The General Secretariat for Youth was set up in 1982 as a governmental institution with the primary task of shaping, monitoring and coordinating the government policy for youth and its connection with society and social entities. In this way, Greece was harmonised with the european and international practice of high-level, self-sustained and integral government services aiming to public youth policies.
Since the beginning, the aimed at a youth policy with a fresh attitude and context with a view to keep up with young people’s interests and demands. Youth must respond to the challenges of the future. We all have to contribute to this demanding task. The General Secretariat for Youth attempts a new quality leap, as nowadays, a different speech is no longer sufficient. What we need is a combination of systematic efforts, adequacy of programmes and first and foremost, action.
The General Secretariat for Youth develops a set of activities and programmes aiming at the core of youth policies and more specifically, in the following sectors:
- Participation
- Information
- Leisure
- Entrepreneurship.
The General Secretariat for Youth pays special attention to the cooperation with civil society, especially with youth associations and local authorities that take actions in the field of youth and children, in order to alleviate and resolve existing problems
The Greek Mathematical Society (GMS) has a 94 year long history. Founded in 1918 in Athens, today it has branches in most of the country’s provinces, more than 15000 members, and 34 regional branches; it has a significant presence in science and culture and is involved in multifaceted activities, while its operation is based on voluntary members.
The objective of the GMS is to promote and disseminate the various branches of mathematics; this objective is achieved through a series of set goals which are generally as follows:
- the progress of the Science in Mathematics
- the promotion of the free exchange of information between mathematics, science and society.
- the substantial and continuous improvement of mathematical education and the advancement of general education.
In order to achieve and complete its objectives the GMS organizes numerous activities such as:
- Publishing magazines
- Organizing and running a library.
- Publishing mathematics books by Greek and foreign writers.
- Conducting successfully the annual three-day National Conference on Mathematical Education.
- It organizes three annual Panhellenic Student Competitions: “Thales”, “Euclides”, “Archimedes,” and it selects the team members that form the national team that represents Greece in the Balkans and the International Mathematical Olympiad.
- It organized the 45th International Mathematical Olympiad (45th IMO) and organizes Mathematical Olympiads and Balkan Olympiads for University students.
- It organizes Mathematics Summer Schools for High School and Lyceum Students, as well as a Mathematics Summer Camp for elementary students, for the improvement of Mathematical Education.
- It maintains and develops the topics bank for Lyceum mathematics, a collection of dozens of classified exercises that continually grows and is freely available through the Internet.
All the above prove that today the GMS is a thriving and active research society deeply involved in education and research activities, while members’ numbers and the society’s scientific activities show that the GMS has achieved a prominent scientific position both in Greece and worldwide, even in economic or otherwise adverse conditions.
UNC Charlotte is North Carolina’s urban research institution. Our campus is located in the piedmont of North Carolina, just two hours from the mountains and three hours from the Atlantic Ocean. A large public university with a small college feel, more than 25,000 students consider UNC Charlotte’s 1,000-acre campus their home away from home.
Alexandros Papandreou is the President of the Organizing Committee of the event, Vice President of MENSA Greece and the Head of the Gifted Children section of MENSA. He is an Electrical & Computer Engineer and a fellow PhD candidate at NCSR Demokritos in the artificial intelligence lab. He is also the founder and coordinator of the Social Intervention Group (SIG).
Alexandros speaks 4 foreign languages and he is playing many musical instruments. He deals with the guidance of children and parents’ support; while his interests are algorithms, philosophy, physics, writing books, travelling and film direction. He has been published in scientific journals; he has lectured at international conferences and has published dozens of articles. He also maintains a personal blog.
Dr. Loretta Thomaidis MD PhD is an Assistant Professor in Developmental Pediatrics in the Second Department of Pediatrics, Athens University; Doctor of Medicine with honors of the Athens University School of Medicine with postgraduate studies in Great Britain in the field of pediatric development. She is the Greek representative to the European Academy of Childhood Disability since 1993.
Dr. Thomaidis is in charge of the Unit of Pediatric Development in the Second Pediatric Clinic of the “P & A Kyriakou” Children’s Hospital which is designed to assess, investigate and deal with children with special needs. One aspect of this unit’s work is to diagnose and deal with gifted and talented children, to test their school readiness, to detect deviations from normal at an early age, and to diagnose and treat developmental disorders at an early stage.
Her numerous publications, her participation in Greek and international conferences, and the various distinctions she has been awarded are an example of her intense research activity.
