
2020-2021
Maria Papalli is a fourth-year undergraduate student at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Cyprus. She is currently an intern at Nireas-IWRC at the Laboratory of Environmental Biotechnology (EmBIOSysTech lab). She has recently expanded her knowledge in bioremediation of industrial wastewater towards production of added-value commidities. She has learned various analytical techniques and microbial assays such as microbial cultures in solid and liquid media, spectrometry and antimicrobial testing, and she participates in various relevant activities.
Administrative Staff
Eleni Toxqui
Civil Engineer
MSc in Civil Engineering
Eleni Toxqui holds a BSc in Civil Engineering from the City University of New York and an MSc in Civil Engineering from NYU Polytechnic. Upon her graduation she joined STV, a leading U.S. civil engineering firm, as a project controls engineer on several U.S. projects. She is currently serving as a project manager for Nireas-IWRC.
- toxqui.eleni@ucy.ac.cy
Elena Irodotou
Project Assistant
2020-2021
Elena Irodotou received a Bachelor degree in Business Administration (Management) from the University of Nicosia. She is currently working at Nireas-IWRC as a Project Assistant.
M.Sc./M.Eng. current students
Andrea Naziri obtained a BSc degree in Biology from Swansea University, Wales, UK, in 2020. During her undergraduate studies, she took elective courses in Environmental Biology and her thesis focused on the effect of temperature, humidity and sunlight intensity on forensic entomology. She is a co-author of a scientific paper published in 2021, that presents the current distribution of Natrix natrix cypriaca in the Troodos region in Cyprus; derived from the project ReTrack (POST-DOC/0916/0034). In 2019, Andrea gained fieldwork experience contributing to the same project concerning the locomotion and behavior of reptiles. In 2020, she developed skills in tropical rainforest and marine conservation by doing fieldwork in Borneo, Malaysia. Andrea is currently a researcher at Nireas-IWRC where she is involved in the NANO-CARRIERS project (P2P/WATER/1017/0004), concerning the interaction of contaminants of emerging concern in water with micro- and nanoplastics, and the effect of microplastics on the performance of disinfection processes.
- naziri.andrea@ucy.ac.cy
Eleftheria Hambou
Chemical Engineer
M. Eng. Student in Environmental Engineering
Eleftheria Hambou graduated from the Chemical Engineering Department of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) in 2022 and currently works as a Chemical Engineer in Nicolaides & Associates in Nicosia. Throughout her degree she gained experience in chemical analysis, environmental engineering, energy systems management and energy saving.
Now, she is pursuing her master’s degree (M.Eng.) in the field of Environmental Engineering at the University of Cyprus. Her thesis focuses on the Occurrence and Concentrations of Pharmaceutical Compounds in Rivers and Treated Urban Wastewaters – relevance to indirect and direct reuse
Panagiota Parpa
Environmental Scientist
Researcher in Environmental Engineering
Panagiota Parpa received her undergraduate degree in BSc (Hons) Environmental Science from Newcastle University in 2020. Throughout her degree she gained experience in physicochemical analysis, as well as, analysis of pollutant in water. Her dissertation focused on land use and precipitation impacts on river water quality, which involved phosphorus analysis. She is currently a master’s student (M.Sc.) at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Cyprus and an intern at Nireas-IWRC, working as a researcher. She is involved in a project concerning contaminants of emerging concern, antibiotic resistant bacteria and antibiotic resistant genes in wastewater and adsorption processes.
- parpa.panagiota@ucy.ac.cy
Theoni Mina
Civil and Environmental Engineer
Researcher in Environmental Engineering
Theoni Mina holds a bachelor’s degree from the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department of the University of Cyprus and currently works as a researcher at Nireas-IWRC. During the last year of her studies, she worked as a special scientist at Nireas-IWRC (Gaia Laboratory) working on various research projects, focusing on the uptake of pharmaceuticals by crops irrigated with treated wastewater.
Now, she is pursuing her master’s degree (M.Sc.) in the field of Environmental Engineering at the University of Cyprus. Her thesis focuses on the determination of various species-specific and antibiotic resistance genes of clinical importance in urban wastewater influents, and their potential associations with antibiotic-resistant infections within the community.
- mina.theoni@ucy.ac.cy
Graduated PhD students
Vasiliki Beretsou
Gaia Laboratory
Thesis title: Presence, fate and effects of contaminants of emerging concern and their transformation products in engineered water systems, April 2023.
- beretsou.vasiliki@ucy.ac.cy
Stella Michael
Gaia Laboratory
Thesis title: Tackling antibiotics, antimicrobial resistance determinants, pathogenic microbes and toxicity in urban wastewater: A multibarrier technological approach, July 2022.
Iakovos C. Iakovides
Gaia Laboratory
Thesis title: Fate of antibiotics, antibiotic-resistant bacteria and resistance genes during conventional and advanced wastewater treatment and irrigation in agriculture, September 2022.
- iakovidis.iakovos@ucy.ac.cy
Popi Karaolia
Gaia Laboratory
Thesis title: Evaluation of the efficiency of the combination of a Membrane BioReactor with selected Advanced Oxidation Processes for the removal of antibiotic-related microcontaminants, February 2019.
- pkarao01@ucy.ac.cy
Giorgos Hadjidemetriou
EUPALINOS LABORATORY
Thesis title: Roadway pavement condition assessment utilizing computer vision, machine learning and entropy, November 2018.
Charalambos Kyriakou
EUPALINOS LABORATORY
Thesis title: Pavement Monitoring Utilizing Smartphones, Vibration Sensors and Pattern Recognition for the Detection and Classification of Roadway Pavement Anomalies, September 2018.
