Prof. Vassilis Charmandaris, Director of the Institute of Astrophysics at the Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas and at the Skinakas Observatory, and Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Crete, was unanimously elected on Sunday, 26-1-2025, Director of the Central Administration and President of FORTH, by a 7-member Evaluation Committee consisted of highly recognized Greek and foreign scientists, headed by Prof. Elisa Konofagou (Columbia University).
His official appointment is expected in the next few weeks.

Prof. Nektarios Tavernarakis, FORTH’s President, stated: "We congratulate Prof. Vassilis Charmandaris on his unanimous election, among distinguished candidates. I am convinced that Mr. Charmandaris will have a successful and creative tenure, and FORTH will continue its upward trajectory, guided by scientific excellence."

Short Bio

Vassilis Charmandaris is Professor of Astrophysics at the Department of Physics of the University of Crete and Director of the Institute of Astrophysics of the Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas and the Skinakas Observatory.

He received his B.Sc. in Physics from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in 1989 and his Ph.D. in Astrophysics from Iowa State University (USA) in 1995. He then worked as a postdoctoral researcher at CEA/Saclay (France) and as a Marie Curie Fellow at the Paris Observatory (France). From 1999 and until 2005 he was a researcher at the Astronomy Department of Cornell University (USA), before returning to Greece as a professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Crete. He has been Director of the Institute of Astrophysics at FORTH since 2019. His scientific work focuses on understanding the mechanism of energy production in galactic nuclei in the nearby and distant universe, using mainly observations from space telescopes.

He has served as President of the Hellenic Astronomical Society and as a member of many international scientific committees. He is currently a member of the Space Sciences Advisory Committee of the European Space Agency (SSAC/ESA), a member of the Scientific Council of the Institute for Research on the Fundamental Laws of the Universe (IRFU) at CEA (France) and a member of the Evaluation and Accreditation Council of the National Authority for Higher Education. He has received the 2023 Public Service Award from the University of Crete and the title of Chevalier dans l’Ordre des PAlmes Académiques (Knight of the Order of the Academic Palms) by the French Republic in 2024.