Team

Demetrios G. Eliades

University of Cyprus

Demetris Eliades holds a BSc/MSc (2004) in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, an MSc (2005) in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and a PhD (2011) in Electrical Engineering from the University of Cyprus. Since 2019, he is a Research Assistant Professor at the KIOS Research and Innovation Center of Excellence, of the University of Cyprus. His research is focused on monitoring, control and security of smart water networks. He has authored and co-authored articles published in journals and conferences proceedings, in the areas of water systems, building systems, power systems, control and robotics. He is the Technical Coordinator of the H2020 PathoCERT project.

Stelios Vrachimis

University of Cyprus

Stelios G. Vrachimis received the Ph.D. and B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus, in 2020 and 2011 respectively, and a M.Sc. in Control Systems from Imperial College London, in 2012. From 2012 to 2020, he was a graduate-level Researcher at the KIOS Research and Innovation Center of Excellence, at the University of Cyprus, where he is currently a Post-Doctoral Research Associate. His research interests include the optimization, real-time state estimation, fault-diagnosis and fault-adaptive control of critical infrastructure systems, with applications focused on water distribution systems. He has volunteered as a reviewer to IEEE transactions and conferences, and has served as an associate editor to the ASCE Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management. He is a member of IEEE, the Cyprus Technical Chamber, and Cyprus Young Water Professionals.

Kleanthis Malialis

University of Cyprus

Kleanthis Malialis received his MEng in Computer Systems and Software Engineering and PhD in Computer Science degrees from the Department of Computer Science at the University of York, UK in 2010 and 2014 respectively. His PhD focus was on multiagent reinforcement learning and investigated its applicability to network intrusion response. He then joined the Department of Computer Science at University College London (UCL) as a Research Associate, part of an Innovate UK Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) between UCL and a data analytics startup. He subsequently joined the startup as a Data Scientist. Prior joining KIOS CoE, Kleanthis was working at the Telegraph as a Data Scientist where his focus was on building predictive models using machine learning algorithms.

Associate Prof. Stelios Timotheou

University of Cyprus

Stelios Timotheou is an Associate Professor at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and a faculty member at the KIOS Research and Innovation Center of Excellence, of the University of Cyprus. He holds a Dipl.-Ing. in Electrical and Computer Engineering (Summa Cum Laude, 2005) from the National Technical University of Athens, an MSc in Communications and Signal Processing (Distinction, 2006) and a PhD in Intelligent Systems and Networks (2010), both from the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering of Imperial College London. In previous appointments, he was a Research Associate at KIOS, a Visiting Lecturer at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of the University of Cyprus, and a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Computer Laboratory of the University of Cambridge. His research focuses on monitoring, control and optimization of critical infrastructure systems, with emphasis on intelligent transportation systems and communication systems. He is a Senior Member of the IEEE, a member of the ACM and a member of the Technical Chamber of Cyprus. He is the recipient of the 2017 ‘Cyprus Young Researcher in Physical Sciences & Engineering’ Award, by the Cyprus Research Promotion Foundation.

Qingkai Meng

University of Cyprus

Qingkai Meng received both his BSc and PhD degrees in control theory and control engineering from Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (NUAA), Nanjing, China in June 2016 and June 2022, respectively. Since September 2022, he joined the KIOS Research and Innovation Center of Excellence in Cyprus as a Postdoctoral Researcher. He has published more than 10 journal and conference papers included in IEEE TAC, AIAA JGCD, IEEE TCNS, SCL etc. His research interests cover system analysis, fault-tolerant control and optimal control for the nonlinear, switched and network systems with applications in aerospace.

Milad Shahvali

University of Cyprus

Milad Shahvali received the M.Sc. degree in systems and control from Islamic Azad University of Najafabad, Najafabad, Iran in 2014, and Ph.D. degree in systems and control from Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran in 2022. Since January 2023, he joined KIOS Research and Innovation Center of Excellence in Cyprus as a postdoctoral research fellow. His main research interests are event-triggered control, networked control systems, fractional-order systems, reinforcement learning and game theory.

