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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  Valeria Costantino Rector’s Delegate for ERASMUS, Universita Federico II di Napoli
  

  Valeria Costantino

  Rector’s Delegate for ERASMUS, Universita Federico II di Napoli

  Valeria Costantino is a full professor in organic chemistry and leads the BlueChemistryLab group, which focuses on natural products, drug discovery from microorganisms, and the impact of climate change on cyanobacterial blooms. She has published 119 papers, written numerous reviews, and oversees the Summer School on Natural Products, a key program of the Italian Chemical Society. As Vice-rector for Erasmus Programs and Vice-president of the European University Foundation, she enhances mobility experiences. She is the principal investigator of a MUR-funded transnational program, coordinating a consortium of 34 universities focused on supporting internationalization and strengthening links among the partners through a program of innovative mixed classes (digital and in-person), workshops, mobility of students, teaching, and non-teaching staff.
  Research activity and interest: Dr. Costantino’s research group (TheBlueChemistryLab) focuses on exploring the unique biodiversity of natural products from marine sponges and cyanobacteria as lead compounds for pharmacological applications. More recently, the group has applied the chemical knowledge to explore the great biodiversity of cyanobacteria using the OSMAC approach to culture them. Moreover, the group is involved in monitoring cyanoblooms along the Italian coasts and in inland waters within the framework of the PNRR_National Biodiversity Future Center (NBFC–The Italian approach: The National Biodiversity Future Center (NBFC).

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  Nikolaos Papaioannou Deputy Minister of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports
  

  Nikolaos Papaioannou

  Deputy Minister of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports

  Nikolaos G. Papaioannou studied at the School of Veterinary Medicine of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

  He then began working on his doctoral dissertation, which he defended in 1991. In 1995, he was elected Lecturer at the Laboratory of Pathological Anatomy in the Department of Veterinary Medicine. In 2012, he was elected Full Professor. From 2013 until he assumed the duties of General Secretary for Higher Education, he served as Director of the Laboratory of Pathology.

  He served as President of the Department of Veterinary Medicine and Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki from 2017 to 2019. On June 11, 2019, he was elected Rector of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, assuming office on September 1 of the same year.

  He has been trained in the laboratories of Pathological Anatomy at the veterinary schools of Zurich, Utrecht, and Wisconsin in the United States of America. His teaching work is related to the field of pathology, while his scientific and research work focuses on the study of the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases as well as the diagnosis of neoplastic conditions. Mr. Papaioannou has coordinated numerous Greek and international competitive research projects and has published a large number of scientific articles in distinguished international journals. He has supervised seven (7) doctoral dissertations, served as a member of three-member advisory committees for eighteen (18) theses, and participated as a member of seven-member examination committees for thirty-seven (37) doctoral dissertations, both in Greece and abroad.

  In May 2023, he accepted the Prime Minister’s proposal to be included on the State ballot of New Democracy for the 2023 national elections.

  From July 29, 2024, to March 14, 2025, he served as General Secretary for Higher Education at the Ministry of Education, Religious Affairs, and Sports.

  On March 15, 2025, he was sworn in as Deputy Minister of Education, Religious Affairs, and Sports, responsible for Higher Education.

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  Jean Marc Planeix Vice-President, International Partnerships & EPICUR Strategic coordinator, University of Strasbourg
  

  Jean Marc Planeix

  Vice-President, International Partnerships & EPICUR Strategic coordinator, University of Strasbourg

  Jean-Marc Planeix has been Professor of Chemistry at the University of Strasbourg since 2002. A former student at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Fontenay-Saint Cloud, he was graduated of Master in Physical Sciences and in Organic Chemistry from Paris Saclay and laureate of “Agrégation in Chemistry”. He was PhD graduated from the University of Montpellier.
  He began his career as teacher at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie in Montpellier before moving to the Université Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg in 1994, where he became Maître de Conférence.

  He has taught organic, inorganic and coordination chemistry, supramolecular and materials chemistry at undergraduate and postgraduate level. He has been responsible for a number of programs of Bachelors and Masters.

  His research is in the field of supramolecular chemistry and molecular materials. He is currently director of the Molecular Tectonics laboratory within the UMR 7140 Complex Matter Chemistry research unit and is interested in porous molecular materials that can be used for pollution control and CO2 or lithium sequestration.