Athanasios Tsiamis is an Educational Psychologist, member of the Board of Directors of the Society for the Advancement of the Education of Creative / Talented / Gifted Children and Adolescents, and a member of the Association of Greek Psychologists, the British Psychological Society (CPsychol) and the European Council of Children with High Capabilities.
He has participated in the McGill University research group on the identification of gifted / talented children in alternative ways. He has taught in an adult education program on the subject of giftedness. He has conducted a training program for unemployed teachers on the subject of teaching gifted / talented children. From 1996 to date he has designed and implemented enrichment programs for gifted children aimed at fostering creativity and providing breath and depth of knowledge on specific topics to mainstream primary school students. He is an author of a book on giftedness and has participated in European and National conferences with papers mainly related to the particular characteristics, the identification, and education of gifted children in the Greek Education system.
He has studied psychology at Deree College in Athens and Educational Psychology at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.
Ioannis Tyrlis is a secondary school teacher and an active member of the Greek Mathematical Society since 1983. He has served as General Secretary of the Mathematical Society for twelve years, Vice President of the Competitions Committee, director of the “EUCLID A”, “EUCLID B”, “EUCLID C”, “Mathematical Review” and “ASTROLAVOS” periodical publications, member of the Committee for the Discussion and Resolving of Issues pertaining to the General Examinations, member of the Organizing Committee of the Panhellenic Conference on Mathematical Education of the Greek Mathematical Society, member of the Organizing Committee for the Balkan Mathematical Olympiad, as well as member of the Problem Selection Committee of the 2nd Balkan Mathematical Olympiad for Juniors.
His literary work includes publications in the EUCLID B and EUCLID C magazines, his work has been presented at scientific conferences, and he has also participated in a team which co authored 4 books.
He graduated from the Department of Mathematics of the University of Athens. He has completed post graduate studies in the Teaching and Methodology of Mathematics, and is a candidate PhD at the Department of Primary Education at the University of Athens. He is also a member of the organizing committee of this Conference.
Dr. Dimitris Nanopoulos was born in Athens on 13 September 1948 and studied physics at the University of Athens, where he graduated in 1971. Two years later he obtained his doctorate in Theoretical High Energy Physics from the University of Sussex in England. He has been a senior member of the research staff at the Center of European Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland. He has also been a Curie Fellow at Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris, and a Research Fellow at Harvard University, Cambridge, USA. In 1989 he was appointed Professor at the Physics Department of the Texas A & M University, College Station, where, since 1992, he has been a Distinguished Professor of Physics; since 2002 he holds the Mitchell-Heep Chair in High Energy Physics endowed with the amount of $1, 5 Million dollars. He is also Director of the Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC) Astroparticle Physics Group where he also directs a research department of the World Laboratory, based in Lausanne, Switzerland. In 1997 he was appointed regular member of the Academy of Athens. His main research activity focuses on High Energy Physics and Cosmology. The aim of his research is the creation of a unified theory of all forces in Nature, a Theory of Everything, which will provide a scientific explanation of the universe, how it appeared, how it evolved, and how it has reached its current morphology.
He is the author of over 625 original papers, all published in journals with critics and high impact factor, including 14 books. He has over 37,500 citations placing him as the fourth most cited Physicist of all time, according to the November 2001 and the September 2004 census (University of Stanford). Since 1988 he has been a Fellow of the American Physical Society, and since 1992 a member of the Italian Physical Society. In 1996 he was made Commander of the Order of Honour of the Greek Republic, and in May 2005, a year dedicated to honoring the 100 years of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, he won for the second time (first time in 1999) the award of the Gravity Research Institute, based in Massachusetts, USA. He was awarded the Onassis International Prize in October 2006, while in 2009 he was awarded the “Enrico Fermi” International Prize by the Italian Physical Society.
From January 2005 until December 2010 he was National Representative to the Center for European Nuclear Research (CERN); from 2005 to 2009 he served as President of the Greek National Council for Research and Technology (ESET), and from 2005 to 2006 he was National Representative to the European Space Agency (ESA).
Dr. Michael Green is an associate professor of Cognitive Development and of Maths Education at the UNC Charlotte University. Dr. Michael Green earned an Ed. D. from Harvard in 1977. His graduate study was in child development. His research interests are in constructivist theory and its relationship to elementary mathematics education. Dr. Green has authored books and research articles on cognitive, social, and language development in children and adolescents. He is co-author Constructing Number Sense in Elementary and Middle Grades Classrooms, a constructivist approach to teaching mathematics. Dr. Green was recently a Faculty in Residence at Thomasboro Elementary School, where student math performance soared in response to constructivist inspired instruction. Together with Dr. Piel, he has delivered numerous national and international articles, as well as participated in scores of teacher workshops about the Comprehensively Applied Manipulative Mathematics Program (CAMMP).
