The 34th award ceremony for the Award for Excellence in Academic Teaching in memory of Vassilis Xanthopoulos and Stefanos Pnevmatikos will take place on Tuesday, December 16, 2025 at 18.00, in the Old Parliament in Athens. The Prize will be awarded by Η.Ε. the President of the Hellenic Republic, Mr. Konstantinos Tasoulas, to Professor Christina Koulouri, Rector of Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences.

The work of Professor Christina Koulouri will be presented by Maria Efthymiou, Professor Emerita of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and Chair of the Prize Committee.

Professor Koulouri will then give a talk on the following topic: “The University from the Blackboard to Artificial Intelligence: Reflecting on the Past, Shaping the Future.”

The ceremony will be live-streamed via FORTH’s YouTube channel.

This year marks 34 years since FORTH has established the Award for Excellence in Academic Teaching, an institution that annually rewards excellence and dedication to university teaching.

The award stands in memory of Vassilis Xanthopoulos and Stefanos Pnevmatikos, two inspiring professors and brilliant scientists at the University of Crete, who were murdered on the evening of November 27, 1990, while teaching an advanced graduate seminar.

The selection of the award winner is made by a committee of distinguished academic teachers representing all major fields of Science and each awardee automatically becomes a member of the Committee following their selection.

A few words about the awardee, Christina Koulouri

Christina Koulouri is Professor of Modern and Contemporary History and Rector of Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences. She studied at the Department of History and Archaeology of the University of Athens, at the University of the Sorbonne (Paris I), and at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris, as a fellow of the State Scholarships Foundation (IKY), the George and Anna Sakellariou Foundation, and the Saripoleio Endowment of the University of Athens.She has taught at the Universities of Crete, Thrace, and Peloponnese, at the Hellenic Open University, and at numerous universities abroad (Tokyo, Reading, Paris 1, Regensburg, Bologna). She has also served as a Visiting Researcher at the Sorbonne (Paris 1–UMR IRICE, 2010), Visiting Research Fellow at Princeton University (2017), and at the University of Regensburg (2019).She has been awarded the Nikos Svoronos Award (1994), the “Delphi” Award of the International Olympic Academy (2012), and the Dimitrios Vikelas Award of the International Society of Olympic Historians (ISOH, 2018).Her publications include books and articles on history education, the formation of Greek national identity and historical memory, public history, and the history of sports and the Olympic Games. She has edited the English-language publication of six volumes of educational material for the teaching of history in all Balkan countries, which have been translated into Greek and ten other languages. Her book “Fustanellas and Chlamydes: Historical Memory and National Identity, 1821–1930” (2020) was honored with the State Essay Award and the Reader’s Award.

For further information:

Mavrantoni Kalliroi,
V. Xanthopoulos- St. Pnevmatikos Award Committee,
Foundation for Research and Technology- HELLAS

Tel. 00302810391509, Email: kalliroi@admin.forth.gr