Jin Li

University of Cyprus

Jin Li received her BSc in Aeronautical Engineering from Northwestern Polytechnical University (China). Then, she obtained her Diploma of Engineer in Mechanical Design from INSA Lyon (France) and Applied MSc in Data Science & Artificial Intelligence in Data ScienceTech Institute (France) . In January 2022, she joined the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Cyprus as a PhD Student and she is working as a part-time Special Scientist at the KIOS Research and Innovation Center of Excellence. Her research interests include machine learning, monitoring and control and fault diagnosis.

Sriman Pankaj Boindala

University of Cyprus

Sriman Pankaj Boindala, originally hailing from Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India, is a Civil Engineering researcher with a specific focus on Water Resource Management. Armed with a PhD from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, and a Master’s and Bachelor’s in Civil Engineering from Birla Institute of Technology and Science – Pilani Hyderabad campus, his dedication lies in advancing the frontiers of the field by employing state-of-the-art technologies. His research pursuits revolve around applying optimization, machine learning, and data science to address pivotal challenges in civil engineering. Proficient in hydrological modeling, water distribution systems, reservoir operations optimization, prediction modeling, and structural optimization, Dr. Boindala also boasts expertise in concrete and cement chemistry, exemplifying a well-rounded research proficiency in civil engineering. Dr. Boindala is currently working as a Post-Doctoral Researcher at the KIOS Research and Innovation Center of Excellence.

Yutian Wang

University of Cyprus

Yutian Wang received his B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from Shenyang Aerospace University, Shenyang, China, in 2015, his M.S. degree in vehicle engineering in 2017, and his doctoral degree in control theory and application in 2024, both from Northeastern University, Shenyang, China. Since April 2024, he is working as a Post-Doctoral Researcher at the KIOS Research and Innovation Center of Excellence. His research interests include switching supervisory control and networked control of nonlinear systems.

Hamed Tirandaz

University of Cyprus

Hamed Tirandaz received his B.Sc. in applied mathematics from the Hakim Sabzevari University in 2006 and M.Sc. in mechatronics engineering from Semnan University, Iran, in 2009. Then, he has joined a software group as a programmer. His work was focused on graphic design of Iranian power distribution system. He worked as a Lecturer at Hakim Sabzevari University since 2010. His research interests mainly include chaos control, fault d diagnoses , and fault tolerant control of distributed systems. He has published several papers in the abovementioned areas. He is currently a PhD student at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and researcher at KIOS Center of Excellence.

Lydia Vamvakeridou-Lyroudia

KWR Water Research Institute

Lydia S. Vamvakeridou-Lyroudia has an engineering background, with expertise and research interests focused mainly on computational modelling and hydroinformatics across a wide range of subjects: Water Supply and Distribution Systems, Smart Meters, System Dynamics Modelling, the Water-Energy-Food Nexus, Serious Gaming, the Circular Economy and Artificial Intelligence techniques for Water Systems.

Lydia Tsiami

KWR Water Research Institute

Lydia Tsiami is a civil engineer specializing in hydraulic engineering and water management (MEng, NTUA). During her thesis, she developed a deep learning model to detect cyber-physical attacks in water distribution networks. Her passion lies in finding new ways to use artificial intelligence to solve water management problems.

Dennis Zanutto

KWR Water Research Institute

Dennis Zanutto is a scientific researcher in the Hydroinformatics team. He conducts research on control theory and policy design for drinking water systems under deep uncertainty. The aim is to develop novel hydroinformatics frameworks for the optimal operation of such systems. Dennis is a control engineer, he graduated from Politecnico di Milano in the course Automation and Control Engineering and has previous work experience in home automation for accommodation facilities and industrial automation. In the field of research, his focus has been on control theory and control for water reservoirs. At KWR, he is part of the Smart Water Futures project funded by the European Research Council with its Synergy Grants. The project aims to ensure a high-quality and reliable supply of drinking water in the face of urban growth and climate change. Based on his research activities, Dennis will also pursue a PhD degree in collaboration with the Politecnico di Milano.

