Research Team

Dr. Konstantinos X. Soulis (Coordinator)

Assistant Professor, Geoinformatics and Spatial Analysis in Agriculture and Environment, Agricultural University of Athens, Dep. of Natural Resources Management and Agricultural Engineering, Lab. of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry Dr. Soulis is an Agricultural Engineering and has received his Ph.D. from the Department of Natural Resources Management and Agricultural Engineering of the Agricultural University of Athens with an expertise in Geoinformatics and Hydrology. His main research and teaching subjects are: Geographical Information System (GIS), Geospatial Analysis, Hydrology, Environmental Hydrology, Hydrological Modeling, Hydrometry, Agricultural Water Management, Irrigations, WRM, and Geographical Information System (GIS) applications development in the fields of WRM, Hydrology and Pedology. From 2007 up to now, he is the author of 49 peer-reviewed articles (21 as the first author and 3 as the sole author) in leading peer reviewed international journals and 48 peer-reviewed publications in national and international conference proceedings as well as of various books, studies, and professional articles. His work was cited 1139 times in Scopus up to now (h-index 18); 1139 times in Web of Science (h-index 18) and 1676 times in Google Scholar (h-index 21). He has one Patent granted and he served as a reviewer in 64 international journals. He has worked as a scientific partner in several projects conducted by AUA, by the Soil Science Institute of Athens of the National Agricultural Research Foundation (N.AG.RE.F.), by the Centre for Renewable Energy Sources and Saving (CRES), and by the School of Mechanical Engineering of NTUA. Dr. Soulis serves as an Associate Editor at the Hydrological Sciences Journal, which is one of the leading and most historical peer reviewed journals in hydrology. In 2020 he received the best associate editor award in Hydrological Sciences Journal for his outstanding overall contribution. He is also a member of the editorial board of Remote Sensing journal and Journal of Mountain Science, and a Guest Editor in the Journals Water, Remote Sensing, ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information, Drone, Land, Geomatics, and Agriculture. He was recognized as a top peer reviewer in Publons and has received a Scholarship for research on the fields of remote sensing and GIS applications in agriculture (National Scholarship Foundation – 1998, after successful exams). In 2021 he was listed among the top 2% of scientists in the world for 2020, (Baas, Jeroen; Boyack, Kevin; Ioannidis, John P.A. (2021), “August 2021 data-update for “Updated science-wide author databases of standardized citation indicators”) In 2022 he received the “Digital Governance Award”, by winning the first prize in the Ministry of Digital Government’s Annual Competition in the category entitled “Best New Idea” for the thematic category “Public Administration, Self-Government and Justice”, as team member and co-author of the Project entitled: “Digital dynamic and multi-level rural map with assisted ranking of agricultural land in productivity categories”. Finally, he has worked as evaluator of European Research Projects Proposals and European Research Projects implementation. Profiles in research databases: Scopus Author ID: 23398632200 (https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=23398632200) Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.gr/citations?user=fO-lvagAAAAJ&hl=el ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2712-1676 Web of Science ResearcherID: B-4750-2014 (https://www.webofscience.com/wos/author/record/B-4750-2014)