  He has acted as a consultant for scientific programmes, research laboratories, universities and R&D or technology transfer structures in the main national bodies: the National University Council, the CNRS National Committee, the National Research Agency and the National Agency for the Evaluation of Research and Higher Education.

  He has held a number of collective responsibilities: Deputy Director in charge of secondary education at the IUFM d’Alsace, Dean of the Faculty of Chemistry of Strasbourg University, President of the French Association of Deans of Science Faculties (CDUS).
  He was Vice-President in charge of academic partnerships and governance from 2021 to 2025 and now Vice-President in charge of international partnerships for the 2025-2029 mandate. Since 2020, he manage as “strategic coordinator” the European University “EPICUR”.

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  Maria Michalopoulou Professor in the Department of Physical Education and Sport Science & Member of the Governing Council of the Democritus University of Thrace
  

  Maria Michalopoulou

  Professor in the Department of Physical Education and Sport Science & Member of the Governing Council of the Democritus University of Thrace

  Maria Michalopoulou is a professor in the Department of Physical Education and Sport Science of Democritus University of Thrace and works on the field of motor learning and skill acquisition. Her published work reaches more than 40 publications in peer reviewed journals H 18 (Scopus), and has published short papers in > 100 congress proceedings and made > 200 presentations in international congresses. Her research interests include skill learning assessment of physical activity and physical activity interventions in young and older adults. The studies performed deal with recoding learning adaptations resulting from different methods of practice, adaptations in muscular performance related to learning, different protocols of training resulting in increased functional capacity and quality of life for older adults and use of accelerometres to assess sedentary behavior and physical activity and the respective health effects in young children and older adults. She is the Coordinator of the European Digital Innovation Hub for the Green and Digital Transformation of the Agricultural Sector of Greece and the Coordinator of the EIT FOOD Hub for Greece . She currently is the lead and coordinator of several of the University’s initiatives for innovation and entrepreneurship. She has served as a member of the Scientific Committees of numerous international Scientific Congresses in Greece and abroad. Serves as member of the Governing Borad of DUTH and she has served as Vice Rector of Research and Life long Learning, Dean of School of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, Head of Dept of PESS, and Head of Dept. of Civil Engineering. She is member of the Board of the National Antidoping Association and she is the Vice president of Study in Greece, an NGO that Greek Universities have formed to support the Internationalization of the Higher Education in Greece.

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  Peter Petkoff Associate Professor, Tutorial Law Fellow and Director of the Centre for Law and Religion, a research centre based at Regent's Park College, Oxford, and Managing Editor of the Oxford Journal of Law and Religion
  

  Peter Petkoff

  Associate Professor, Tutorial Law Fellow and Director of the Centre for Law and Religion, a research centre based at Regent's Park College, Oxford, and Managing Editor of the Oxford Journal of Law and Religion

  Peter Petkoff is Associate Professor, Tutorial Law Fellow and Director of the Centre for Law and Religion, a research centre based at Regent’s Park College, Oxford, and Managing Editor of the Oxford Journal of Law and Religion. He is Legal Consultant on Media Freedom and Freedom of Expression for the Representative on Freedom of the Media at the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Peter is involved in cutting edge research on the relationship between religion and politics and law and religion. In his capacity as Director of the Centre for Law and Religion at Regent’s Park College he brings together lawyers, policy makers, theologians, philosophers, social and political scientists and aims to develop innovative interdisciplinary strategies for studying law, religion and international relations from legal and theological perspectives.

  He is currently writing a book for Oxford University Press on Holy Sites under International Law.

  Through his work, he engages with academics, policy makers, lawyers, religious leaders and think tanks working in the field of religion and public life. In addition his work has impact on policy makers and on the ways religious communities articulate their public self-perception and their attitude to law, civic values, secularism and to their own internal normative systems. He belongs to several international research networks which study the broader questions of law and religion and religion and politics. He has extensive contacts with human rights lawyers as well as with Jewish, Islamic and Christian lawyers working in this area.

  Peter Petkoff has joined Oxford from Brunel University London where as a Reader at the School of Law he was involved in developing an innovative programme in Intellectual Property Practice and Management for aspiring Patent and Trade Mark attorneys and modules on Philosophical Foundations of Intellectual Property, Comparative and European Media Law and Regulation and International Cultural Heritage Law.