Our People

Prof. J. Sciare is the director of the Energy Environment and Water Research Center (EEWRC) of the Cyprus Institute (CyI). His main expertise covers the experimental characterization of atmospheric aerosols; addressing issues related their impacts on air quality, health and climate. He has received a Ph-D in atmospheric chemistry and physics from Paris VII University in 2000 with a dissertation on the “Biogeochemical cycle of dimethylsulfide in the Austral Ocean”.

Following a post-doctoral position at the Max Planck of Chemistry in Mainz (Germany) in 2000-2001 on the measurement of Cloud Condensation Nuclei (CCN) in various environments, J. Sciare has obtained a full permanent position in CNRS end of 2001 at LSCE and became CNRS Research Director in 2013, leading an atmospheric chemistry group of 20 persons from mid-2012 to mid-2014. Since mid-2014, J. Sciare is a full-time professor at the Cyprus Institute.

J. Sciare is currently leading the development of several major CyI research infrastructure such as : 1) the Cyprus Atmospheric Observatory (CAO) for long term observations of key atmospheric pollutants in Cyprus at, 2) the Unmanned System Research Laboratory (USRL) for the development of an unparalleled fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles dedicated to atmospheric research studies, and 3) the Facility for Chemical Analyses (FCA) for the speciation of trace species in ambient gases and aerosols.

J. Sciare is (co-)author of more than 110 international refereed publications (H-index 34) and more than 150 presentations at international conferences devoted to atmospheric chemistry and physics.

Dr Bourtsoukidis is a faculty member at The Cyprus Institute since January 2021. Previously, he was a Research Associate at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz (DE). He holds a PhD in Geosciences from Goethe University of Frankfurt (DE), a MSc in Environmental Physics and a BSc in Physics from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (GR). His research focus on the role of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) in Earth System Sciences. He has lead research articles on Biogenic Volatile Organic Compound (BVOC) emissions from terrestrial vegetation and soils, on instrument development for chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) quantification in the free troposphere and on non-methane hydrocarbon (NMHC) sources and sinks, applying interdisciplinary approaches in order to evaluate the atmospheric impacts of anthropogenic and biogenic emissions in the era of Anthropocene.

He has participated in numerous international projects and has authored/co-authored more than 30 publications, several of which in high-impact journals such as Science, Nature Communications and Global Change Biology.

Tuija Jokinen joined the CyI faculty in August 2021 from the University of Helsinki, Finland, where she also completed her Ph.D. in physics and M.Sc. in chemistry. After her dissertation, she joined University of California at Irvine, USA, for a postdoc year and she has also been a visiting researcher at TROPOS, Leipzig, Germany. Before joining CyI she was the Head of Unit for two ACTRIS calibration centers and a group leader for the Polar and Arctic atmospheric research group (PANDA).

She has a long history in working with chemical ionization - atmospheric pressure interface - time of flight mass spectrometers (CI-APi-TOF) and she specializes in field observations of aerosol precursor gases and sub 10 nm particle measurements. She aims at solving how aerosol particles are formed from condensing vapors in the atmopshere and how aerosols effect the climate and ecosystems around EMME-area.

Maria is a post-doctoral research fellow in Atmospheric Aerosol Sciences of EMME-CARE. Her main expertise covers the experimental characterization of atmospheric aerosols. She has a strong background in Physics (BSc, University of Cyprus, Cyprus, 2015) and later specialized in Applied Meteorology and Climate with Management (MSc, University of Reading, UK, 2016).

The focus of her PhD work (Centre for Atmospheric and Climate Physics at the University of Hertfordshire, UK) was on atmospheric in-situ and remote sensing measurements of aerosols, with a particular focus on mineral dust particles. During her PhD project, she assembled, calibrated and operated a novel open-path OPC called the Universal Cloud and Aerosol Sounding System (UCASS). She has deployed the instrument for measurements of vertical profiles of aerosol size distributions during dust outbreaks over Cyprus, Greece, and Spain. The purpose was to assess the quality of the UCASS measurements with independent data from state-of-the-art remote-sensing retrievals such as GARRLiC, LiRIC, the AERONET and SKYNET inversions, and POLIPHON. So far, these activities have led to a couple of scientific publications.

