Research Team
Meet the team
BlueEl project is based on a complementary and interdisciplinary group with solid knowledge of the complexity that characterizes seabed fluid flows phenomenon. BluEl group started with 7 senior researchers from University of Patras and INGV (Italy). After the project’s launching, 2 additional senior researchers and 2 young researchers (PhD students) joined the group.
George Papatheodorou
George Papatheodorou is a Professor of “Environmental and Geological Oceanography” in the Geology Department and Dean of School of Natural Sciences of the University of Patras. His research interests cover a wide range of topics: marine geology, seabed fluid flows (gas charged sediments, pockmarks) marine pollution and marine geoarchaeology. He is/was coordinator of many national, international and EU-funded research projects. He has carried out marine oceanographic campaigns in Aegean and Ionian Archipelagos and in the Mediterranean Sea. He has more than one hundred (100) publications in International Refereed Journals with more than 4000 citations (h-index: 28-37).
Maria Geraga
Efthimios Sokos
Dr Efthimios Sokos is Professor of Seismology and Engineering Seismology in the University of Patras. He holds BSc in Geology (1992, Univ. of Patras) and PhD in Seismology (1998, Univ. of Patras). From 2002 to 2005 he was a researcher at the Geodynamical Institute of the National Observatory of Athens. Since September 2005 he is faculty member at the Geology Department of the University of Patras. He is responsible of seismic network operation at the University of Patras, Seismology Laboratory for the last six years. He has more than 60 publications in international peer reviewed journals and he has received more than 1000 citations for his work. He is co-author of ISOLA moment tensor inversion software and his research topics include seismic source studies, seismotectonics and seismic hazard. He is a member of the American Geophysical Union and of the Geological Society of Greece.
Giuseppe Etiope
Giuseppe Etiope, Petroleum Geologist, is Senior Researcher at INGV (Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia), Rome. He works on gas origin, occurrence and migration in the geosphere, with particular reference to methane and other hydrocarbons. His main research is focused on the origin and seepage of hydrocarbons (gas-oil seeps, mud volcanoes, microseepage) with implications on petroleum exploration (assessment of petroleum systems, source rocks, oil biodegradation, secondary alterations, reservoir compartmentalization), environment (groundwater and soil pollution, geo-hazards) and global climate changes (atmospheric greenhouse gas budget). He is member of the International Committee of “International Conference on Gas Geochemistry”. He published 214 articles and a Springer’s book on “Natural Gas Seepage”. H index: 39 (Web of Science); 51 (Google Scholar).
Dimitris Christodoulou
Dimitris Christodoulou is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow, at the Laboratory of Marine Geology and Physical Oceanography (LMGPO), Geology Dpt., University of Patras, Greece. He is a marine geologist with proven multidisciplinary scientific experience. His research interests among others focus in marine geological processes, especially seabed fluid flows, methane fluxes and origin from marine and terrestrial environment, processes and impacts of hypoxic / anoxic environments. He has more than 20 years’ experience in research projects. Practical field (collection of geophysical oceanographical data, water and sediment sampling, tow camera and ROV operations, in-situ gas measurements and sampling) as well as laboratory experience has been obtained during the participation as a researcher in 19 multi-disciplinary EU and international projects and in more than 40 national projects. He has authored 26 articles in SCI journals, 7 in peer reviewed journals, 6 chapter books, 25 in conference proceedings and 54 in conference abstract books. His work has received 806 citation and his h-index is 13 in Scopus and14 google-scholar.
Elias Fakiris
Elias Fakiris is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow, at the Laboratory of Marine Geology and Physical Oceanography (LMGPO), Geology Dpt., University of Patras, Greece. He is a marine geologist with proven multidisciplinary scientific experience in from remote sensing, passive and active acoustics, habitat mapping, marine geophysics, expert data assimilation, machine learning and hydrodynamical modelling. Totaling >800 days of sea-time around the Mediterranean, he has participated in more than 40 marine surveys. He has the proven ability to problem solve, tested with continuous problem-solving exercises given as assessments, which may require mathematical analysis, evaluation and programming of specialized computational tools. His working experience involves multinational environments such as at the Center for Marine Research and Experimentation (CMRE), La Spezia, Italy, while he has been involved in 13 EU research programs. He has authored 27 articles in SCI journals and 39 in conferences. His work has received 551 citation and his h-index is 14 (source: google-schollar, 18 January 2020).
