Marlen is an environmental toxicologist particularly interested in assessing effects of contaminants of emerging concern at the ecosystem level. Her research focuses on investigating effects of multi-stressors and developing and applying sensitive molecular methods to monitor the ecosystem and human health. She is also very interested in science communication and environmental education and engagement.

From 2016, she leads the Oikotoxicologia Research Group and is a Special Teaching Staff in the Department of Environmental Science and Technology of the Cyprus University of Technology from 2012. She has a B.Sc. in Biology from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (2002) and an M.Sc. in Environment and Development from the National Technical University of Athens (2006). She received her Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Cyprus (2013).

She is a vice-Chair of the COST Action Ocean4Biotech CA18238, belongs to the core group of COST Action DNAqua-Net CA15219 and co-lead the Blue Circle Society of the NEREUS COST Action ES1403, the network of the Early Career Investigators. She is in the Organizing Committee of the Mediterranean Science Festival, the biggest event for science communication in Cyprus, in which she acts as a Curator in Environmental Science and as the Café-Scientifique Leader. She serves as a mentor in various school projects such as School Lab, MERA, Cyprus Contest for Young Scientists and Stockholm Junior Water Prize. She is currently coordinator of a bi-communal project dealing with developing early warning systems to ensure improved public health funded by the UNDP (ID-VEC) and is PI in a Eurostars project for the transfer to the market of a dna-based method for the bioassessment of diatoms.

Eleni is a Marine Biologist interested in the well-being of aquatic environments. She is interested in investigating the effects of anthropogenic stressors on microorganisms and their communities with the aim of improving the current practices, for a more sustainable future. Through her research experience she has worked extensively with microorganism like phytoplankton, zooplankton and meiofauna. Eleni gained a BSc in Marine Biology and a BA in Art at the University of California, Santa Cruz and completed her PhD at the University of Glasgow investigating the effects of microplastics and light pollution on the phytoplankton consumption by mussels. Currently, she is working as a postdoctoral researcher at Oikotoxicologia with her responsibilities including data collection, analysis, and manuscript preparation as well as science illustration and laboratory administration.

Panayiota is a Microbiologist. She holds a BSc in Microbiology from the University of Bristol (2010-2013), an MRes in Biomedical Research (Microbial Pathogenesis) from Imperial College London (2013-2014) and a PhD degree in Molecular Microbiology also from Imperial College London (2014-2018). Throughout her academic years in research, Panayiota gained extensive knowledge in molecular microbiology, diagnostic microbiology and bacterial pathogenesis. From 2018 to date, she is a Post-Doc fellow at the Oikotoxicology Lab. Her research focuses on microbial diversity of water in both an environmental and a water distribution system setting. Currently, she is studying the diatom diversity in rivers using metabarcoding and implementation of this technique for the ecological assessment of Cyprus’ rivers. She is also responsible for the co-supervision of B.Sc. projects. In addition, she assists on the project AIGIS by preparing deliverables regarding the assessment of the risk of mosquito-borne disease re-emergence in Cyprus.

Gregoris is a Biologist and his research interest focuses on investigating mosquito diversity and distribution in Cyprus and mosquito-borne disease surveillance. He holds an Integrated Master’s degree in Biological Applications and Technologies from the University of Ioannina, where he completed the specialization module in Environmental Biology and Technology. As a postgraduate researcher, he has previously collaborated with the Environmental Engineering Laboratory of the Cyprus University of Technology, for efficient wastewater treatment via anaerobic digestion. From 2020 to date, he has been a member of the Oikotoxicologia Research Group.

Christiana graduated from the Department of Marine Sciences of Aegean University in 2007 and continued her studies at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA), acquiring a Master’s degree of Oceanography. She focused in the field of ecotoxicology and conducted various series of laboratory experiments as part of my dissertation. The academic years 2008 and 2009 she was appointed ichthyology’s lab assistant at the Zoology and Marine Biology Department of NKUA. In 2013 she participated in the Cyprus’ Human Resource Department Authority program to attain working experience, specifically at the Department of Environment of Cyprus. After the completion of the program she worked at Birdlife Cyprus (NGO) as Research Assistant for one year. Since 2019, she has been collaborating with the Department of Fisheries and Research Department (DFMR), assisting in the execution of organizational and financial aspects of the European Program «Collective Actions for Improving the Conservation Status of the EU Sea Turtle Populations» “LIFE EUROTURTLES” (LIFE15 NAT/HR/000997).

Athina holds a Biology Degree and a MSc Degree in Water and Environmental Management. She is experienced in the monitoring and assessment of aquatic ecosystems, with the use of bio-indicators. She has also worked in monitoring and mapping of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and has significant field work experience. Athina has worked in a number of research projects related to the ecology and the environment from the macro- to the micro-scale. She has developed and taught various environmental education materials. Athina is an external associate of the Ecotoxicologia Research Group since 2019.

Toumazis holds a B.Sc. in Geology, from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He has an expertise in GIS through his work at Egnatia Odos AE (2005-2006), Atlantis Consulting Ltd (2009-2012), Northern Lion Gold (2009-2012) and as a Lecturer at the University of Hertfordshire, Intercollege and the University of Nicosia (2011-2018). He is supporting the Oikotoxicologia Research Group as a non-paid research assistant.

