Theme: Pharos

After its first voyage, TEDxKavala has set sail again to the seas of imagination, exploration, knowledge, action, feeling and vision. Every sea journey is guarded by bright lights which are scattered and placed in key points aiming to protect its voyagers and to safely guide them towards welcoming harbors.

“Pharos” is the theme of the second TEDxKavala. On this journey, we anticipate that as lighthouses, so will our speakers-performers, flash their own light through their personal paths and individual offer in their field of interest. Its shine, can send out hope, like the rise of the sun after the dark night, or like silence “breaking” from the light of knowledge. This light that significantly shows the right orientation, the aim and which reflects every person’s attempts to define their life, to interpret the events, to discover themselves.

So, even though and despite being in the same geographical region, lighthouses never transmit the same signal, the “Pharos” of TEDxKavala is coming on 15 July 2017 to impart with its own unique light.

7th Primary School of Kavala, Panagia Region
Theodorou Poulidou 71
Kavala, Kavala, 65201
Greece

Dimitria Malamidou

Archaeologist

Dr Dimitria Malamidou is an archaeologist of the Ministry of Culture and she is working for the Ephorate of Antiquities of Kavala-Thasos. She specializes in the study of the prehistory of Northern Greece. She shows particular interest in the production, circulation and use of pottery and has attained her Phd, from the Paris-Sorbonne university, handing in a doctoral thesis based on the aforementioned subjects. Since 2008, she is co-director of the excavations in the prehistoric settlement of Philippi-Dikili Tash. She has worked for the setting up of the Archaeological Museums of Amphipolis and Thasos. She has promoted actions for museums’ and monuments’ integration into social life, with educational programmes, lectures, cultural events and exhibitions.

Dimitris Sotiriou

Choreographer /Performer

I studied dance at the National School of Dance. I continued my studies in New York at the Monument Research Dance Studio as well as at the Merce Cunningham Trust. I worked with Zouzou Nikoloudi at the CHORIKA for ten consecutive years. I am a founding member of the Sinequanon Dance Company, participating in all productions, either as a choreographer or as a dancer and travelling all over the world to dance festivals. I work as a choreographer of performing dance of ancient and contemporary repertoires in the national theatres of the Balkans.

Elena Papadopoulou

1st TEDx Ambassador for Greece / Curator TEDxThessaloniki

People and Ideas are at the heart of her journey and focus. TED appointed Elena as the 1st TEDx Ambassador for Greece, recognizing her leadership and contribution to the international TEDx community and its values. She is the curator of TEDxThessaloniki, one of the first TEDx events in Greece, a global leader of "Ideas worth sharing". Elena is an Ideas curator and Speaker coach. She is a motivated, dedicated professional with solid experience within challenging multinational environments such as Young Presidents Organisation, the United Nations, TED, and the Olympic Games among others. Elena focuses in curating events and talks with a strong emphasis on the creation of powerful and inspiring content. Although based in Greece, you will find her wherever her passion for people and ideas takes her.

Ioannis Komnios

Senior research project manager

Ioannis Komnios received his PhD in Computer Networks from the Democritus University of Thrace, Xanthi, where he worked for 8 years on internetworking protocols for space communications. This new communication framework allows for more data collected from satellites and space sensors to reach Earth significantly faster. During his time in Xanthi, Ioannis participated on several research projects funded by the European Space Agency and the European Commission, and collaborated with researchers from top institutes such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the University of Cambridge. Currently, Ioannis is working as a senior research project manager in London, UK.

Leuteris Arapakis

Lefteris Arapakis is a millennial, a social entrepreneur and an instructor of business associates, having trained more than 1000 people in matters of communication. He has studied management science and technology at the Athens University of Economics and Business. He is keen on motivation and progress not only concerning individuals but organisations as a whole. Coming from a family of fishermen, he has recently founded Enalia aiming to educate young people on sustainable fishing and create positions in the field. In his leisure time, he travels around the world and engages in theater.

Paraskevas-Selim Volanakis

Student / FOUNDING MEMBER OF THE NPO "PHAROS TOU KOSMOU"

Paraskevas Selim was born on March 28 1997 from Romani parents and was grew up at Dendropotamos in East Thessaloniki. At the age of sixteen and only within one year of attending integrated classes, he managed to complete primary school education, which he had interrupted in the second grade. Later on, he joined the Center for the Protection of minors “Lighthouse of the World”, continuing his school studies unobtrusively. He succeeded in carrying the Greek flag at the 3rd secondary school of Menemeni, while he also participated in the FIRST LEGO LEAGUE WORLD FESTIVAL in the States -an achievement obtained by his discreet participation in the educational robotics team FAR.GO.BOTS. In addition to the above, he took part as a diplomat in a simulation for human rights of the United Nations Council, as well as a judge in a simulation trial of the Administrative Courts of Thessaloniki. Also, he represented Pharos at the Hellenic Parliament in an event for Romani people’s rights. He has been a

Pinelopi Miniati

HEAD OF THE HELLENIC FORENSIC SCIENCE DIVISION (DEE) OF THE GREEK POLICE

She has studied biology in the States, at the University of Toledo Ohio, in which she continued her studies and gained a master’s degree in Biochemistry having received a scholarship. With her return to Greece, she got hired from the Hellenic Police and was once a founding member of the innovative forensic laboratory DNA, while also carrying out her doctoral thesis at the School of Medicine- University of Crete. From then on, she has initially worked as a member and then as the head of the DNA laboratories. These specific laboratories, receive the majority of cases, having forensic as well as social character (identification of bodies of refugees), in Greece. From 2016 she runs the National Crime Service.

Stratos Kalafatis

Photographer

Stratos Kalafatis was born in Kavala in 1966. A member of the national team of athletics, he graduated from the Department of Physical Education and Sports of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in 1987. He took photography lessons at The Art Institute of Philadelphia, U.S.A, during1990-1992. Today he lives in Thessaloniki, he takes photos, he teaches and organizes events on productive photography. He has completed long-term projects on photography such as Archetypal Images, the Notebook 1998-2002, the Saga, the Archipelagos and Athos-The colours of faith. He has had four books published by the Agra publications and he is being represented by the Bernier-Eliades gallery.

Thodoris Georgakopoulos

Writer and journalist

Theodoros Georgakopoulos is a writer and a journalist. Since 2000, he has been writing in weekly and monthly magazines, newspapers and on the internet. He was responsible of the digital media in a large company, is the co-founder of a digital media startup and has also overseen and worked as a translator in editions. Today, he is an editorial director of the independent, no-profit, research group “Dianeosis” and writes articles in the newspaper “Kathimerini” and in other Greek and global multimedia. He has published four books.