Research summary: Maria studied Physics at the University of Athens, from which she holds an M.Sc. in Environmental Physics and a Ph.D. in Atmospheric Physics & Climatology with a scholarship from the State Scholarship Foundation.

During 2012-2014, she was a visiting postdoctoral researcher at the School of Earth Sciences, University of Melbourne and in 2014 she joined the Department of Geology and Geoenvironment of EKPA as a lecturer.

Her research interests focus on climate variability and the relationship between large-scale atmospheric circulation and the Mediterranean climate. In collaboration with Boston University and the SHIELD DRIVE Science Center, she is also working on a new research area concerning the possible encounter of our solar system with interstellar clouds in the geological past and their impact on Earth’s climate.

In addition, she has been involved in more than 30 European and national research projects, mainly related to the study of climate change and its impacts on ecosystems and human activity, as well as to the assessment and management of the risk from it.