Prof. Serkos Haroutounian

Professor Serkos Haroutounian

Serkos A. Haroutounian https://www.aua.gr/haroutounian

Professor (and former vice-rector) of the Agricultural University of Athens, and vice-president of the Executive Committee of FAO (Food Agriculture Organization) at the United Nations, former President of ELGO-DIMITRA. He received a B.Sc. degree of Chemistry from the University of Patras (1980) and pursued doctoral studies (1981-85) in the context of a collaborative project of the Agricultural University of Athens (AUA) and the University of Illinois (U of I). Then, he moved to the U of I to carry out postdoctoral research (1985–86), where he specialized at the biomedical applications of organic chemistry. After serving the Greek Navy (1987-89), he joined the AUA faculty as lecturer (1989) and in 1992–93 he returned to the U of I as visiting professor. After serving in all professorship ranks, in 2002 he was promoted to AUA professor, a position that currently holds. Additionally, during the period 2002-2017 he was appointed at the Hellenic Open University as Professor of Organic Chemistry.

His research is focused on circular economy, the valorization of natural products, the promotion and certification of Greek traditional products & foodstuffs and the development of novel Pharmaceuticals & Biocides. He has authored 182 articles in international scientific journals, holds two patents and serves as academic editor and editorial board member of five scientific journals. For his research there are more than 5.000 citations in international scientific literature. He has supervised the implementation of 14 doctoral (Ph.D.) and 17 master (M.Sc.) theses. He has successfully coordinated the implementation of 39 research projects funded by the EU, the Greek government and private companies. Currently, he coordinates the implementation of four projects concerning the circular economy and the climate change mitigation.

His research project DIONYSOS was awarded in 2009 by the EU as best of the best environmental project. In the context of social contribution, he collaborates with authorities for the valorization of local products such as Santorini wines and the certification of traditional products as PDO/PGI. In this respect, he has prepared the application files for the certification of “Santorini Fava”, “Santorini Tomato”, “Kaskaval Pindou” and “Tsalafouti” cheeses, “Sardela Kalonis” and “Anatomelo Ikarias”.