Konstantinos Glynis

KWR Water Research Institute

Konstantinos Glynis is a researcher in the Water Infrastructure (WIS) team. He is a Civil Engineer specializing in hydraulic engineering (MEng, NTUA) and water management (MSc, TU Delft). He has worked in different projects in the water/environmental sector ranging from stochastic investigation of environmental indices to AI-based burst detection in water distribution systems. At KWR, he is working within the Smart Water Futures project, an ERC Synergy Grant funded project in designing the next generation of intelligent urban drinking water systems. His current research activities focus on modelling quality in water distribution systems. In particular, he focuses on increasing the understanding of biofilm development and control mechanisms that will facilitate better decision making in the mid- and long-term horizons. Being affiliated with TU Delft, he is also pursuing his PhD in the same topic.

Christos Michalopoulos

KWR Water Research Institute

Christos Michalopoulos is a scientific researcher in the Hydroinformatics team. He holds a Master’s degree in Civil Engineering with a specialization in Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA). In his thesis, he conducted a comprehensive evaluation of various machine learning algorithms to forecast mid-term water usage consumption. Prior to joining KWR, Christos gained experience in large-scale construction projects as a site engineer, focusing on building extensive water and sewage systems. At KWR, he is currently involved in the Smart Water Futures project, which is a funded ERC Synergy Grant initiative. The project’s primary objective is to design the next generation of intelligent urban drinking water systems. In his role within the Smart Water Futures project, Christos aims to develop artificial intelligence models capable of predicting the most uncertain cases for water network design. Additionally, he is pursuing a Ph.D. on the same topic.

Peter van Thienen

KWR Water Research Institute

Peter van Thienen is principal scientist in the Hydroinformatics team. From his background as a quantitative scientist, Peter, together with a number of colleagues, deals with drinking water systems from a quantitative and modelling perspective. Key words here are mathematical-physical models and optimisation. The starting point is to transform a simple concept into a powerful tool. Some examples are the analysis of volume flow data for network understanding and leak detection (a.o. the development of the CFPD method, integrated in the Callisto tool), numerical optimisation of the design of measuring and drinking water networks (development of the Contamination Source Toolkit and the Gondwana platform), the initiation of the development of an inspection robot for drinking water pipes (Ariel, continued in the AIR project), and probabilistic simulation of drinking water networks. Sustainability has become an important theme in his written work and activities at KWR. Peter is also coordinator of the BTO research theme hydroinformatics and project leader or quality controller of several projects in this field.

Ina Vertommen

KWR Water Research Institute

Ina Vertommen is the team leader of Hydroinformatics at KWR. In this role, she is responsible for the content and profile of the team. The team’s goal is to strengthen KWR’s position in the field of hydroinformatics. Ina also works as a scientific researcher in the field of water demand modelling, robust design of target structures and optimisation problems. She likes to explore the added value and application possibilities of different new techniques and methods for the water sector. She works with her colleagues on the development of tools, such as the optimisation platform Gondwana.

Ina gets energy from collaborating with researchers and water management professionals and strives to achieve innovative and valuable research results and solutions together.

Prof. Slobodan Djordjevic

University of Exeter

Slobodan is Professor of Hydraulic Engineering, Deputy Head of Engineering and Co-Director of the Centre for Water Systems, which he joined in 2002. At Exeter he served as the Director of Postgraduate Studies, Director of Education for Engineering, elected member of the University Senate, and most recently as the inaugural Associate Dean (International and Development) in the College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences. He received degrees in Civil Engineering from University of Belgrade, where he worked for fifteen years. Slobodan has held visiting positions at the Technical University of Munich, The University of West Indies in Barbados and the Florida State University in Tallahassee. He taught on over twenty modules on various undergraduate, postgraduate and specialist courses.

