Staff of the Ionios School IB Diploma Programme

Dr. Meletis Meletopoulos, Head of Lykeion
Meletis Meletopoulos graduated from Athens College in 1981 and obtained a Bachelor in Political Science in 1986 from the University of Geneva as well as his PhD in Economic and Social Sciences in 1993. In 2003 he completed a second PhD in History in the University of Athens. He has a rich background in teaching Politics, History and Economics in higher education institutions, including the University of Geneva and the University of Crete, the Greek National School of Public Administration, Police Academy and Air Force War School. He started his teaching career in 1990 at Ionios School and has taught in Athens College, Ellinogermaniki Agogi, Doukas, and Moraitis schools since then. He has been the Head of Ionios School Lykeion since September 2015 where he has worked on and developed the Lykeion and IB DP policies. He is an accredited IB examiner in Economics from 2017.
For further information go to www.meletopoulos.gr

Dr. Anna Maria Kokla
“Anna Maria Kokla holds a PhD from the University of Piraeus and she is an accredited IBO examiner. Anna started her career in the Technological Institution of Athens and ASPETE (S.EL.E.T.E/ School of Pedagogical and Technological Education) teaching Applied and Further Mathematics. Following that, she worked as an Assistant Professor of Statistics in the University of Piraeus. From 2000 to 2013 Anna was Head of Lykeion and Coordinator of Schools in Psychico IB College Greece. Since November 2016 she has collaborated with Ionios School, where she currently is the Maths Coordinator. In addition, Anna has attended a plethora of seminars and conventions, as well as professional development courses in Greece and abroad. She is a published author of scientific papers and articles.”

Maria Sideri, IB Librarian and Information Scientist
Maria Sideri is a Librarian and Information Scientist. She graduated in 2005 from the Technological and Educational Institute of Thessaloniki. Maria then obtained her Masters’ degree in Library and Information Science (LIS), with an emphasis on New Information Technologies, from the Ionian University.
Maria’s work experience began at the Academic Library of the University of Macedonia and was then employed at the Library of the Konstantinos Karamanlis Foundation as a Librarian and then at the Academic Library of the School for Tour Guides, in Athens. She has also attended several seminars regarding Information Science.
Maria’s hobbies include sports, photography and traveling.

Stella Antonellou, IB Diploma Programme Coordinator
Stella Antonellou is a High school teacher with 29 years of experience who works in the Lykeion of IONIOS SCHOOL since 1995. She is teaching Classics, Mondern Greek Language and Literature. Currently, she is also Assistant Head of Ionios School Lykeion. Stella Antonellou is the administrator of the school’s and the students’ account in Panhellenic School Network. She obtained a B.A. from National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in Classic Philology (School of Philosophy). She has attended seminars and workshops in Psychology and ICT in education. She has written and edited 10 school books published by IONIOS SCHOOL for the students (3 of them have been co-authored). She speaks English and German. She enjoys traveling, reading and photography.

Ioanna Adamopoulou, French B SL/HL & Ab initio
Ioanna Adamopoulou holds a BA in French Language and Literature from the University of Athens and a diploma of “Cours Special des Tracucteurs” from the French Institute of Athens. She has followed extensive seminars regarding teaching methods, psychology and linguistics.
She has extensive teaching experience having taught French in the primary and secondary education since 1987, in the French Institute, the Arsakion Schools, the Moraits School and in the Public School.  She has participated as examiner in Delf and Dalf exams.
She speaks French, English and German.

Amalia Arseni, Theatre Studies SL/HL
Phd candidate in Modern Greek Literature in the National University of Athens (2017-) and Theatre teacher at Athens College (HAEF). Has earned a Master of Arts-2015 from University of London, Birkbeck College and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA) and a Bachelor of Arts -2013, in Theatre and Film Studies from Smith College, USA 2008- 12. She also holds a diploma in Classical Acting from LAMDA, UK, and a diploma as an Exceptional Young Talent from the Atelier Jeunesse au Theatre of Cours Florent in Paris, France . She is working as a theatre actress in Athens and has performed in more than 50 performances in the National Theatre of Greece, Theatre of Neos Kosmos, Theatro Ilisia etc.