Prof. Dionissios Kalivas_

Professor in Land Evaluation, Geographical Information Systems and Spatial Analysis, Land Resources and Agricultural Engineering Department, Agricultural University of Athens (2005 – today). Lecturer in Geographical Information Systems (GIS) at the Department of Economics and Regional Development at Panteion University of Social and Political Science (2002 – 2004). Visiting Assistant Professor at Democritus University of Thrace, Department of Environmental Engineering (2000-2002). Adjunct Professor (teaching Soil-Climate System & the Vine), Department of Oenology & Beverage Technology, Technological Educational Institute of Athens (1993-2018). Education: Graduate (1983), M. Sc. (1989) and Ph.D. (1991) Agricultural University of Athens. Publication Record: 18 books and books chapters, 50 refereed journal articles, 75 refereed conference papers, over 60 conference papers and abstracts. Funded research activity: 55 projects supported by EU (DG Regio, Interreg, ESPON), Greek authorities and private companies (projects on GIS, Spatial Analysis and Land Evaluation). Selected publications: 1. Kalivas, D., 2003: “Soil science – Evaluation of soils, location-based climate conditions and wine”, ION Publishing, Athens (In Greek), ISBN 960-411-336-4. 2. Kollia, V., Kalivas, D. and Triantakonstantis D., 2012, “Geographical Information Systems”, EMBRYO Publishing, Athens (In Greek), ISBN 9789608002692. 3. Kollias, V.J. and Kalivas, D. P.: “The enhancement of a commercial geographical information system (ARC/INFO) with fuzzy processing capabilities for the evaluation of land resources”, Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, Vol. 20 (1998), pp. 79-95. 4. D.P. Kalivas, V.J. Kollias: “Effects of Soil, Climate and Cultivation Techniques on Cotton Yield in Central Greece, Using Different Statistical Methods”, Agronomie, Vol 21 (2001), pp. 73-89. 5. V.J. Kollias, D.P. Kalivas & N.P. Yassoglou: “Mapping the Soil Resources of a Recent Alluvial Plain in Greece Using Fuzzy Sets in a GIS Environment”, European Journal of Soil Science, Vol. 50 (1999), Νο 2, pp. 261-273. 6. D.P. Kalivas, V.J. Kollias, G. Karantounias: “A GIS for the Assessment of the Spatio-Temporal Changes of the the Kotychi Lagoon, Western Peloponnese, Greece”, Water Resources Management, Vol 17 (2003), pp. 19-36. 7. J.H. Assimakopoulos, D.P. Kalivas, V.J. Kollias: “A GIS-based fuzzy classification for mapping the agricultural soils for N-fertilizer use”, The Science of the Total Environment, Vol. 309, issues 1-3 (2003), pp. 19-33. 8. M.G. Mardikis, D.P. Kalivas, V.J. Kollias: “Comparison of Interpolation Methods for the Prediction of Reference Evapotranspiration – An Application in Greece”, Water Resources Management, Vol. 19 (2005), pp: 251-278. 9. Kalivas D.P., G. Economou, and C.E. Vlachos: “Using geographic information systems to map the prevalent weeds at early stage of cotton crop in relation to abiotic factors”, Phytoparasitica, Vol. 38 (2010), pp.: 299-312. 10. A. Papadopoulos, D. Kalivas, T. Hatzichristos: Decision support system for nitrogen fertilization using fuzzy theory, Computers and Electronics in Agriculture (2011), Vol. 78 (2), pp.130-139.

Dr. Emmanuel Psomiadis_

Assistant Professor, Remote Sensing in Agricultural and Geological Applications, Department of Natural Resources & Agricultural Engineering, Agricultural University of Athens (AUA) Dr. E. Psomiadis holds a PhD in “Remote Sensing & GIS techniques for the evaluation of Environmental and Geomorphological Coastal Changes” from the Department of General Sciences, AUA. Also, holds a BSc in Water Resources Management, and an MSc in Environmental Management from the Department of Natural Resources & Agricultural Engineering, AUA. His main research and teaching interests include Remote Sensing and Geographical Information Systems, and their applications in the fields of Agricultural, Geology, Environment, Geomorphology, Natural Resources and Natural Disasters. He is the author of 29 peer-reviewed articles in leading peer reviewed international journals and 30 peer-reviewed publications in national and international conference proceedings as well as of various books, studies, and professional articles. He has worked as a scientific partner in more than 50 International and National Research Projects conducted by AUA, Hellenic Mapping and Cadastral Organization and Private Companies in the fields of Geoinformation, Remote Sensing, Geographical Information Systems and Geospatial analysis. In 2021 he was listed among the top 2% of scientists in the world for 2020, (Baas, Jeroen; Boyack, Kevin; Ioannidis, E – “Development and Implementation of an Innovative and Economic System for the Precise & Dynamic Programming of Irrigation and the Monitoring of Crops”, within the Framework of the National Scope Action: “RESEARCH-CREATE-INNOVATE”. – 2018-2019. Scientific responsible for the project “Research for the evaluation of the impact of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) agricultural development program in water use efficiency. Hellenic Ministry of Rural Development and Food. – 2015-2018. Remote Sensing and GIS Specialist in the project “Farming tools for external nutrient inputs and water management (FATIMA) / Horizon 2020 /Sustainable Food Security / Call: H2020-SFS-2014-2, Scientific responsible for AUA. The most recent and relative to the proposal peer-reviewed Publications are the following: – Efthimiou N., Psomiadis E., Papanikolaou I., Soulis K.X., Borrelli P., Panagos P., 2022. Developing a high-resolution Land Use/Land Cover map by upgrading CORINE’s agricultural components using detailed national and pan-European datasets. GEOCARTO INTERNATIONAL, DOI: 10.1080/10106049.2022.2041107 – Darra N., Psomiadis E., Kasimati A., Anastasiou A., Anastasiou V., Fountas S., 2021 Remote and Proximal Sensing Derived Spectral Indices and Biophysical Variables for Spatial Variation Determination in Vineyards. AGRONOMY, 11(4), 741. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11040741 – Alexandris S., Psomiadis E., Proutsos N., Philippopoulos P., Charalampopoulos I., Kakaletris G., Vassilakis S., Papoutsi E-M., Paraskevopoulos A., 2021. Integrating drone technology into an innovative agrometeorological methodology for the precise and real-time estimation of crop water requirements. HYDROLOGY, 8(3), 131; https://doi.org/10.3390/hydrology8030131 – Soulis, K.X.; Psomiadis, E.; Londra, P.; Skuras, D., 2020. A New Model-Based Approach for the Evaluation of the Net Contribution of the European Union Rural Development Program to the Reduction of Water Abstractions in Agriculture. SUSTAINABILITY 12, 7137. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12177137 – Psomiadis E., Diakakis M., Soulis K.X. 2020. Combining SAR and Optical Earth Observation with Hydraulic Simulation for Flood Mapping and Impact Assessment. REMOTE SENSING. 2020; 12(23):3980. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12233980 John P.A. (2021), “August 2021 data-update for “Updated science-wide author databases of standardized citation indicators”). In 2022 he received the Digital Governance Award, by winning the first prize in the […]