Katerina has a B.Sc. in Biology from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (2002-2006). During 2007-2008 she did a Master of Research Degree in Medical and Molecular Bioscience in the Institute of Human Genetics, North East England Stem Cell Institute of the University of Newcastle, UK. She then pursued a PhD at the University of Cyprus in the field of Molecular Biology (2009-2015). She has extensive expertise in molecular methods including qPCR and Fluorescence Activated Cell Sorting. From 2017 to date, she is a Post-Doc fellow at the Oikotoxicology Lab. During this period, she has gained expertise in performing metabarcoding and metagenomics projects. She has been trained in leading institutes such as the Naturalis Biodiversity Centre (1 month) and through specialized training schools of the COST Action DNAqua-Net in molecular techniques to assess biological communities.
She has the responsibility of the co-supervision of B.Sc. projects. In addition, she assists on the project AIGIS by preparing deliverables and having close collaboration with policy makers and governmental offices.

George is an agronomist (B.Sc.), graduated from the Faculty of Agriculture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He holds a Ph.D. in Ecology and Biodiversity from University of Cyprus, from the Department of Biological Sciences. His main research interests include the biological control of agricultural pests, the insecticide resistance development of insects and the surveillance of invasive mosquitoes in Cyprus.

Maria has a B.Sc. in Biology from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece focusing on environmental biology and ecology, studying zoology, marine biology, river and lake ecosystems and a M.Sc. in Oceanography and Management of the Marine Environment from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece. She is particularly interested in biological oceanography and ichthyology. From 2016-2017 she was employed by CP Foodlab Ltd, Nicosia, Cyprus where she was performing microbiological analyses on water, food and environmental samples. At the present, Ms Christodoulou has administrative and organisational roles stemming from her part-time participation in the project AIGIS INTERREG Greece-Cyprus. She is responsible for disseminating results to key players like policy makers and governmental organisations as well as communicating to the general public using online means and social media.

Thessalia’s project looks at probability of introduction/re-introduction and dissemination of diseases that can be transmitted from mosquito invasive species. Using various traps, genetic data from mosquitoes were collected. The specimens were subjected to morphological identification using a stereoscope and molecular identification via DNA Barcoding methodologies. This approach allows a more detailed and robust assessment of the type of vectors and the risk of disease dissemination by invasive species resulting in the creation of risk maps. This project was conducted in collaboration with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), with the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Limassol Municipality.

Stavro’s first degree is in Surveying Engineering and Geoinformatics Engineering from the Cyprus University of Technology. His is currently undertaking his master’s degree “Geoinformatics and Geospatial Technologies” at the Cyprus University of Technology. He was employed as a scientific collaborator under the project AIGIS funded by the Interreg VA Greece – Cyprus Program “2014-2020”.

Stylianos is currently a PhD Candidate in the field of “Geostatistics and Spatial Analysis in Engineering and Geosciences” in the Department of Civil Engineering and Geomatics of Cyprus University of Technology (CUT), working under the supervision of Prof. Phaedon Kyriakidis. He is holding a BEng from the Department of Planning and Regional Development of University of Thessaly (2015), as well as a MSc in “Spatial Analysis and Environmental Management” from the same Department, with honours. Through his PhD studies he seeks out knowledge enhancement in the relevant fields as well as to acquire new abilities through innovative research. His main research interests include Geoinformatics, Spatial Analysis and Remote Sensing as well as their applications in geospatial sciences using mostly open-source geospatial software. Stylianos is a member of Geospatial Analytics Research Lab of the Department of Civil Engineering and Geomatics at CUT, being involved in projects relevant to the fields of geostatistics and spatial analysis. He has also teaching experience in GIS-related undergraduate courses as a teaching assistant and he has worked in the private sector for 2 years as a town planner and GIS Specialist. He was employed as a scientific collaborator under the project AIGIS funded by the Interreg VA Greece – Cyprus Program “2014-2020”.

Giannis graduated from Swansea University with a bachelor degree on Biological Sciences and followed it up with a Postgraduate Certificate from Harper Adams University on Entomology. He worked for 6 months in Vietnam’s jungle Nam Cat Tien sampling specimens for his masters dissertation and mapping the jungle for an upcoming book.

He is assisting on current projects with fieldwork and morphological identifications of insects and he is currently working to attain his Masters degree on entomology and then perhaps achieving a PhD in a tropical jungle!

Ioanna holds a B.Sc. in Agricultural Sciences, Biotechnology and Food Science from the Cyprus University of Technology (2010-2015). In 2014 she won the first prize during the National competition organised by the Research Promotion Foundation Cyprus, for her thesis on the study of arthropod biodiversity in tomato agricultural crops.

During 2017-2019 Ioanna studied for a Master’s Degree in Ecology and Conservation of Biodiversity from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, in Greece. From 2018 to date, she has been working at the Laboratory of Vector Ecology and Applied Entomology, Joint Services Health Unit, British Forces Cyprus where she also undertook her MSc thesis on working on a pollinators and citizen science programme for Cyprus. She co-founded a citizen science programme, called ”Mosquitoes Without Borders – Going Island wide in Cyprus”, that started in 2018 and aims at monitoring of non-native mosquito species in Cyprus with the help of citizen-scientists. She was a co-organiser of the first European training school of COST Action CA17108 Harmonising Aedes Invasive Mosquitoes (AIM) surveillance across Europe that took place in Akrotiri, Cyprus (2019), and she was member of the local organising committee for COST Action CA17122 Alien CSI in Akrotiri Education and Environment Centre, Cyprus (2019).

Her main interests cover insects of public health importance and citizen science, plant‐pollinator interactions, ecosystem services and invasive species.