Dr. Valenia Barla, Modern Greek A HL/SL, CAS Coordinator
Valenia obtained her B.A. in Greek Language and Literature from the University of Ioannina (2000). After visiting Paris and studying there for a few months as an Erasmus student, she decided to proceed with postgraduate studies on Ancient Greek Tragedy at the University of Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV). In her M.A. (2001) she studied the concept of sacrifice in the work of Euripides “Iphigenia in Aulis”. In her subsequent PhD (2007) she examined the influence of Euripides on Greek authors of the Hellenistic and Roman era. While in Paris, she joined (2002-2003) the French middle school LAKANAL, where she taught French grammar and Latin.
Following her return to Athens, Valenia taught Greek as a foreign language at the French Archaeological School and worked at the General Secretariat for the Use of Olympic Works, as editor of publications aimed at promoting the use of facilities constructed for the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. From 2007 to 2011 she taught Modern Greek and Ancient Greek literature and grammar in various private institutions of secondary education. From 2010 to 2012 she worked in the American Programme of I.S.A. as a teacher of Greek and French and in the IB Department of this School, teaching French and supervising Extended Essays in Modern Greek.  
Valenia joined the Ionios IB in September 2014 and is a certified examiner for the IBO since 2016. She speaks fluently Greek, English and French.
Her hobbies include reading, travelling, swimming and pilates. She also loves theatre and, over the years, has been translating a number of Ancient Greek tragedies to Modern Greek, a demanding task that she thoroughly enjoys, more so, as she tries to keep as closely as possible to the content and spirit of these classical works.

Evangelia Bassiou, Psychology SL/HL

Dr. Christos Chadjichristidis, IB Physics SL/HL
Christos earned his Diploma in Physics from the University of Athens in 2001. He then moved to Durham University, where he pursued an M.Sc. (2002) in Elementary Particle Physics followed by a Ph.D. in γ-ray Astronomy (2009) while working full-time as a Research Associate. Christos' doctoral work attracted a PIPSS Defence & Security Grant for the development of a novel transmissometer. During his Ph.D., he was also the recipient of The Ogden Trust Scholarship and worked in Tudhoe Grange School towards enhancing physics teaching and learning. Christos returned to Greece in 2010, where he served as a Lecturer in Science Education at Athens University's Pedagogical Department and Lecturer of Physics in Patras University, University of Crete, and the Technical University of Crete between the years 2010-13.  He then moved to Saudi Arabia to teach IB DP HL/SL Physics at the KAUST Schools for four years. In 2017, Christos became a Senior Lecturer at the Physical Science Division of KAUST University, where he teaches four Graduate Courses ranging from Mechanics to Physical Chemistry. Christos' academic work yielded 65 refereed articles in Physics, including three papers published in Nature and three in Science, and has an h-index of 44. His research interests are now focusing on Physics Education Research. Outside Academia, Christos enjoys traveling and sailing.

Dorina Chatzilia, English A: Language & Literature SL/HL
Dorina holds a BA in English Literature and Creative Writing from York St. John and an MA in English Language and Literature from the European University of Cyprus. Upon her time in the UK, her work on Shakespeare was included in literary journals and she wrote for literary magazines and newspapers. She has previously worked as a copywriter and an academic writing coach.
A firm believer of lifelong learning, Dorina has attended a plethora of lectures and seminars revolving around literature and linguistics, both in Greece and the UK. She has completed the IBDP herself and has always shared its principles and values. Consequently, she aims to create an inclusive learning environment that allows students to flourish intellectually and think critically.  
Having lived and worked in three different countries, Dorina enjoys travelling, learning foreign languages and writing.

Yiolanda Kalyva, Biology SL/HL & Environmental Systems and Societies SL
Yiolanda Kalyva graduated from Varvakeio Pilot School and obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Physics followed by a Specialization Diploma in “Medical Physics – Radiophysics” at University of Patras. After Diploma’s practical training, Yiolanda awarded a scholarship of NCSR “Demokritos” and she obtained her Master’s Degree in Physics, specialized on Nuclear Physics. Her research activities focused on Nuclear Structure and Nuclear Astrophysics. Having completed her postgraduated studies, she continued at the Physics Department of Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium) where she worked as a research fellow for 2 years. During her research activities, she participated in experiments at CERN (Switzerland), INFN-LNL (Italy), University of Cologne (Germany).
As Science Teacher she has an experience of more than 12 years in private schools. All her teaching years, she stays up to date not only on Science’s developments but also on the most current pedagogy and teaching methods as well as on utilization and application of Digital Technologies in the teaching practice. Her goal as a teacher is to approach learning from students’ perspective. For that reason she promotes students’ involvement and participation in the teaching and learning process. Besides Greek, she speaks English, French, German and Dutch. Yiolanda enjoys travelling and playing tennis, chess and bridge.

Panagiotis Karkatzoulis, Business Management SL/HL
Panagiotis holds a Master in Business Administration from Birmingham University 1990. His first degree is in Finance and Accounting that was obtained in 1987 from Athens Economic University (ASOEE). He has worked for many years as a director in Commercial departments and Finance ones both in Multinational and Greek companies. Currently he is collaborating with a British Consultancy Firm that offers training in the job in the areas of Sales, Marketing and Finance in multinational companies. He has also more than 10 years teaching experience, working as a lecturer in undergraduate and postgraduate courses in British Universities. He is married and has two children. He lives in Alimos. He likes travelling abroad and gardening.