Franco Marenco is an expert in aerosols and remote sensing, with 28 years experience. He started in the field with an undergraduate project in the laboratory led by Prof. Giorgio Fiocco at the University of Rome "La Sapienza" (Italy) on "Lidar observations of the stratosphere and the mesosphere from Thule, Greenland". Since then, he has taken an experimental approach to his studies on the the structure and composition of the atmosphere, and has promoted where possible the synergetic use of remote sensing, in situ measurements, and model predictions. In 2006, Prof. Marenco received a PhD in Physics from the University of Genova, Italy, with a thesis on "Research on atmospheric aerosols in a remote and an urban area of Northwestern Italy"

Franco is planning to contribute to research in the field of transboundary transport of atmospheric constituents. He has extensive experience with lidar remote sensing, together with additional skills in the field of in situ observations and satellite remote sensing. He has contributed to research projects at a number of universities and institutes, in Italy, Greece, and the Netherlands, and since 2009 he is employed at the Met Office in the United Kingdom, where he continues to be affiliated part-time. The latter experience has permitted him to link his research interests to meteorology and hazard management.

From 2015 to 2021, Franco has been the manager of Satellite Imagery at the Met Office, which has permitted not only to broaden his scientific horizons, but also to further develop his leadership skills. In May 2021, he has joined CARE-C part-time, with a view of developing a ground-based remote sensing facility and growing the additional scientific capabilities that permit creating a full understanding of observed atmospheric scenes.

Franco Marenco has (co-)authored of more than 60 international refereed publications (H-index 20) and has extensively presented his research at international conferences devoted to remote sensing atmospheric sciences.

Dr Michael Pikridas is a postdoctoral fellow at the Cyprus Instritute since April 2013. His main expertise covers the experimental characterization of atmospheric aerosols with respect to new particle formation, aerosol optical properties, and source apportionment. He has received a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Patras, Greece in 2012 and a bachelor degree in Chemistry from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in 2004.

He is currently managing the first long term observations station of key atmospheric pollutants in Cyprus, while participating in vertical profiling of ambient aerosol properties using unmanned aerial vehicles dedicated to atmospheric research studies.

Before joining the Cyprus Institute, he worked as research assistant in Brookhaven National Laboratory, U.S.A. where he characterized a novel aerosol size distribution instrument and as a laboratory manager at ICEHT-FORTH.

Mihalis received his B.Sc. in chemistry from the University of Crete, Greece, in 1999. In 2002 and 2005, he received his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in environmental and analytical chemistry from the same university, in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute (Mainz) in Germany. His Ph.D thesis was entitled “Nitrate radicals (NO3.): Their role in controlling the Nitrogen cycle and the Oxidizing Capacity of the atmosphere”.

He has been employed as a post-doc researcher by the ECPL laboratory in Crete (2005-2006), the IUP institute in Bremen (2006-2009, A.v.Humboldt and Marie Curie consecutive fellowships) and the Academy of Athens (2010-2012). In 2012, he joined the Environmental Energy, Environment and Water Research Center of the Cyprus Institute as a Research Scientist.

Since July 2015, Mihalis is a tenured professor at the University of Bremen in Germany and an adjunct professor at the Cyprus Institute. Mihalis has more than 18 years of experience in atmospheric chemistry and physics and he is an author of more than 50 peer reviewed publications and 160 presentation in international conferences. Since 2000, Mihalis worked full time as a principle investigator/scientific partner in 20 national and international projects.

Mihalis’ research interests lie in atmospheric chemistry and physics fields focusing on air quality observations and numerical simulations. The first area of interest involves in situ, ground based and space-based remote sensing observations of major anthropogenic pollutants including short and long-lived trace gases, radicals and particulate matter. For the latter, the focus is to use various levels of information based on the optical-physical and chemical properties of aerosols (e.g. size distribution, concentrations, extinction, chemical composition) in order to draw conclusions on the origin and emission strengths of air masses impacting on regional air quality.

The second field of interest is related to numerical simulations based on the box (0D) and chemical transport (3D) models. The main research goal here is to understand the complex mechanisms and processes controlling the emission, transport, transformation and removal of natural and manmade trace species having an impact on air quality, climate and human health.

Dr. Konstantinos (Kostas) Fragkos holds a BSc in Physics and an MSc in Environmental Physics from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, where he also earned his PhD in Atmospheric Physics in 2015 under the supervision of Prof. Bais. Following his doctorate, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the same university, focusing on atmospheric physics research.

From 2017 to 2022, Dr. Fragkos served as a Research Scientist at the National Institute of Research and Development for Optoelectronics (INOE200) in Romania. He led the radiation measurement program, establishing a Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN)-compliant solar radiation station and acting as its station scientist.

Between 2022 and 2024, he led the Solar Radiation and Energy Cluster at the Eratosthenes Centre of Excellence. Currently, he is an Associate Research Scientist in the Remote Sensing Department at CARE-C, Cyprus Institute.

Dr. Fragkos's research interests include solar radiation transfer through the atmosphere, interactions with atmospheric tracers, stratospheric ozone physics, satellite data validation, and statistical analyses of atmospheric datasets. He has participated in 13 European and National projects, authored 16 peer-reviewed journal articles, and presented 47 conference announcements. He is also an active reviewer for 12 atmospheric science journals.