Stergia Palli Gravani

Post-Graduate Student. Will undertake work in the project as PhD candidate. ACADEMIC TRAINING 10/2021 – today: Inter-Departmental Program of Post-graduate Studies in the scientific field “Water Resources Science and Technology”, National Technical University of Athens (N.T.U.A.) 9/2015 – 11/2020: Department of Natural Resources Management & Agricultural Engineering, Agricultural University of Athens Division of Water Resources. GPA: 8,37/10 Diploma Thesis: «Evaluation of an empirical model for predicting evaporation from bare silty clay loam soil». EXPERIENCE Research Assistant: 7/2022 – today: Agricultural University of Athens-Laboratory of Soil Science & Agricultural Chemistry. Study for the restoration of flooded areas from fires in the broader area of Varympompi. Flood risk map and technical report on the assessment of post-fire hydrological changes. Practical Training (4 months): 3/3 – 13/3 & 7/9 – 30/10/2020: Agricultural University of Athens-Laboratory of Agricultural Hydraulics. (Study of water evaporation from soil samples. Salinity of soil solution and determination by electrical conductivity of saturation paste extract (ECe).) 1/7 – 31/8/2020: ERATOSTHENES S.A.-Department of Geographic Information Systems. (Correction of digital terrain model in Geographic Information Systems environment. Photointerpretation keys.) CONFERENCES-ATTENDANCE 6/2021 Submission of the paper “Evaluation of an empirical model for the prediction of soil evaporation” for review at the 12th Panhellenic Conference of the Hellenic Society of Agricultural Engineers “The contribution of Agricultural Engineering in achieving the objectives of the Green Agreement”, Thessaloniki, Greece, Zoom, 21-22 October 2021 LANGUAGES & COMPUTER SKILLS English: Excellent knowledge Excellent knowledge: MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) Good knowledge: ArcGIS, HEC-RAS, HEC-HMS, Visual Basic PERSONAL INTERESTS Tae Kwon Do Sports Club of Papagos (7 years). Educational tours for elementary and high school students in the facilities of the Agricultural University of Athens (2018-2019).

Stylianos Gerontidis

Special Technical Laboratory Staff, Laboratory of Soil Science. Agricultural University of Athens Education September 1994. Graduated from the Department of Natural Resources & Agricultural Engineering of the Agricultural University of Athens. May 2000. Graduated with honors from the Master’s Program of Studies (MSc) of the Department of Natural Resources & Agricultural Engineering with specialization: “Environmental Management”. Experience 2002 – Present. Agricultural University of Athens. Department of Natural Resources & Agricultural Engineering. Laboratory of Soil Science. Management of the digital and hard-copy map-library Support for undergraduate and postgraduate theses on topics related toGeographic Information Systems (GIS). Auxiliary teaching of G.I.S. laboratory exercises. Participation in several research programs (MEDALUS, TERON, etc.) as responsible for creating and managing geospatial data using GIS. 2004 – 2011 Creative Image Technologies S.A. Scientific partner in subjects as: Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Location Based Services (LBS), Fleet Management applications, Web GIS applications. 2004 – 2007 Agrogi S.A. Technical consultant on GIS projects and responsible for training staff in the use of GIS software. 2001 – 2002 Panafone – Vodafone. IT Department. Responsible for the creation and management of GIS data. 2000 – 2001 Epsilon International. Εmployee of the GIS department. Participation in the following projects: “Mapping the Natura 2000 areas of Western Greece”, “Creation of the National Environmental Information Network”, “Creation of mountaineering maps for the most important mountains of Greece”, “Creation of a GIS application for the Hellenic Post Offices (ELTA) – Optimizing postmen routes”. 1996 – 2000 Agricultural University of Athens. Department of Natural Resources & Agricultural Engineering. Laboratory of Soil Science. Participation in several research programs as responsible for creating and managing geospatial data using GIS. Publications 15 publications in international peer-reviewed journals and 1081 citations of these publications.

Dr. Orestis Kairis

Εlected Assistant Professor, (currently Teaching and Research Associate), Laboratory of Soils and Agricultural Chemistry, Department of Natural Resources Management and Agricultural Engineering, Agricultural University of Athens (AUA) Dr Orestis Kairis received his BSc degree in agricultural sciences (2001), his MSc degree in sustainable land management (2003), and his PhD degree in land degradation and desertification (2015) from the AUA. Since 2015, he serves as a Teaching & Research Associate (co-teacher) in the Laboratory of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry at AUA, participating mainly in the following courses: Soil Science/Fertilization, Applied Soil Science, Degradation and desertification of lands, Soil mapping and methods of soil surveys. He has been elected Assistant Professor in the field of Soil Mapping and Soil Evaluation since June 16, 2022. He has participated as agronomist or researcher in 18 EU-funded or financially supported by the Greek State research projects. His research experience and expertise are in soil mapping, soil quality evaluation, soil erosion risk assessment in the field and by using simulation models, soil environmental sensitivity assessment through complex and simple indicators and in statistical analysis of biophysical indicators related to land degradation. He has authored/co-authored 16 papers in peer-reviewed journals (Scopus: h index 9, citations 508), a book chapter of an international publishing house and a treatise of the Academy of Athens. Recent publications: Kairis, O.; Karamanos, A.; Voloudakis, D.; Kapsomenakis, J.; Aratzioglou, C.; Zerefos, C.; Kosmas, C. Identifying Degraded and Sensitive to Desertification Agricultural Soils in Thessaly, Greece, under Simulated Future Climate Scenarios. LAND 2022, 11, 395. https://doi.org/10.3390/land11030395 Gasparatos, D.; Kairis, O. Detailed Soil Survey Field and Laboratory Data as a Critical Tool for Optimizing the Arable Cropping Capability Evaluation of a Representative Episaturated Soil Pedon in Greece. LAND 2022, 11, 182. https://doi.org/10.3390/land11020182. Georgiadis, N. M.; Dimitropoulos, G.; Avanidou, K.; Bebeli, P.; Bergmeier, E.; Dervisoglou, S.; Dimopoulos, T.; Grigoropoulou, D.; Hadjigeorgiou, I.; Kairis, O.; Kakalis, E.; Kosmas, K.; Meyer, S.; Panitsa, M.; Perdikis, D.; Sfakianou, D.; Tsiopelas, N.; Kizos, T.; 2021. Farming practices and biodiversity: status quo evidence from a Mediterranean semi-extensive system on the island of Lemnos (Eastern Aegean, Greece). JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT 2022, 303, 114131, ISSN 0301-4797, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.114131. Kairis, O.; Aratzioglou, C.; Filis, A.; van Mol, M.; Kosmas, C., 2021. The Effect of Land Management Practices on Soil Quality Indicators in Crete. SUSTAINABILITY 2021, 13, 8619. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13158619. Kairis, O.; Dimitriou, V.; Aratzioglou, C.; Gasparatos, D.; Yassoglou, N.; Kosmas, C.; Moustakas, N., 2020. A Comparative Analysis of a Detailed and Semi-Detailed Soil Mapping for Sustainable Land Management Using Conventional and Currently Applied Methodologies in Greece. LAND 2020, 9, 154. Karavitis C., Tsesmelis D., Oikonomou P., Kairis O., Kosmas C., Fassouli V., Ritsema C., Hessel R., Jetten V., Moustakas N., Todorovic B., Skondras N., Vasilakou C., Alexandris S., Kolokytha E., Stamatakos D., Stricevic R., Chatzigeorgiadis E., Brandt J., Quaranta G., 2020. A desertification risk assessment decision support tool (DRAST). CATENA. 187. 104413. 10.1016/j.catena.2019.104413