Aglaia Chatzouli (Chatjouli) is Assistant Professor (Tenure) at the Department of Social Anthropology and History of the University of the Aegean. Her academic field of specialty is Anthropology of Health. She has a cross-disciplinary background having studied molecular cell biology at King’s College London (B.Sc. 1996), human biology at the University of Oxford (M.Sc. 1997), while holding a Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from the University of the Aegean (2009). Her primary research and theoretical interests involve around a biosocial analytic, the relationship between biology and anthropology, nature and culture, the constructions of the biological and the social, the normative power of (bio)difference, the politics of health, the complex relationship between the environment and wellbeing. Her research falls in the realms of anthropology of health and care, anthropology of the body, anthropology of ageing, anthropology of technology, anthropology of the environment, and Greek ethnography. She has undertaken extensive research in reproduction, parenthood, ageing, genetic disease, and patienthood, looking also into vulnerability, stigmatization and gender specificities. During the period 2021-2023, she was Principal Investigator for the research project The biosocial experience of aging during the Covid-19 pandemic. BIO-AGE, funded by the Hellenic Foundation of Research and Innovation. During the period 2013-2015 she held a postdoc position at the university of the Aegean, carrying out ethnographic research on infertility and new reproductive technologies in Greece alongside the project (In)FERCIT, (In)Fertile Citizens: On the Concepts, Practices, Politics and Technologies of Assisted Reproduction in Greece, co-funded by the European Union and Greek national funds. During the periods 1997-1998 and 1998-2002, she held research positions at the Hellenic Research Foundation and participated in the European research projects: Biotechnology and the European Public and European Debates in Biotechnology & Life Sciences in European Society. During an internship at the Department of Reproductive Health and Research of the WHO in Geneva, in 2010, she carried out desk research on the topic of Infertility and Stigma in Indigenous Populations. During 2011-2012, she participated in the Project Cross-cultural mediation in selected hospitals in Athens and Thessalonica, funded by the European Fund for the Inclusion of Third-country Nationals. Currently, she is Visiting Scholar at Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH), Cambridge University for the 2026 Summer term. She has published her work in both Greek and English, and has presented her work at numerous national and international conferences. Selected publications: Chatjouli, A., Tigkas P., 2024, Ageing, Technology and care during the Covid-19 pandemic in Greece”; THEANTHRO.ART - https://theanthro.art/ageing-in-the-anthropocene/ Chatjouli, A., 2023 (edit.). 

As a 2026-2027 Fulbright Scholar, Aglaia Chatzouli will be hosted at the Program in Hellenic Studies at Columbia University. Her project is titled: Aging as a Biosocial Process. Aging in Greece and beyond. Vulnerabilities and Care. Bringing elderly life stories to the forefront of cross-disciplinary discussions on aging. Bridging disciplines, enhancing dialogue, forming connections.

Aglaia (Aigli) Vakrakou, M.D., Ph.D., is a neurologist and postdoctoral researcher at the First Department of Neurology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Aiginiteio Hospital, where she conducts clinical and translational research in neuroimmunology, multiple sclerosis, autoimmune neurological diseases, and autoimmune encephalitis. Her work focuses on immune and myeloid cell biology, biomarkers of neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration, and the development of precision approaches for immune-mediated neurological disorders. Dr. Vakrakou has authored more than 30 peer-reviewed publications in leading journals including Brain, Frontiers in Immunology, Neuroradiology, and the Journal of Autoimmunity. She has received several competitive distinctions, including the European Academy of Neurology (EAN) Research Fellowship and a Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation (H.F.R.I.) grant as Principal Investigator for the project MitoS: Modeling Monocyte-to-Microglial Transition to Unravel Multiple Sclerosis Subtype Heterogeneity.

As a 2026 Fulbright Visiting Scholar, she will be hosted at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) under the mentorship of Professor Noah Zaitlen. Her project, Cell-Free DNA and Methylation Signatures in Autoimmune Encephalitis and Neuroinflammatory Disorders, aims to develop novel liquid-biopsy biomarkers using cell-free DNA and methylation profiling to improve the diagnosis, monitoring, and biological characterization of immune-mediated neurological diseases. 