Dr Garg is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Climate and Atmosphere Research Center (CARE-C) of the Cyprus Institute. She has worked on monitoring, mapping, emission inventory, and identifying hazards of Volatile Organic Compounds, Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons, and Particulate Matter present in the air. Anchal carried out extensive fieldwork, surveys, and cross-sectional studies for identifying air quality and health-related data. Previously, she was a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow (2022-2024) at Stanford University, USA, where she worked on modeling and measuring the health consequences of indoor air pollutants formed during the combustion of stove gas in California. She holds a PhD in Environmental Sciences, a MSc in Environmental Sciences (Gold Medalist) from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, India, and BSc in Life Sciences from University of Delhi, India.

Anchal is DST-INSPIRE Awardee and part of the Indian delegation to the BRICS Young Scientist Forum-2019 held at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She received awards for her presentations at various national and international conferences and workshops.

Vijay Kanawade joined The Cyprus Institute (CyI) as a Research Scientist in April 2025. He holds a Master of Technology in Atmospheric Physics from the Department of Atmospheric and Space Sciences at Savitribai Phule Pune University, India, and earned his Ph.D. in Earth Observation Science from the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Leicester, UK, in 2010.

Vijay’s postdoctoral experience includes research at Kent State University, Ohio, USA (2010–2012), as well as roles as Senior Project Scientist at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India (2012–2014), and Visiting Researcher at Lund University, Sweden (2015). Prior to joining CyI, he served as a UGC-Assistant Professor at the Center for Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Hyderabad (2016–2023).

Vijay's research focuses on the process-level understanding of airborne aerosol production and the broader impact of aerosols on weather, climate, and ecosystems. He has extensive expertise in integrating satellite, in-situ measurements, and model-based datasets. At CyI, his work aims to improve our understanding of airborne aerosol production and its implications for ecosystems and climate in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East (EMME) region.

Rima has a strong background in environmental and atmospheric sciences. Her early career began with an internship at the Environmental Core Laboratory at the American University of Beirut (AUB), where she acquired practical skills in chromatography, spectrophotometry, and quality assurance. She then continued at AUB as a research assistant for six years, collaborating across various labs and departments. Her primary focus was on air quality in the Atmospheric and Analytical Laboratory, where she coordinated field sampling campaigns to investigate particulate matter pollution throughout Lebanon and maintained an air quality monitoring station equipped with gas analyzers and aerosol instruments. Rima also engaged in collaborative research with Virginia Commonwealth University at AUB's Aerosol Research Lab, where she analyzed the chemical components of emissions from e-cigarettes and waterpipes. In collaboration with AUB’s Nature Conservation Center, she led a citizen science initiative to tackle water contamination issues within a local community. Her PhD work at the University of Helsinki expanded her expertise into atmospheric new particle formation, where she engaged in various field and experimental campaigns. At CERN, she participated in three CLOUD campaigns and co-led the MSA nucleation experiments. She also conducted the first long-term measurements of new particle formation and sub-3nm particle measurements in Cyprus. Besides her research, Rima has taught courses on aerosol measurement techniques and data analysis. She values hands-on experience with instruments and coding and dislikes black boxes.

Rafail Konatzii is an intern at Cyprus Atmospheric Observatory (CAO) at The Cyprus Institute. He holds an integrated master bachelor of Chemical Engineering from National Technical University of Athens. He is a postgraduate student at Open University of Cyprus (UCy) in the field of Environmental Conservation and Protection. He is a member of the Cyprus Scientific and Technical Chamber (ETEK).

Pierre-Yves Quéhé joined CARE-C of the Cyprus Institute in October 2019 as Technical Research Specialist in Atmospheric sciences.

He received his DUT in physical measurements from Institut Universitaire de Technologie de Lannion (2012), and an Engineer diploma in Systems and Processes for the Measurement and the Instrumentation at Le Mans University (2015).

Pierre-Yves has three years of experience in atmospheric measurement within the ICOS-LSCE team in France, working mainly on long-term monitoring of greenhouse gases. At The Cyprus Insitute, he is in charge of developing the greenhouse gas measurements part through the EMME-CARE project.

Elie Bimenyimana received a bachelor degree in Physics (2016), a MSc in Mathematics (2018) and a MPhil in Environmental Sciences (2020) from the University of Burundi, the University of Stellenbosch (South Africa) and The Cyprus Institute respectively.

During his Masters at the Cyprus Institute, he studied the sources of fine particle (PM2.5) affecting Nicosia.

Currently, he is exploring the spatial and temporal variability of atmospheric PM pollution sources in Cyprus, for his PhD.

