Speakers

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  Nikolaos Maghioros Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs and Development, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  

  Nikolaos Maghioros

  Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs and Development, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

  Professor Nikolaos Maghioros serves as Vice Rector for Academic Affairs and Development at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, where he is responsible for shaping academic strategy, advancing curriculum development, promoting institutional modernisation, and ensuring alignment with European Higher Education policies. As President of the University’s Quality Assurance Unit, he oversees both internal and external evaluation processes, accreditation procedures, and compliance with national and European regulatory frameworks.

  He is Professor of Canon and Ecclesiastical Law at the University’s School of Theology. He studied Theology at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and completed his postgraduate and doctoral studies at the School of Canon Law of the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome, supported by a scholarship from the Catholic Committee for Cultural Collaboration.

  Professor Maghioros has organised and participated in numerous international conferences, research initiatives, and summer schools focusing on Christian dialogue, interreligious communication, religion–state relations, human rights, the interconnection between religion, culture, and sustainable development, and the protection of religious and cultural heritage.

  He has previously served as Head of the School of Theology and as Chairman of the Committee for European Educational Programmes at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Since 2020, he has been Director of the Graduate Programme Religion, Geopolitics and International Security.

  He is a founding member of the International Consortium for Law and Religious Studies and a member of the international expert group “Christian Law Panel of Experts: An Ecumenical Initiative,” the International Association of Canon Law Experts, and the Board of Directors of the Society for the Law of the Eastern Churches.

  Professor Maghioros has represented the Church of Greece at the Council of European Churches as a member of the Working Group on EU legislation and policy. He also served on the Church of Greece Committee for the Study and Monitoring of the Revision of the Framework of Church–State Relations. He is currently a member of the Synodal Committee on Ecclesiastical Education and Training of the Clergy and of the Supervisory Council for Ecclesiastical Education.

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  His All-Holiness Metropolitan Philotheos of Thessaloniki Metropolitan of Thessaloniki
  

  His All-Holiness Metropolitan Philotheos of Thessaloniki

  Metropolitan of Thessaloniki

  His All-Holiness Metropolitan Philotheos of Thessaloniki (secular name: Theocharis) Theocharis, Metropolitan of Thessaloniki, Most Honorable and Exarch of All Thessaly, was born in Chalcis in 1977. He completed his studies at the Higher Ecclesiastical School of Athens and at the Faculty of Theology of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He subsequently pursued postgraduate studies at the Faculty of Theology of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and also holds a diploma qualifying him as a teacher of Byzantine Music.
  He was ordained to the diaconate in 2002 and to the presbyterate in 2005 by his spiritual father, Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Chalcis. He served the Holy Metropolis of Chalcis in various capacities, ultimately holding the office of General Archieratical Commissioner.
  In 2016, he was appointed to the Synodal Services of the Church of Greece. Following successive promotions, he attained the position of Chief Secretary of the Holy Synod. On 11 October 2019, he was elected Auxiliary Bishop to His Beatitude the Archbishop of Athens and All Greece, Ieronymos, by whom he was subsequently ordained to the episcopacy, bearing the titular see of Oreoi.
  He continued to serve as head of the Synodal Services until 9 October 2023, when he was elected Metropolitan of Thessaloniki.

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  Kyriakos Anastasiadis Rector of Aristotle University (AUTH) & Professor of Cardiac Surgery
  

  Kyriakos Anastasiadis

  Rector of Aristotle University (AUTH) & Professor of Cardiac Surgery

  Kyriakos Anastasiadis, Professor of Cardiac Surgery, is the Rector of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki since 2025.
  He obtained his MD from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in 1991 and his doctoral thesis (PhD) in 2004. Since 2011 he serves as Head of Cardiothoracic Department at AHEPA University Hospital in Thessaloniki. In 2017 he was elected Deputy Head and between 2020-2024 he served as Head of the Aristotle University School of Medicine and President of the Biomedical Research and Education Special Unit.
  Kyriakos Anastasiadis is a pioneer and key-opinion-leader in the field of minimal invasive extracorporeal technologies, founder of Minimal Invasive Extracorporeal Technologies International Society (MiECTiS). Moreover, he founded in 2015 the Postgraduate Course on Extracorporeal Technologies at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki School of Medicine, which is the only accredited program in Greece by the respective European Board. He is fellow of the European Board of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery (FETCS), the European Society of Cardiology (FESC), and the American College of Chest Physicians (FCCP). He has been appointed as President of the National Boards of Cardiothoracic Surgery for Northern Greece.
  He has edited 8 books and more than 16 book chapters, while he authored numerous publications which received more than 3,000 citations. He obtained the Best Innovator Award by the Royal Society of Medicine in 2010 and a Honorary Distinction by the Director of Cardiac Centre in Mauritius, Africa after completion of a humanitarian philanthropic mission. He was recognized by the Greek Reporter as one of the Greeks Who Left their Mark in 2018.

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  Sotirios Boukis Professor of Systematic Theology at the Greek Bible College & Senior Pastor of the Greek Evangelical Church of Thessaloniki
  

  Sotirios Boukis

  Professor of Systematic Theology at the Greek Bible College & Senior Pastor of the Greek Evangelical Church of Thessaloniki

  Sotirios Boukis studied at the Greek Bible College and Panteion University. He pursued postgraduate studies at Fuller Theological Seminary in the United States, where he received an M.Div., and at the Faculty of Theology of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, where he received an M.Th. He was awarded a Ph.D. in Theology by the Department of Theology of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, with a dissertation focusing on the use of the patristic tradition by the first Greek Evangelicals.

  He is currently Professor of Systematic Theology at the Greek Bible College and serves as Senior Pastor of the Greek Evangelical Church of Thessaloniki. He also participates actively in the Ecumenical Movement as a member of the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches.

• Mohamed El Zahabi
  Mohamed El Zahabi

  Mohamed El Zahabi (also spelled Alzahabi) is the President of the Religious Committee of the state-sanctioned Mosque of Athens (Votanikos Mosque). Appointed by the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, the Religious Committee manages the administrative and spiritual operations of the official mosque.

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  Stelios Angeloudis Mayor of Thessaloniki
  

  Stelios Angeloudis

  Mayor of Thessaloniki
• Yitzchak Dayan Rabbi of the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki
  Yitzchak Dayan

  Rabbi of the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki