Dr. Christos Vasilakos is the new Secretary General for Research and Technology of the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs. Dr. Ch. Vasilakos, who officially assumed his duties on Friday, August 30, is a researcher at the National Center for Natural Sciences “Demokritos”, while in recent years he worked as a National Expert at the Directorate-General for Research and Innovation of the European Commission.
In his statements, the new Secretary General underlines that immediate priorities and objectives will be to increase the absorption of community funds from the NSRF for Research, Innovation and Technological Development actions, the design of a comprehensive National Strategy for Research and Innovation for the new financial period 2014-2020, the coordination and preparation of the Greek Presidency of the European Council, for the first half of 2014, on Research and Space issues, the formation of a new institutional framework for Research, Innovation and Technological Development and the evaluation of the research centers supervised by the General Secretariat for Research and Technology, which will contribute to the modernization and reform of the country's research network.
The actions will be characterized by a predominantly developmental nature and will contribute both to increasing employment and to the effort to reduce the phenomenon of human resource leakage abroad, as well as to attracting talented scientists from abroad to our country.
The new Secretary General studied chemistry at the University of Patras, from where he graduated in 1988 and continued his postgraduate studies until 1993 in the same department, while simultaneously teaching and participating in national and European research programs.
From 1995 to 2006, he was involved in research on environmental issues, with emphasis on the recording and management of air pollutants. From September 2004 to the end of 2010, he was seconded to the Permanent Greek Representation, as a representative of the General Secretariat for Research and Technology to the European Council, on Research, Technology and Space issues.
From March 2011 to August 2013, he worked as a National Expert at the Directorate-General for Research and Innovation of the European Commission, on issues of European research policy, the design of Horizon 2020, pan-European research infrastructures and their regional dimension, as well as the management of research programs of the 7th Framework Programme for Research.
Dr. Christos Vasilakos has more than 100 publications in international scientific journals and proceedings of scientific conferences, while he has also served as a reviewer in many international scientific journals.
In closing, Dr. Christos Vasilakos pointed out that what is required at this critical moment is intense work and dedication to restart the research potential, so that Research and Technology can be an important lever for the country's development and exit from the crisis.
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