Dr. Green has worked with the design and implementation of an elementary math curriculum at the Socrates Academy in Charlotte, North Carolina. The constructivist-inspired approach to the Comprehensively Applied Manipulative Mathematics Program (CAMMP) has revolutionized math instruction at the school. Based on student performance, the Socrates Academy has been recognized every year as a School of Distinction since the first year of testing.
Dr. Athanasopoulou is a teacher in secondary school education at Socrates Academy Charter School in Charlotte, North Carolina, where she teaches mathematics, in Greek, to children who have been certified as gifted, she is also employed as a part time tertiary education teacher at the UNC in Charlotte, North Carolina.
She graduated from the Mathematics Department of the Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki and has completed postgraduate studies in Secondary Education Mathematics at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte, where she prepared her PhD thesis.
Dr. Athanasopoulou has been working as a teacher in private and public secondary and tertiary education from 1984 to date and she is a member of the organizing committee of this Conference.
Dr. George Pavlidis is a Professor of Learning Disabilities at the University of Macedonia. He is a life member of the International Academy of Learning Disabilities Research and an Honorary University Fellow at Brunel University, London. He is the founder and director of dyslexia and ophthalmokinesis laboratories at universities in England, Greece and the USA.
He is the inventor of the ophthalmokinesis test (PAVLIDIS TEST) which allows, even from a pre-school age, the diagnosis of dyslexia and attention deficit disorder. He has developed a method for dealing with dyslexia, learning disabilities and attention deficit through the use of a PC and Multimedia. He has conducted 20 major research programs in England, Greece and the U.S. His photoelectric invention has been endorsed by renowned universities such as Harvard, Penn State, Boston, and Columbia, as well as countries such as Denmark, Finland and Greece.
His scientific publications have appeared in international journals and conferences, and he has also published four books in English. He has participated as a speaker in numerous international conferences; he has repeatedly been honored with the presidency of 18 international conferences and is the Chairman of all global dyslexia conferences since 1983.
He graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy of the Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki, and completed his doctoral dissertation at the Department of Psychology of the University of Manchester in England, where he began his academic career as a lecturer at the age of 23.
Dr Brenda Romanoff is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Special Education and Child Development at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. At the same time, she is a consultant for Charlotte Mecklenberg Schools for the Talent Development Program in the advisement of identification and service to students who are gifted. She also serves on the admissions board for the only gifted K-8 school in North Carolina.
She obtained her BS in Elementary Education and Learning Disabilities at Eastern Kentucky University, her MED in Special Education at Univeristy of Cincinnati and her Ph.D. in Special Education and Rehabiliation at University of Arizona.
She has published numerous research articles and curriculum guides. She has also participated in several conferences by presenting her research and giving lectures.
Agnes Mariakaki is a psychologist and educator. She manages MindSearch, a company that studies consumer psychology. She has worked as a counselor and therapist for children and families and has published in journals such as Child and Young Parents. During the past 15 years she has conducted over 4000 focus groups and has also taught seminars on communication for companies and individuals.
She studied psychology at Lancaster University and has specialized in Applied Anthropology and Mythology at the Institute of Applied Behavioral Technologies in Princeton. She is an accredited Neuro-Linguistic Programming trainer certified by the International Society of NLP.
Eirini Kamaratou – Giallousi is an author of 42 children’s books and of a novel for adults; member of Mensa; member of the Greek Society for the Advancement of the Education of Creative / Gifted / Talented Children and Adolescents of the University of Athens; member of the Society of Greek Writers.
Through her books she tries to simplify concepts encountered by children through the use of myth. Several of her works have been adapted for the theatre by many schools and have won awards. She is also a member of the organizing committee of this Conference.
Her book “The smartest dumb kid” refers to the special needs of a gifted child.
Ioanna Katsavria is a graduate of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (in Early Childhood Education), is currently completing a Master of Science in Strategic Human Resource Management at ALBA Graduate Business School and has completed coursework in Mind, Brain, Health & Education at Harvard University Extension School. She has conducted research on the career preferences and competencies of Gifted and Talented Adolescents at ALBA and she has previously collaborated with Professor Brenda Romanoff (University of North Carolina at Charlotte) in establishing programs for gifted and talented children in the United States.
Ioanna has been working with Gifted and Talented Children, Adolescents and Youth for the past decade, firstly in Greece and then in two charter schools in the Unites States: The Socrates Academy (Charlotte, NC) and Archimedean Academy (Miami, FL). Simultaneously she has been working as a volunteer advisor for MENSA, providing specialist advice to the parents of Gifted and Talented Children in the field of education and social & emotional support. More recently she has been working in the field of talent identification and management for the corporate sector in the Middle East, with specialist SHL psychometric certification and Hay Group job evaluation certification.