Slobodan has worked extensively on the development and application of methodologies and tools for simulation of urban flooding, modelling of drainage networks and assessment of various direct and indirect impacts of flooding in the context of climate change and urban development. His other areas of expertise include river and coastal engineering, cascading effects between water, waste, energy, transportation and other infrastructure systems, tidal energy extraction, impacts of dams, scour around bridge piers, and water quality modelling. He also worked on projects on drought risk management, nature-based solutions, ventilation of tunnels, and water-food-energy nexus.

Slobodan has been awarded research grants worth £12m for projects worldwide and published 10 book chapters and 100 peer-reviewed journal papers (with 200 different co-authors, in 40 different journals). He led EU FP7 CORFU consortium and in that capacity organised and co-chaired the International Conference of Flood Resilience: Experiences in Asia and Europe, held in Exeter. He is an Editor of Journal of Flood Risk Management.

Prof. Mat Collins

University of Exeter

Joint Met Office Chair in Climate Change

Field Chief Editor Frontiers in Climate

Coordinating Lead Author IPCC AR5 and IPCC SROCC

Research Interests:

• Physical aspects of climate variability and change
• Quantifying uncertainty in climate projections
• Dynamics of the El Nino Southern Oscillation
• Changing hydrological cycle
• Dynamics of monsoons
• Decadal climate variablity

André Artelt

Bielefeld University

André Artelt is a post-doctoral researcher in the Machine Learning Group at Bielefeld University and a visiting researcher at KIOS Research and Innovation Center of Excellence at the University of Cyprus.

His research is about Trustworthy AI and AI for Critical Infrastructure. He mainly focuses on eXplainable AI (XAI) – in particular on contrasting explanations. Besides fundamental research, he also works on applications of XAI, such as water distribution networks, transportation, and decision support systems for business owners.

Inaam Ashraf

Bielefeld University

Inaam Ashraf completed MSc Data Analytics from University of Hildesheim in April 2022. He has worked with SAP Security Research for over an year where he also completed his Master Thesis in the area of  Anomaly Detection using Deep Learning.

He also holds a BSc in Electrical Engineering (2005) and a Master in Business Administration (2009) and has worked as a Financial Analyst at the State Bank of Pakistan for a number of years.

He began his Doctoral Studies at the Bielefeld University in May 2022 focusing on Deep Learning for Water Distribution Networks.

Luca Hermes

Bielefeld University

Ulrike Kuhl

Bielefeld University

Ulrike Kuhl holds a BSc (2012) and MSc (2014) in Cognitive Science from University Osnabrück. Studying developmental neural correlates of literacy and numeracy at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, she was awarded a PhD in Psychology from Leipzig University in 2019. Afterwards, she joined the machine learning group at University Bielefeld as a Postdoctoral researcher. Her current academic interests lie in the field of eXplainable AI, focusing on the development of usable explanations for automated decision making and machine learning models that meet the cognitive requirements of end users.

Alexander Schulz

Bielefeld University

Alexander Schulz defended his Ph.D. thesis with the title 'Discriminative Dimensionality Reduction: Variations, Applications, Interpretations' at CITEC, Bielefeld University in early 2017. Currently, he is working as a post doc in the Machine Learning group at Bielefeld University. He has collaborated with groups from the Aalto University in Finland, the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, the University of Namur in Belgium and the Medical University of Vienna in Austria. His scientific contributions are in the areas of dimensionality reduction for data visualization, model interpretability, transfer learning and myoelectric control.

Paul Stahlhofen

Bielefeld University

Paul Stahlhofen is a computer scientist holding a B.Sc. in cognitive informatics (11/2019) and a M.Sc. in intelligent systems (09/2022). He collected first experiences with water research during an internship at the Umweltforschungszentrum (UFZ, engl.: Environmental Research Center) in Leipzig in March 2022. After that, he continued to work for the UFZ as a developer for a database storing chemical compounds. During his master thesis in 2022 he applied the Machine Learning concept of adversarial attacks to leakage detectors in water distributions system. His aim is to contribute to an improvement of leakage detectors by increasing their overall robustness against potential adversaries.