Sotirios Kokkalas
Sotirios Kokkalas is currently an Assoc. Professor of Structural Geology-Neotectonics at the Department of Geology, University of Patras, Greece. For the last 17 years he had lectured and conducted research at the University of Patras, as well as in the Petroleum Institute and Khalifa University (Abu Dhabi-UAE), using quantitative field and/or laboratory data and principles of structural geology to study fundamental problems of faulting, fracturing, and rock deformation at various space-time scales. He has published several articles in international journals and conferences and led several field trips in Greece, Italy, Spain and eastern Arabia on various tectonic settings. His main research interests are in the area of brittle and ductile faulting and fracturing in the upper crust with applications to the oil and gas industry, orogenic evolution of the fold-and-thrust belts, strike-slip tectonics, magmatic intrusions, tectonic geomorphology and earthquake geology-paleoseismology.
Zafeiria Roumelioti
Zafeiria Roumelioti is an Assist. Prof. of Seismology and Geophysics at the Department of Geology of the University of Patras since November 2019. She received her PhD in seismology from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in 2003, where she focused on ground motion simulation techniques, emphasizing on the near-field area of strong earthquake sources. Her research interests are in the areas of engineering seismology, seismic source processes, seismic hazard assessment and real-time seismological applications.
Nikos Georgiou
Nikos Georgiou is a marine geologist-oceanographer currently finishing his Ph.D. which is about paleo sea-level reconstruction during the Quaternary through using marine geophysical data and modeling. Simultaneously, during the last 5 years, he took part in European and National projects as a researcher. In these projects, he was surveying offshore, interpreting data, and writing articles about various scientific fields such as anoxic embayments, marine bio habitat, submerged antiquities, and also paleo sea-level reconstruction. He participated in more than 20 offshore field surveys, completing about 400 days of field experience. He is a co-author in 8 articles published in peer-reviewed journals while cited 62 times.
Georgia Giannaraki
Georgia Giannaraki is a PhD candidate at the University of Patras (UoP), Greece, specializing in the research field of ground motion modelling and seismic hazard evaluation. She holds a M.Sc. in Seismology and a Physics Degree from the University of Athens (NKUA), Greece, with research experience in Technical Seismology and Earthquake Engineering focusing on strong ground motion simulation and seismic risk assessment at urban level. She is currently working as a First Stage Researcher at the Institute of Geodynamics of the National Observatory of Athens (NOA) under Research and Innovation Action, Horizon 2020, project towards more earthquake-resilient urban societies through Earthquake Forecasting, Early Warning and Rapid Response actions. She has taken part in several European projects and projects of national contribution of the NOA as a Research Assistant with respect to geophysical and remote sensing applications for natural hazards reduction and infrastructure upgrade for seismic protection. She has been a Scientific Collaborator at the Seismological Laboratories of the NKUA and UoP for data analysis and processing by the use of specialized software and geo-informatics and she has further experience in Science Education.
Maria Papakonstantinou
Maria Papakonstantinou holds a MSc in Oceanography – Exploration mapping and management of the marine environment, a MSc in Ecology, Protection and Management of Natural Environment from the University of Patras, Greece, and a BSc in Environmental and Natural Resources Management from the University of Ioannina, Greece. Currently, she is doing research on heavy metal surficial distribution, sources and contamination assessment in polluted sediments in transitional waters. Her research interests also include marine habitat mapping, by using remote sensing techniques. Additionally, the last 6 years is a member of the Laboratory of Marine Geology and Physical Oceanography (LMGPO) in the Geology Department of University of Patras, participating in several International, European and national projects, as an administrative and financial assistant.