George Koulaouzides
Director of the Laboratory
George A. Koulaouzides, was born in the US and grew up in Greece. He studied mathematics (B.Sc.), adult learning and education (M.Sc., M.Ed., Ph.D.) and counselling (PGDipl.). He is Assistant Professor of the Methodology of Adult Education at the Hellenic Open University, and adjunct professor at the International Hellenic University. He has designed the well-known accredited training program for the instructors of the National Centre for Public Administration in Greece and has a vast experience in training of trainers. George is considered as the person who guided the internationalization of the Greek adult education community. His research interests are learning, transformative learning, educational biography, and critical reflection. He has translated and edited seven books on adult education and qualitative research, edited journals, and several textbooks. His published work counts more than 100 papers in journals, edited volumes, and conference proceedings. He has served as a member of the management board of organizations like the Hellenic Adult Education Association, the European Association for Adult Education, and the International Hall of Fame. He is an active member of the International Transformative Learning Association and ESREA. In 2019 he was inducted in the International Adult & Continuing Education Hall of Fame (https://halloffame.outreach.ou.edu/inductions/hof-2019/koulaouzides/).
Zacharias Palios
Zacharias K. Palios received his PhD in Sociology of Education in 1988 from the University College of Cardiff (UK). He taught at the University of Crete since 1991, while in 1994 he was elected assistant professor at the School of Arts of the same university. In 2009 he joined the faculty of the School of Humanities of the Hellenic Open University and he is the Co-ordinator of the module “Education in Europe: From the Middle Ages to the Modern Era”. His academic and research interests are focused on the subject areas of History and Sociology of Education, Sociology of Gender, as well as Continuing Education and Training. He has participated in the organization of an International Interdisciplinary Conference on Gender and Equality Issues, at the University of Crete and has taught for a number of years the subject "Gender as a Social Class" at the University of Crete and as a visiting professor at the University of Coimbra, in Portugal and the University of Piraeus. He has participated in several research projects and has supervised seven doctoral theses. He is the director of the Biographical Learning and Transformative Adult Education Laboratory of the School of Humanities. Participates in the Gender Equality Committee, with the aim of removing prejudices and stereotypes that reproduce the relative degradation of women to this day, bearing in mind their under-representation in vital social structures and decision-making centers.e-mail: palios[at]eap.gr