Janine Strotherm

Bielefeld University

Janine is holding a B.Sc. in Mathematics and Physics (and a Bachelor for teaching in the same subjects) (April 2020),  and a M.Sc. in Mathematics (May 2022) from Bielefeld University. In her master thesis she worked on theoretical and practical investigation of training overparameterized neural networks using natural gradient descent.
She also has some work experience as a Data Scientist in a local start up and as a teacher.

Since June 2022 she is a doctoral student in the Machine Learning group at Bielefeld University. Her research is centered around fairness enhancing machine learning algorithms in the field of water distribution networks.

Valerie Vaquet

Bielefeld University

Valerie holds a B.Sc. in Cognitive Informatics (2017) and a M.Sc. in Intelligent Systems (2020) from Bielefeld University. Currently she works in the Machine Learning group at Bielefeld University as a researcher and doctoral student. Her research focuses on sensor drift adaptation and learning from non-stationary data streams.

Athanasios Yannacopoulos

Athens University of Economics and Business

Athanasios Yannacopoulos is Professor in the Department of Statistics. His research interests focus on Stochastic Analysis and Applications, Stochastic Differential Equations and Mathematical Modelling with the use of Random and Deterministic Dynamical Systems with applications in Insurance, Finance and Modern Technologies. He has studied in the University of Athens (1989, Ptychion in Physics) and did his PhD in the University of Warwick, UK, (1993) on Statistical Properties of Dynamical Systems.

His teaching duties, in undergraduate and postgraduate level, include courses related to Stochastic Analysis and its Applications, the theory of Stochastic Processes and its Applications, Probability Theory and Financial Mathematics. His research work includes publications in the fields of Stochastic Differential Equations (ordinary and partial), Backward Stochastic Differential Equations and applications (e.g. in economics, finance and modern technologies), Stochastic Control Theory and Mathematical Finance. His research is published in international scientific journals such as Journal of Differential Equations, Journal of Mathematical Economics, International Journal of Theoretical and Applied Finance, Indiana University Mathematics Journal, Scandinavian Actuarial Journal.

Nikitas Pittis

Athens University of Economics and Business

Prof.Nikitas Pittis is the Chief Economist of AssetWise Capital Management. He is also Professor in Financial Econometrics at the Department of Banking and Financial Management of the University of Piraeus, since 2000. The impact of his scientific work ranks him in the top 8% of economists in the Europe (based on RePEc Ranking: Research Papers in Economics Ranking).
After completing his PhD at the University of London. Dr. Pittis worked as a senior research associate at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research in London and then as an economic analyst in the research department of UBS in Zurich. He was also member of the Board of Economic Advisors at the Ministry of Economics and Finance of the Greek Government.
Professor Pittis has published more than forty research papers in highly ranked academic journals. His work is widely recognized, as documented in many of citations to his name in ‘Google’ and ‘Google Scholar’ search engines, in academia and financial and banking institutions all over the world. In 1995 his work was selected for inclusion in ‘Advances in Investment Analysis and Portfolio Management’. He has co-ordinated a big number of research projects funded by various national and international organizations and foundations. He has presented his work in numerous of prestigious international scientific conferences and has given academic and public lectures at Universities and Research Institutes all over the world.

Panagiotis Samartzis

Athens University of Economics and Business

Dr. Panagiotis Samartzis is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Economics at the University of Macedonia. He is Research Associate at the University of Piraeus and the General Manager at AssetWise Capital Management. He holds a BSc in Mathematics from the University of Athens, an MSc in Mathematics and Finance from Imperial College and a Ph.D. in Financial Econometrics from the University of Piraeus. His research interest focuses on decision making under uncertainty and ambiguity. His academic work has been published in journals such as the Journal of Forecasting, Environmental and Resource Economics and Open Research Europe.

