Demetra Sfendoni-Mentzou
Member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Founder and President of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Aristotle Studies, A.U.Th., Professor Emerita of Philosophy of Science, A.U.Th.
Demetra Sfendoni-Mentzou is a Member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Founder and President of the Interdisciplinary Center for Aristotle Studies, A.U.Th., Professor Emerita of Philosophy of Science, A.U.Th., Fellow of the Charles S. Peirce Society. Her awards/distinctions include: British Council Scholarship for post-graduate studies, Oxford University (1977-78); Visiting Research Scholarship of the British Council (1986), Oxford University; Fulbright Senior Visiting Scholarship, Harvard University (1991); she was also one of the ten Greek nominees for the “Woman of Europe” award (1987) sponsored by the Council of Europe. She has taught for five decades at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and for a short period at York University, Toronto, Canada.
She has also lectured at numerous Universities across Europe, the USA and Canada, and participated in International Conferences and Congresses in Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, South Korea, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain and the USA. Her research and teaching during the last three decades focus on an interdisciplinary approach to Aristotle's work and on the importance of his thought for contemporary science. Recently, her research expands to an exploration of how Aristotle’s insights in ethics, politics and paideia can help us address contemporary challenges. Among her publications are: Aristotle–Contemporary Perspectives on his thought (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2018), Aristotle and Contemporary Science, Vols I. & II. (Peter Lang 2000 & 2001).
Demetra Sfendoni-Mentzou has organized numerous International Conferences, Symposia, Colloquia, Round Tables. Most notably, she was President of the World Congress “Aristotle 2400 Years,” under the auspices of the President of the Hellenic Republic (May 2016), and vice-President of the 23rd World Congress of Philosophy, (Athens, August 2013). As President of the Charles S. Peirce Society she chaired the Charles S. Peirce International Centennial Congress, 2014, Lowell, Massachusetts; more recently she co-organized with the Academy of Athens, the UN SDSN and the China Confucius Foundation, the “Aristotle-Confucius Symposium on Ethics for the 21st Century,” in Greece (July 2023) and in China (July 2024). Recently, she has established a collaboration program with the China Confucius Foundation and has started preparations for the “World Congress Aristotle and Theophrastus” to be held on the Island of Lesvos (May 2027).