Dr. Sideri is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the Department of Political Science and History, Panteion University in Athens, Greece, and a founding member of TECHNIS, an interdisciplinary innovation and intellectual property platform that organizes online research seminars open to the public since 2014. Previously, she was a Marie Curie Individual Fellow based at the Bioethics Institute Gent, in Belgium, Associate Research Fellow at the University of Oxford, Centre for SocioLegal Studies and Lecturer at the University of Exeter. Dr. Sideri’s research interests focus on legal, policy and bioethical dimensions of personalized medicine, AI in health, data governance, and the ethics of innovation, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. She has published in journals such as Nature Biotech, Big Data and Society, Social Studies of Science, Journal of Responsible Innovation, Health Policy, Science and Public Policy, Journal of Law and the Biosciences, Journal of Technology Transfer. Her more recent monograph is Patents as Discourse on Life: Bioproperty, Biomedicine and Deliberative Governance (Routledge; 2014). She is now working on a new monograph with the title Innovation for Whose Good? The politics of AI powered health technologies.

In 2026-27 she will be a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at the University of Michigan and Arizona State University to work on a project with the title The Politics of Synthetic Data: Regulatory Science and standardization at the FDA. The research wants to inquire into the politics of standardizing computational evidence (synthetic data) by the FDA. Who participates and who is left out in these processes of standardization? Why? What are the subjective choices made in the process of building a standard of credibility? Will the FDA be transformed along the process of making a standard?

Terry Vakirtzoglou is a jazz vocalist, educator, and gospel choir director from Greece, currently teaching at the Philippos Nakas Conservatory in Athens and at the Professional Program of MMS Aschaffenburg in Germany. Her artistic and educational work focuses on vocal performance, improvisation, choral leadership, and the cross-cultural teaching of African American musical traditions.

As a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at Berklee College of Music’s Department of Africana Studies, she will engage in an intensive program of study, observation, artistic participation, and mentorship focused on gospel and spiritual music. Through coursework, rehearsals, performances, and collaboration with faculty and students, she will explore choral direction, vocal harmonies, rehearsal methodologies, and the historical and cultural foundations of African American sacred music. Her goal is to deepen her understanding of gospel as both a musical and cultural practice and to develop pedagogical tools that will strengthen her teaching and conducting work in Europe. Equally important, she hopes to contribute her experience directing gospel ensembles in Greece and teaching in international settings, fostering meaningful intercultural exchange. Upon her return, she will share the knowledge, repertoire, and professional connections gained through this residency with her students, colleagues, and the broader musical community, further strengthening the dialogue between the African American roots of gospel music and its growing presence in Europe.

Anastasia Gioti is a Research Fellow in Microbial Bioinformatics specialized in Fungi. Initially trained in Biology (NKUA, Greece), she obtained a Master’s and a PhD in Genomics (University Paris-XI, France) and switched into Bioinformatics following a specialized course (Institut Pasteur Paris, France). With more than 20 years professional experience in France, UK, Sweden, USA, and Greece, Anastasia has secured independent funding for many of her projects (from Swedish, Greek and French Research Agencies and Ministries), has taught Biology, Statistics and Bioinformatics at the BSc. and MSc. level (Assistant Professor, American Farm School, Thessaloniki), and has been actively accompanying students in their first research steps in Bioinformatics.

Anastasia’s latest research revolves around the themes of climate change and biodiversity. She works on two complementary directions:
1) Raising awareness on biodiversity loss, through policy briefs (Horizon project Biotrails, Harokopeio University Athens), and citizen science events (Erasmus+ projects, Ecomuseum Zagori Greece).
2) Enriching scientific evidence on the largely understudied theme of fungal biodiversity and ecosystem services, through data and tool development and through studies of their roles in climate change adaptation (HFRI MACCIMO, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research in Crete).

As a 2026-2027 Fulbright Scholar, Anastasia Gioti will further develop the second direction, by focussing on the contributions of marine Fungi to the biogeochemistry of Oxygen Minimum Zones (OMZs). These oceanic water columns depleted in oxygen govern key steps of the nitrogen and carbon cycles, and are currently expanding with global warming. The Scholarship will allow Anastasia Gioti to visit Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), the largest independent oceanographic research institution in the U.S. At WHOI, Anastasia will analyze a large dataset of 157 OMZ metatranscriptomes generated by global expeditions of the host Research Scientist Maria Pachiadaki, an expert in marine microbial ecology interested in extreme environments. Furthermore, as a guest lecturer at the WHOI-MIT Environmental Bioinformatics MSc. program, Anastasia Gioti will develop educational material on Fungal Bioinformatics to strengthen her teaching experience.