Sotiris Georgana

Athens University of Economics and Business

Sotiris Georganas is a Reader (Associate Professor) at the Department of Economics, City University London. His primary area of research up to now has been in auction experiments, models of bounded rationality and applied game theory. Recently, he spent some time visiting CESS, Department of Economics, New York University.

His previous job was as a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Economics, University of London, Royal Holloway. From 2007 until 2009 he has worked at the Ohio State University as a post doctoral researcher with John Kagel. His doctoral research was done at the Bonn Graduate School of Economics, under Reinhard Selten. While in graduate school Sotiris Georganas spent his second year (2004-2005) visiting the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (as part of the European Doctoral Programme) and working with Rosemarie Nagel.

His undergraduate studies were also in Economics at the University of Bonn from 1999 to 2003. He spent his last year visiting the Universitat Pompeu Fabra. His Diplomarbeit (similar to a master’s thesis), done under Benny Moldovanu, was an experimental study about auctions with resale.

Ebun Akinsete

Athens University of Economics and Business

Dr. Ebun Akinsete is a Senior Researcher at ICRE8 and the Head of the Department of Stakeholder Analysis and Decision Support Systems at ICRE8 and UN SDSN Greece. She is an Associate Lecturer at the School of Applied Social Studies, Robert Gordon University (Aberdeen), and Senior Partner with Nigerian-based consultancy GEN Sustainable Solutions.  With a BSc (Hons) in Architectural Technology, MSc in Project Management and PhD in Urban Regeneration and Sustainable Communities, she has several years of both industrial and academic experience in Europe, Asia and Africa; collaborating with governmental agencies, NGOs, aid organizations, academic institutions, the private sector and local communities.  Her main areas of interest are sustainable development, urban regeneration, SDG policy and implementation, community development, climate change mitigation, transition management, renewable energy, stakeholder participation, participatory planning, evaluation and impact assessment for sustainability, and sustainability in developing nations.

Roy Brouwer

Athens University of Economics and Business

Roy Brouwer is Executive Director of the Water Institute and Professor of Economics at the University of Waterloo, Canada. He is visiting Professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag) in Zürich, member of the External Advisory Board of the Vienna Technical University Doctoral Program on Water Resource Systems and Editor-in-Chief of the journal Water Resources and Economics. Before joining the University of Waterloo in 2016, he was head of the department Environmental Economics at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam.

Georgios Papayiannis

Athens University of Economics and Business

Georgios Papayiannis is Lecturer of Computational Mathematics at Hellenic Naval Academy, Department of Naval Sciences, Section of Mathematics since May 2020. He holds a PhD in Robust Decision Making and Risk Assessment under Uncertainty from Athens University of Economics and Business, Department of Statistics. His research interests lie in the scientific areas of robust decision making, risk quantification under uncertainty, computational and functional statistics, statistical learning methods and aggregation schemes with applications in statistical processes monitoring and prediction.

Alina Velias

Athens University of Economics and Business

Alina Velias has recently completed a PhD in Economics, specialising in behavioural and experimental aspects of applied microeconomics. Her interests are in non-monetary motives (such as altruism) and aspects (subjective wellbeing, social capital) of human welfare – and the related policy implications. Her first degree is a BSc Philosophy and Economics (LSE), after she I has worked in the private sector before going on to complete an MSc Behavioural Economics and PhD Economics at City, University of London. During this time she has also spent one year on an academic visit to Universitad Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona). Alina has also worked as a part of Behavioural Economics and Data Science Unit (BDU)at the Financial Conduct Authority (UK) and with the Office for the National Statistics (UK). More recently, she has conducted market analysis projects for the Hellenic Competitioon Comission (HCC, Greece). Alina currently works on the ERC Waterfutures project and also teaches on the EMSc Behavioural Science programme at the LSE.