Dr George Vekinis is Emeritus (since 1/1/2024) Director of Research, Manager of the Education Office (till Mar 2023) and Head of the Advanced Ceramics and Composites Laboratory of the Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology of the National Research Centre “Demokritos” (NCSRD) in Greece. He has served as the President of the Researchers’ Association of NCSRD and as President of the Hellenic Society of Condensed Matter, the Hellenic Ceramics Society and in numerous scientific committees and conference scientific boards.

George earned his PhD in Theoretical and Experimental Physics at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa in 1986 and the MBA (core) at the Open University, UK. He was an Associate Researcher at the University of Cambridge, UK during 1987-1990 and has been a visiting researcher in various institutions in Europe and a teaching Professor at the Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki and at the Technical University of Crete as well as visiting professor in various universities in Europe and elsewhere. He has been a senior consultant in Technology Transfer and Entrepreneurship for the European Commission as well as reviewer for research projects and proposals. He has also mentored a number of start-up companies.

He has published nearly 300 publications, reports and conference presentations and 2 books on Technology Transfer and Entrepreneurship (Springer-Nature, 2023), a book entitled “Physics in the Kitchen” (2023) and has been an invited speaker at various institutions in Europe, Asia and USA. His research interests have covered a wide range of materials fields most recently on combustion synthesis of catalysts and refractories, advanced ceramic-based systems for armouring, thermomechanical protection systems and sensors for spacecraft and biodegradable polymer-ceramic composites.