Maria Papadopouli (Ph.D., Columbia University, 2002) is a Professor of Computer Science at the University of Crete, a Research Associate at the Institute of Computer Science, FORTH, a Lead Researcher at the Archimedes Research Unit, Athena Research Center, and a Fulbright Scholar. She has been an MSCA Fellow at the Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School (2022-2025), a Fulbright Scholar at the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), MIT (2017), and a visiting Professor at the School of Electrical Engineering, KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. From July 2002 until June 2006, she was a tenure-track Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), on leave from July 2004 until June 2006. She is interested in understanding the underlying dynamics of various complex real-world networks, from the Internet to the brain. Her research has been supported by several awards (e.g., IBM Faculty Awards, Google Faculty Award) and national, EU, and international grants. Her long-term objective is to establish a multi-disciplinary research hub at the intersection of neuroscience and artificial intelligence (neuro-AI) in Greece. She is a co-founder of the Greeks in AI grassroots initiative that aims to connect Greek AI researchers globally.

In the context of her Fulbright 2026-2027 scholarship, she will study the neuronal ensemble organization and plasticity in the context of experience-dependent sequential learning in the visual cortex and examine implications for continual learning in artificial neural networks.

Dr. Pitsikalis is a Lecturer at the Department of Preschool Education Sciences and Educational Design of the University of the Aegean, Greece, where he teaches and conducts research on educational innovation, artificial intelligence, extended reality (XR), instructional design, and lifelong learning. Alongside his academic work, he has extensive experience in educational policy, curriculum development, and skills governance. Before joining the University of the Aegean, he served in key positions within the Greek Ministry of Education and the Institute of Educational Policy (IEP), contributing to national initiatives related to vocational education and training, lifelong learning, apprenticeships, digital transformation, and quality assurance in education. These experiences provided him with a unique perspective on the intersection of educational research, policy, and practice.

As a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at the University of Illinois, he will investigate how Artificial Intelligence and Extended Reality (AI-XR) can be integrated to support adaptive, immersive, and inclusive learning experiences in higher education, vocational education, and adult learning. His goal is to develop evidence-based educational frameworks that connect technological innovation with pedagogical effectiveness and workforce readiness. Through this opportunity, he looks forward to collaborating with leading scholars, exchanging international perspectives on educational innovation and policy, and strengthening long-term partnerships between Greece and the United States.

Zoe Hatziyannaki is a visual artist based in Athens working across photography, digital media and installations. She holds a Ph.D. and M.A. from Goldsmiths College, University of London supported by the Greek State Scholarships Foundation. She had completed a B.A. at Kent Institute of Art & Design, University of Kent, UK. She is teaching the Digital Image course in the Visual Arts department of Deree, the American College of Greece.   She is an Onassis AiR fellow and the recipient of a Jerwood Photography Award, a NEON grant for solo exhibition, and of artistic research fund from the Greek Ministry of Culture. She has participated in the EMST mentorship program and in IdeasCity Athens, organized by New Museum/NEON. Zoe has been a member of the Depression Era collective and has co-founded and co-directed A-DASH, a non-profit organization and artist-run space in Athens. Her work has been exhibited in Greece and abroad including: The Living Art Museum in Reykhavik, State of Concept Athens, Slought in Philadelphia US, Unseen Festival in Amsterdam, Antikenmuseum Basel, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo in Turin, The Showroom Gallery in London, Benaki Museum in Athens, Ileana Tounta Centre of Contemporary Art in Athens.  

As a 2026-2027 Fulbright Scholar (Arts Professional), Zoe will be hosted at the Department of Art Practice, University of California, Berkeley. She will be working on her research project The Day the Earth Caught Data (Ep. 4), joining Prof. Jill Miller’s studio space. The project examines digital systems, eco-spatial narratives, and socio-technical imaginaries, aligning strongly with the department’s critical environmental approaches, and experimental artistic research. She will be involved in presentations, lectures and exhibitions, engaging with graduate students and faculty whose work intersects with photography, media studies, digital culture, and the politics of image making.