- kyriakou.charalambos@ucy.ac.cy
Pantelis Koullapis
UCY-COMPSCI LABORATORY
Thesis title: In silico studies for the prediction of regional aerosol deposition in the human airways, July 2018.
Fotos Stylianou
UCY-CompSCI LABORATORY
Thesis title: Extensions to Structure-Based Turbulence Theory and Models, with Applications to Internal and Simple Biological Flows, February 2017.
Lida Ioannou
Gaia Laboratory
Thesis title: Advanced systems for the enhancement of the environmental performance of wineries – wastewater purification combining biological, advanced chemical and reverse osmosis treatment, November 2013.
- ioannou.lida@ucy.ac.cy
Μarlen Ines Vasquez Hadjilyra
Gaia Laboratory
Thesis title: Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients in Aqueous Matrices: An Integrated Approach for Assessing Effects, December 2012.
Irene Michael
Gaia Laboratory
Thesis title: Investigating the solar-driven advanced chemical oxidation of ofloxacin and trimethoprim in sewage and other aqueous matrices, May 2012.
- michael.irene@ucy.ac.cy
Graduated M.Sc. students
Maria Dionysiou
GAIA Laboratory
Thesis title: Identification and quantification of illicit drugs in urban wastewater in Cyprus, February 2020.
Rafael Papamarkou
GAIA Laboratory
Thesis title: Monitoring of cefotaxime-resistant bacteria in urban wastewater, May 2019.
Morpho Kodjiamani
GAIA Laboratory
Thesis title: Removal of humic and fulvic acids during the application of light-driven oxidation processes, May 2016.
Andreas Parpounas
GAIA Laboratory
Thesis title: Development of an analytical method for the assessment of the presence of veterinary antibiotics in environmental matrices, December 2015.
Raphaella Andreou
GAIA Laboratory
Thesis title: Abatement of parabens in secondary treated wastewater by ozonation and UV-activated persulfate oxidation, May 2015.
Maria Tarapoulouzi
GAIA Laboratory
Thesis title: Advanced bioassays for evaluating the effects of pharmaceuticals to organisms and humans, December 2014.
Constantia Anastasiadou
GAIA Laboratory
Thesis title: Optimizing the solar photocatalytic treatment of parabens in municipal wastewater effluents: Evaluation of operational and kinetic parameters, May 2014.
Angeliki Panayi
GAIA Laboratory
Thesis title: Purification of olive mill wastewater by coagulation and solar Fenton oxidation at a pilot-scale, December 2014.
Konstantinos Yiannapas
GAIA Laboratory
Thesis title: Optimising olive oil wastewater treatment by coagulation-flocculation and solar Fenton oxidation, September 2013.
Petros Koutsoftas
GAIA Laboratory
Thesis title: Removal of x-ray contrast media by Moving Bed Bio-Reactor, November 2013.
Ioulia Fotiou
GAIA Laboratory
Thesis title: Sonolysis and sonophotocatalysis for the treatment of wastewater laden with pharmaceutical compounds, May 2013.
Elena Eliadou
GAIA Laboratory
Thesis title: Heavy metals uptake by soil and crops in areas of intense wastewater reuse irrigation, May 2013.
Graduated M.Eng. students
Andria Siammouti
GAIA laboratory
Thesis title: Artificial intelligence in the field of environmental science and engineering, December 2021.
Eleftheria Nikolaou
GAIA laboratory
Thesis title: Determination and monitoring of the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of cefotaxime in E. coli in an MBR-treated wastewater effluent, May 2019.
Antria Evagorou
GAIA laboratory
Thesis title: Microplastics in the marine environment: major sources and already identified effects, May 2018.
Stephanie Hadjiprokopiou
GAIA laboratory
Thesis title: Guidelines on the minimization of the environmental impacts caused by the operation of Environmental Science and Technology Laboratories, May 2017.
Andreas Theofanous
GAIA laboratory
Thesis title: Water and wastewater management – A glossary, May 2017.
Panayiota Photiou
GAIA laboratory
Thesis title: Insights into Solid Phase Extraction methods for optimum recovery of pharmaceutical compounds from complex environmental matrices, December 2016.
Panayiotis Panayiotou
GAIA laboratory
Thesis title: Adsorption behavior of fluoroquinolone antibiotics in soils, May 2015.
Maria Iacovou
GAIA laboratory
Thesis title: Removal of clarythromycin from sewage and investigation of the parameters affecting the formation of bromate ions during ozonation, May 2015.
Panayiotis Kitrou
GAIA laboratory
Thesis title: Occurrence and fate of antibiotics in the terrestrial environment, December 2014.
Maria Parpi
GAIA laboratory
Thesis title: An environmental and socioeconomic approach of olive mill wastewater management – Current status in some Mediterranean countries, December 2014.
Stella Christodoulou
GAIA laboratory
Thesis title: A comparative study of the effects of chloride, sulfate and carbonate ions on the rates of decomposition of ethyl paraben by solar photo-Fenton, December 2014.
Eleni Constantinou
GAIA laboratory
Thesis title: Assessing the biological potency of urban wastewater, June 2014.
Michaela Michael
GAIA laboratory
Thesis title: Development of public communication material using as examples winery wastewater management and the assessment of effects of pharmaceutical residues in the environment, May 2013.
V. Sophokleous
GAIA laboratory
Thesis title: Evaluation of the potential biological effects of mixtures of pharmaceuticals in aqueous matrices, April 2011.
Demetres Karalagas
GAIA laboratory
Thesis title: Systems and methods for the treatment of olive oil wastewaters, April 2011.