Filippos Kostopoulos, History SL/HL & TOK
Filippos acquired his BA in Political Science at Yale University in 2011, specializing in the Cold War and decolonization. He continued with a Masters in Secondary Education at the Universidad de Navarra in Spain, focusing on IB methods and the teaching of student skills through content. Filippos began teaching as a professional in 2015 and enjoys teaching in the IB program and the unique opportunities it offers to students to discover and practice writing. Outside school, Philip pursues his own research in 20th century world history and enjoys swimming and hiking in the Greek mountains. He is fluent in Greek, English and Spanish.

Manolis Nicolandis, Classical Greek SL
Manolis Nicolandis was born and raised in Athens. An alumnus of Ionios School, he obtained his BA at the Philosophical School of the University of Athens in 1998. He continued his studies at the postgraduate level and received his MA in Classics from Royal Holloway, University of London in 1999. His areas of interest include mainly history (especially the Peloponnesian War and 20th century Greek history) and Ancient Greek Language (especially the Attic dialect of the 5th and 4th cent. BC). He has taught Ancient Greek to foreign PhD students (2012-2013) and has organized courses of Modern Greek for foreigners (2003-2004). Manolis has also tutored Open University students in the areas of Greek history, literature and civilization (2003-2008). Since 2017 he has been teaching Modern and Ancient Greek as well as History at Ionios School. He speaks Greek, English and French and is currently learning Spanish. His hobbies are reading, chess and basketball.

John Landrakis, Business Management
Mr. Landrakis holds two Masters Degrees, one In Industrial Engineering (1985) and one in Operations Research (1985) from the Polytechnic Institute of New York and a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Economics (1985) from Queens College of the City University of New York, in USA (1982). During his studies, he worked as an assistant project manager and as a project Manager for the Dynamic Industries Inc., in New Jersey, USA and as a High school Mathematics teacher at Saint Andrews Academy of Holly Cross, at Whitestone, in New York, USA. In Greece, initially, he worked as a lecturer of Management, Marketing, Accounting, Finance, Mathematics and Quantitative methods  as well as an administrator, holding the positions of Departmental head and Assistant Dean of the Business Department, in Southeastern College, for seven years, In Athens, Greece. Then, he has worked as a lecturer in Management, Marketing and Quantitative Methods and as a Dean of studies for six years, in MAC & Parsers School of liberal studies, in Athens, in Greece. Meanwhile, he worked as a lecturer and Senior lecturer at the University of Indianapolis, at the Athens Campus, Greece, teaching Operations management and quantitative methods. In addition, he has worked for sixteen years at the IB Department of Athens/Psychico College as a Business and Management teacher, Mathematics teacher (IB Math and SAT Math) and as a TOK teacher, for nine years at Ι.Μ. Panagiotopoulos as an IB Business and Management teacher and at the International school of Athens (ISA) for three years as an IB Business and Management teacher, and he is currently an IB Business Management teacher since 2014 at Ionios IB School, in Athens, Greece.
Moreover, he has taught at different vocational institutes in Greece, delivered IGCSE and GCE Business studies for 5 years and he has delivered in-company seminars focusing on productivity, human resources Management and entrepreneurship while he is a moderator for the subject of Business and Management (IB) since 1999. Finally, he has worked as a special advisor to the Deputy Minister of Tourism, in Greece for a year and he acts as an advisor to small and medium sized businesses since 2000, in Athens, Greece.

Yannis Mygdanis, IB Music SL/HL
Yannis is a composer, pianist, and music educator. He holds a master's degree in Music Education (M.Mus.) from the European University Cyprus, a bachelor's in Music Studies (B.Mus.) from the National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, as well as a master's degree in "Information Systems" (M.Sc.) and a bachelor's in Computer Science (B.Sc.) from the Athens University of Economics and Business. Currently, he is a Ph.D. student in Music Education at the European University Cyprus, while he is completing his third master's in Advanced Teaching (M.Ed) at the University of the People in cooperation with International Baccalaureate (I.B.).
He obtained his music diploma in Piano and Electronic Organ (DipLCM) from the London College of Music and the Music Theory diploma (AmusTCL) from Trinity College London. He has also completed his music studies in Advanced Theory (Harmony, Counterpoint, Fugue, and Band Conducting) and received the diploma in Choir Conducting and Composition with the grade of 'Excellent & First Prize.'
As a speaker, he has participated in a number of international scientific conferences on music, education, and technology topics, and his articles have been published in conference proceedings and scientific journals. He has organized numerous workshops focused on the incorporation of music technology in the classroom. His educational music application for tablets called Synth4kids has been used as an instructional methodological tool subject in various educational researches and workshops.
Yannis is also a member of the Greek Society for Music Education (G.S.Μ.Ε.) as well as the International Society for Music Education (I.S.M.E.). Since 2011 he has been working as a music educator at the Municipal Conservatory of Amaroussion and is in charge of the Conservatory Music Ensembles, and since 2017 he has been teaching classical and contemporary piano at the Municipal Conservatory of Ilioupoli.
He has written music for theater, short films, fairy tales, and music Greek and foreign poets. The music scores of his works 'Toccata for piano' and 'Thymises for prepared piano' have been published by Poeta Publications. In 2017 he released his first album entitled 'Ideal Voices,' a song cycle for two singers, narrator, and small symphonic ensemble, based on poetry by C. P. Cavafy from Entypois Publications. In 2019 Protasis Music and Bo-Synthesis release the digital singles "Small Suite in Red Major" in Y. Ritsos’ poetry and "The word is dead ..." in poetry by E. Dickinson, while in 2020 his latest digital single "On living..." in poetry by N. Hikmet’s poetry.
For further information visit: www.yannismygdanis.com

