Dr Panagiotis Milonas (Male) (Research Director) is specializing in insect behavioral ecology, chemical ecology of herbivores and their associated natural enemies, integrated pest management and biological control. He has a Ph.D. in Agricultural Entomology (2002) and an MSc degree in Crop Protection (1996) from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece He has conducted postdoctoral research in chemical ecology in the Laboratory of Chemical Ecology and Natural Products at the National Scientific Research Center “DEMOCRITUS” and in behavioral ecology at the University of Minnesota, USA with a fellowship from OECD and Fulbright foundation in 2007 and 2012 respectively. Since 2018 is a member of the Plant Health Panel in EFSA. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5391-7750.
The team is also composed of:
Dr Filitsa Karamaouna (female), Associate Researcher, Entomologist. She has experience in conservation of habitats for pollinators and natural enemies in agroecosystems and the assessment of adverse effects of pesticides on beneficial insects. She has long work experience in efficacy evaluation of insecticides for registration purposes according to the Reg.(EC)No 1107/2009 (also Head of the national Efficacy Evaluators’ team of pesticides since 2013). She has been a coordinator or team member in several projects funded by the EU (PRIMA PLANT-B, FP7-COFREE, FP7-PALMPROTECT, LIFE SAGE, LIFE ECOPEST), national (NanoBioEnviro) or private sector (Operation Pollinator). She is (co)author of approx.. 50 publications in scientific journals and book chapters. She is Chief Editor of Hellenic Plant Protection Journal (www.hppj.gr); Topic Editor in Insects, Frontiers in Bee Science; Assoc. Editor of International Journal of Pest Management. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7156-6875
Dr Eirini Anastasaki (female), is Associate Researcher in Biological Control lab. She has received her bachelor’s degree on Food Science & Technology from Agricultural University of Athens (AUA). Her PhD study was funded through the scholarship of Heraclitus II. Her current interests are the collection and identification of volatile organic compounds from host plants with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), the chemical ecology of insects and their behavioral study using electro-antennography (EAG, GC-EAD). She has co-authored 26 scientific publications in peer reviewed journals and 50 publications in scientific conferences. She has participated in 17 national and international research projects (Horizon 2020, COST, Interreg, HFRI, GCRT, etc.), and she is now coordinating two national research programs. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7344-9683
Dr Leonidas Economou (male), Associate researcher in Laboratory of Efficacy Control of Pesticides. He has more than 15 years of experience in the efficacy evaluation of plant protection products at national and EU level. He is a research fellow in several projects funded by the EU, the state or private sector. He is (co)author of more than 50 publications in scientific journals, conferences, book chapters workshops etc, in the fields of agricultural entomology, biological control, agroecology, soil nematology and soil ecotoxicology. Experience in the statistical analysis of scientific data (biostatistics) https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3321-6978
Dr Philippos Mylonas (male) is a Research Scientist in Weed Science, Member of Laboratory of Efficacy Control of Pesticides, Benaki Phytopathological Institute. His main research interests include herbicide resistant weeds and their resistant mechanisms, biology of resistant and susceptible weeds to herbicides (competition, fitness cost), management of resistant weeds and chemical weed control. Other research actions involve weed management with cover crops and the contribution of weed flora to the biodiversity of agroecosystems. He has a long work experience (since 2006-present) in efficacy evaluation of plant protection products, mainly herbicides, for registration purposes according to the directive 91/414/EEC and regulation (EC) No 1107/2009. He has been a team member in projects funded by the EU or private sector. He has co-authored twenty-two (22) publications in peer reviewed scientific journals, in non-peer reviewed scientific journals and in international and national conferences. https://orcid.org/0009-0003-6852-808X
Myrto S. Barda (female) is an Agronomist, MSc, research fellow at BPI and a PhD candidate of the Agricultural University of Athens (AUA) in collaboration with BPI on conservation practices for pollinators and natural enemies in apple orchards. She received her BSc from the Department of Crop Science, Faculty of Plant Protection and Environment of the AUA and her MSc on Plant Breeding and Biometry from the same department. During her MSc studies she has received training on “Commercializing biological products, services, knowledge in pest management market” at the Imperial College of London, Centre for Environmental Policy. She has co-authored 9 scientific publications in peer reviewed journals and 18 publications in scientific conferences. She has participated in 6 national and international research projects mainly on conservation of beneficial arthropods in agroecosystems. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0661-4946