Aliki has received a Physics Diploma from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, and a MSc in Environmental Physics from the University of Bremen, Germany. During her masters, Aliki was involved in two experimental campaigns investigating the exchange of greenhouse gases from tropical rivers in Malaysia.

She is currently a PhD student in a dual degree between the Cyprus Institute and IMT Lille Douai, France. Her research project is focused on investigating sources of submicron aerosols and gases in the East Mediterranean region. In this context she has participated in field campaigns taking place in Cairo, Egypt and Nicosia, Cyprus.

Neha received an MPhil degree in Environmental Sciences from The Cyprus Institute in 2022 (Thesis title: “Nanoparticle building blocks for novel gas sensing materials”) and an Integrated M.Tech. (5-years) in Nanotechnology from Sri Guru Granth Sahib World University in 2016.

She worked as a research assistant at the department of Industrial Engineering at the University of Trento, Italy (2017-2019). Currently, she is enrolled in the Energy, Environment and Atmospheric Sciences Ph.D. program at The Cyprus Institute. Her research interests include the characteristics of new particle formation in the Eastern Mediterranean, neutral cluster and air ion spectrometer (NAIS), mass spectroscopy, ACTRIS and CLOUD measurements.

Emeric started his scientific career at high school in Rambouillet (France) where he aimed for a baccalaureate S which he obtained with honors. This brought him to the university in Versailles (France) where he validated his SVT licence (Science of Life and Earth), there also with honors. Since climate and environmental sciences are his research interests, he is naturally progressing towards a dedicated Master’s degree which he validated once again with mention. During this time, Emeric was able to complete two laboratory-based internships which motivated him to continue in research and therefore in thesis.

Emeric is now in Cyprus to do the first half of his thesis on the contribution of light alkanes to estimates of anthropogenic methane sources in the Middle East.

Aliki has received a Physics Diploma from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, and a MSc in Environmental Physics from the University of Bremen, Germany. During her masters, Aliki was involved in two experimental campaigns investigating the exchange of greenhouse gases from tropical rivers in Malaysia.

She is currently a PhD student in a dual degree between the Cyprus Institute and IMT Lille Douai, France. Her research project is focused on investigating sources of submicron aerosols and gases in the East Mediterranean region. In this context she has participated in field campaigns taking place in Cairo, Egypt and Nicosia, Cyprus.

Yunsong has joined the Energy, Environment and Water Research Center (EEWRC) of the Cyprus Institute as a PhD student in January 2019. She received a BSc (2015) in Marine Life Resources and Environment at Shandong University in China. Her MSc degree (2018) was on Environmental Science at Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences and the thesis was titled “Measurements of the trace gases over China seas and characterizing the emission sources”. Her PhD project is about assessing GHGs sources from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV).

Alkistis Papetta is a PhD candidate at the CAO center of CARE-C. She holds a BSc in Physics by the University of Cyprus and two MSc titles, in Wind Energy and Physics Engineering by Technical University of Denmark and Carl von Ossietzky Universität of Oldenburg.

At her previous position as a Research Associate at Fraunhofer IWES in Germany, her research was focussing on remote sensing measurements of wind and other wind parameters for wind energy applications. She has contribution in Energies 2021 and participation in conferences and workshops focused on wind energy.

Constantina Rousogenous received a Physics Degree from the National and Kapodestrian University of Athens and a MSc in Physics from the University of Cyprus (2014). During her Master, Constantina was involved in the Laboratory of Ultrafast Science of University of Cyprus, performing time-resolved Terahertz Transmission Spectroscopy on nanostructured semiconductors. At the CARE-C she is involved in the technical support and scientific exploitation of the Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON) instrument within the Atmospheric Observations Division (CAO), that involves Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) on greenhouse gases.

Marialena Larkou received a BA degree in Turkish and Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Cyprus in 2018 and a Master's degree in Political Science with a focus on European Politics from the same institution in 2021. She has gained substantial experience in European Union project management and research, having worked in project management roles in EU-related projects. Additionally, Marialena served as an Information Point Officer at the Representation of the European Commission in Cyprus and as a MEP Assistant.

She was recognized for her academic excellence, receiving awards for the best academic performance and for her highest academic integrity in Turkish and Middle Eastern Studies. Marialena also completed an internship at the European and International Affairs Office of the Ministry of Education, Sports, and Youth in 2020.

In addition to her academic achievements, Marialena is skilled in project management, research, communication, translation, and academic writing. She is multilingual, speaking both English and Turkish, and has contributed to the field with a published translation from Turkish to Greek of the book Ένας εργάτης αφηγείται (Heterotopia Publications, Limassol, 2021). Her strong organizational and interpersonal skills have supported her successful career in both academic and professional settings.