Dr. Nickolas Siscoglou, Economics SL/ HL
Dr. Nickolas Siscoglou has completed his academic studies in the USA attending City College of NY, Embry-Riddle Aero University, NJIT and Walden University.  He has been awarded a BS in Aerospace Engineering, MS in Industrial Engineering, MBA and PhD in Management.  He has worked in the states for many years in the Pharmaceutical industry, namely with Bristol Myers-Squibb and Roche and later on upon his return to Greece in GAP Pharmaceuticals. He has also served as a freelance corporate trainer.  His teaching experience spans 20 years, having taught business courses in the undergraduate and graduate level. Currently, in addition to Ionios School he is also a professor of Business at Deree College.

Dr. Nicholas Steven Stathakis, IB Mathematics: analysis and approaches HL, SL
Nicholas received his B.A. in Physics from Harvard University in 1984. After a year-long scholarship at the University of Munich, he pursued further studies at Columbia University. There he received his M.A. (1987), M.Phil. (1988) and Ph.D. (1990), all in theoretical physics. He continued with research work there, SLAC, NASA and other research institutions.
He joined the HAEF IB in 1997 where he remained until 2010 teaching Mathematics HL/SL. In 2011-2012 he taught at I.S.A. IB Mathematics SL and Mathematical Studies SL. As of 2011 he also teaches GCE A-Level Further Mathematics at Doukas GCE Department.
His primary research interest is on mathematical methods of physics, primarily the interplay of algebraic geometry and quantum field theory. Outside academia he enjoys competitive chess.

George Tsifetakis, Computer Science SL/HL
George studied Electrical and Computer Engineering at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) and got his Bachelor degree in 2004. Two years later, in 2006, he got his first postgraduate degree (MSc) on Automatic Control Systems and Robotics from the same Institutio. He got his second postgraduate degree (MEd) on Educational Science from the School of Pedagogical and Technological Education (ASPETE) in 2017. He has been a teacher in adult education and a professor in various Technological Institutes (Merchant Marine Academy of Aspropyrgos, Technological Institute of Chalkida, School of Pedagogical and Technological Education, Metropolitan College) from 2005 to date. He has been working in Ionios School from 2018 to this day, where he teaches the Computer Science course for the IB Diploma Programme, the Technology lesson at Gymnasium and the IT lesson at Demotic. He is very interested in Information Technology and Sciences in general, and in particular in the field of Automatic Control Systems (Modern Optimal Control Theory, Constrained Control Systems, Real Time PID Controller Tuning and Artificial Intelligence). In relation to the Greek education system, he is a proponent of using Open Source Software and Hardware and Information and Communication Technologies in the classroom. In addition, he is in favour of using Educational Robotics in programming classes, for example teaching programming using platforms like LEGO Mindstorms, Arduino microcontroller and Raspberry microprocessor.

Dimitris Vasilakis, English B SL/HL
Dimitris Vassilakis is a bilingual teacher of English whose experience in TESOL/EFL spans over a decade. He has lived in the USA and the UK for a number of years. He has studied at the Montgomery College in Rockville, Maryland, the University of Brighton and the University of Athens. He holds a BA in Language Studies with Linguistics and has also got a Postgraduate Diploma in English Language Teaching Studies. Dimitris has attended a number of lectures and seminars on a variety of issues revolving around TESOL/EFL (teaching methods and techniques, learning difficulties, motivation). His main objective when in the classroom is to make the learner feel welcome and also a respected member of the group. Currently, he teaches English at the Ionios School high school. In the past he has taught classes of students preparing for English language certification exams and has also worked as an examiner for examination boards based in Greece. In addition, he has worked with international students on intensive courses of English in summer schools in the UK and in China.