Costas N. Papanicolas

Prof. Costas N. Papanicolas is the Founding President and President Emeritus of the Cyprus Institute. He holds B.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and has held research and faculty appointments at CEA–Saclay, the University of Illinois, MIT, and the University of Athens, where he also directed the Institute of Accelerating Systems and Applications and the Physics Laboratory. He chaired the Accreditation Council for Tertiary Education of Cyprus (1998–2006) and served on the National Advisory Board on Science and Technology of Greece and the Science and Innovation Council of Cyprus. From 2018 to 2023 he acted as Advisor to the President of Cyprus and Special Envoy on Climate Change, and he now leads the Climate Crisis and Sustainable Development Unit of the Cyprus Academy of Sciences, Letters and Arts. His research interests span nuclear, particle, and medical physics, renewable energy, and science, education, and climate policy.

Prof. Papanicolas is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, a member of Academia Europaea, the Silk Road Academy of Sciences (China), and the Académie des sciences d’outre-mer (France), as well as a founding member of the Cyprus Academy of Sciences, Letters and Arts. He currently serves on the European Academies’ Science Advisory Council (EASAC). His contributions to research, education, and policy have been recognised with the Medal of Excellence for Service to the Republic (Cyprus), the H.M. Gago Award in European Science Policy (Portugal), and appointment as Commendatore dell’Ordine della Stella d’Italia by the President of Italy.