Dimitra Fourlemadi is an English language teacher, a graduate of the English Language and Literature faculty of the University of Athens. She undertook postgraduate studies (MSc) in Applied Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition at the University of Oxford.
She is a member of the Organizing Committee while her interest in the organization of this conference stems from her teaching experience in differentiated classrooms with students who are in the same class but have different needs, both at cognitive and emotional level. The gifted students need special treatment in order to develop cognitively and socially as much as possible.
Alexandros Stamatiadis is a student of Statistics at the University of Piraeus. He is a member of the Mensa and ISI-Society intelligence communities.
He is particularly interested in the mathematical study of objectivity in musical quality while he is also composing his first musical work. With a view to academic advancement, he plans to conduct psychometric and statistical research in neurology in future. He is also a member of the organizing committee of this Conference.
Ioanna Zerva is a student at the polytechnic department of the Democritus University of Thrace and is studying Environmental Engineering. She comes from Soufli and is involved in making handmade jewelry and clothes.
Her contribution to the organizing committee has been significant; her willingness to become involved in the event stemmed from her desire to see changes in the educational system and an increased awareness for the special needs arising from diverse conditions, especially in border areas.
Nikolas studied Mathematics at the University of Athens but has never practice it, since he has been mangling with the computers since 1990.
He is a member of Mensa, a father of four and an IT consultant, blogging from time to time his IT findings. He currently works as a Network Administrator of Department of Ichthyology and Aquatic Environment of University of Thessaly and as an ERP consultant mainly for the manufacturing industry. He speaks four languages, he likes developing in Python and C# and building websites with WordPress, Bootstrap, HTML5 Boilerplate and LESS.
Nikolas provided the web hosting and he is the web developer of the website.
Eugenia Giallousi has studied fine arts at the University of Middlesex. She was awarded a scholarship to complete postgraduate studies in graphic design on the subject of advertising. She is professionally involved in book illustration as well as painting. He has also worked with art installations.
Her contribution to the MENSA Conference for Gifted Children has been the creative design of the poster, the flyer, and the graphics on the homepage of the conference web site.
eugeniagiallousi@yahoo.com
Maria Linardopoulou is an Architect Engineer and she has been working as an Architect Supervisor for three years in Costa Navarino Hotels construction. In addition she is involved in logo and graphics design as well as in the design of websites. Her contribution to the design of this website was decisive, while she did the finallization of the poster and the flyer of the Conference.
Gregory Vardarinos graduated sum cum laude in 2006 from New York College with a BSc in Film & TV Studies. In 2009 he completed his MA in Film Directing in Edinburgh College of Art – University of Edinburgh under a merit scholarship from the Public Benefit Foundation “Alexander S. Onassis”. Currently he works as a freelance director and producer of corporate videos and documentaries. His interests include solving puzzles, Spanish culture and classical ballet. Gregory directed the video trailer of the event.
Anastasia Bartzoulianou studied Journalism and Mass Media in Aristotle University, in Thessaloniki, Greece, and has a Master’s Degree in Film Studies from the UCD University in Dublin, Ireland. She has worked in New York College Thessaloniki as a screenwriting instructor and has participated in various big and small film projects as a screenwriter. She has been writing for free press magazines such as Libre, Screw and FAGazine since 2006, while she was the screenwriter of the video trailer of the event.
Christodoulos Kokolios is a graduate student at the School of Mining Engineering and Metallurgy of the National Technical University in Athens. He speaks three languages fluently and he has extensive knowledge on computers and especially in programs related to creating and recording music. He has a special love for music, particularly for composing music for piano, but has also written several contemporary style songs. He is an excellent piano player and a very good electric guitar player. He hasn’t been involved in music professionally yet, but he has written music, with great success, for a theatrical play and he has composed the music of the events radio spot. Another area he is involved in is mathematics; in fact, some of the exercises he has created have been published in the Mathematical Society’s Euclid Journal. He is currently writing a novel in English which he wants to promote directly abroad, where he intends to continue his studies.
You will have the pleasure to hear some of his compositions on the premises of the event.
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The General Secretariat for Youth was set up in 1982 as a governmental institution with the primary task of shaping, monitoring and coordinating the government policy for youth and its connection with society and social entities. In this way, Greece was harmonised with the european and international practice of high-level, self-sustained and integral government services aiming to public youth policies.
