Curriculum Vitae

Panos C. Giannakos

PERSONAL PROFILE:
My personal strengths include determination, generosity and consideration for others. I have a good sense of humour and try to see things from other people's points of view. During my work as a lecturer, demonstrator and tutor I acquired excellent communication skills. I have taken part in a number of successful ecological projects and I believe I will be an active and enthusiastic member of a research team. During the first two years of my Ph.D. I worked in a remote mountainous area of northern Greece collecting data. During this period I learned how to be self-sufficient and completed the data collection for my Ph.D. with only the remote supervision from Durham University.

ADDRESS: 10A Efessou St., N. Erythrea 14671, Athens, GREECE.
Tel: +30-693-7712-609 & +30-210-527-5026


LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English (Cambridge First Certificate), Spanish (Intermediate)

NATIONALITY: Greek

DATE OF BIRTH: 7 May 1968

MARITAL STATUS: Single


EDUCATION:
10/1992-7/1998 University of Durham, Department of Biological Sciences Durham, England, Ph.D., Ecology.

10/1991-12/1992 University of Reading, Department of Pure and Applied Zoology, Reading, England, M.Sc., Wildlife Management and Control.

10/1987-5/1991 Technological Education Institute of Kavala, Department of Forestry, City of Drama, Greece, B.Sc. (Hons) (Class-I), Forestry.


AWARDS:
1994-1995 British Council, Study Fellowship.

1991-1994 State Scholarship Foundation of Greece, Scholarship in Forestry.


RESEARCH EXPERIENCE AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND:
Ph.D. 10/1992-12/1997. For my Ph.D. I investigated: "Frugivory and seed dispersal by carnivores, in the Rhodope mountains of northern Greece." My study focused on brown bears, red foxes, martens and wolves and also involved almost two years of field work in the Rhodope Mountains of Drama county. The first part of my data came from the analysis of faeces collected along five permanent transects in the area, from which fruiting plant seeds were extracted, identified and counted. Germination trials, vegetation and phenology surveys were also undertaken. This provided information regarding a number of important questions: i) Do carnivores differ in the extent that they consume fleshy fruit? ii) What is the fruit component of carnivore diets? iii) Do carnivores consume a specific subset of fruit species available or are fruits consumed at random? iv) What are the characteristics of the seed shadows produced by different carnivore species?

M.Sc. in Ecology seminars 10/1992-3/1994. During the first year of my Ph.D. I also followed courses directed to the M.Sc. in Ecology in the Department of Biological Sciences, covering subjects such as: satellite telemetry, G.I.S. (Arc/Info), radio tracking, statistics, animal behaviour, dispersal processes, species conservation, responses of plants to extreme environments and community ecology.

M.Sc. in Wildlife Management and control 10/1991-12/1992. The main subjects that I studied for my M.Sc. were: population biology, game animal management, fisheries and aquaculture, statistics, birds as pests, ecotoxicology, and rodent control. I have undertaken field work as part of my course concerning the capturing and tagging of deer, rat control in farms, and bird-ringing. My M.Sc. thesis on: "The brown bear (Ursus arctos Linn� 1758), its Ecology, Management, Behaviour in Captivity, and Status of the Populations in Greece." also involved behavioural observations on captive bears and comments on the conflicts between bears and humans in Greece.

B.Sc. in Forestry 10/1987-5/1991. As an undergraduate, I undertook research work for my graduation thesis entitled: "Frequency of appearance of the feeding items in the faeces of the brown bear (Ursus arctos Linn� 1758) in the virgin forest of Paranesti, in the Drama district". The main courses I followed there were: forest ecology, forest management, plant physiology, botany of conifers and angiosperms, wildlife management and aquaculture, and entomology.


EMPLOYMENT HISTORY:
6/2002 to date. Ministry of Agriculture, Hellenic Republic, Managing Authority of Rural Development Programmes (Agri-environmental Measures, Afforestation of agricultural land, Early Retirement for farmers, Compensatory allowances in mountain and less favoured areas). Scientific advisor.

1/2000 to 9/2001. Military service in the Hellenic Airforce. Working as a paramedic.

7/1998-1999. Research and publications.

6/1997-6/1998. Completion of Ph.D. thesis

9/1996-6/1997. Lecturer in modern Greek language (New College-Durham, Department of Humanities, Framwellgate Moore, DH1 5ES). I was a tutor in the College of St. Hild & St. Bede of Durham University during the same period (Leazes Road, Durham, DH1 1SZ).

1/1995-3/1997. Demonstrator for laboratory practicals in Invertebrate Behaviour, Invertebrate Biology, Vertebrate Biology, Animal Anatomy, Estuarine Ecology, and Use of Biological Software. I have supervised two undergraduate students during their honours projects (University of Durham, Department of Biological Sciences, South Road, DH1 3LE).

4/1994-12/1994 ARCTOS project. I was a member of the research team of the EU funded project-Arctos (LIFE instrument), in Greece. Participants to this project were the Greek Ministry of Agriculture, WWF Greece and Arcturos. The main aim of the project was to collect information about the distribution of brown bears in Greece, to delineate the critical habitat of the species and make proposals for minimising the conflicts between humans and bears and for the conservation of the species. The findings of the project shaped the Ministry's directives for the conservation of brown bears. (ARCTUROS, 3 Ag. Mina St., Thessaloniki 54625, Macedonia, Greece).

5/1991-3/1994. Reading for M.Sc. and Ph.D.

10/1990-4/1991 Research Assistant. I worked as a research assistant for the Forest Research Institute in Athens as part of my first degree. This involved the classification of the mountain flora of Greece and the analysis of meteorological data of forested regions (Institute of Mediterranean Forest Ecosystems, Terma Alkmanos, Ilissia 11528, Athens, Greece).


PRESENTATIONS:
Mammal Society, Annual and General Meeting and Conference, "Frugivory in carnivores" (oral paper), Swansea, UK, 12-15 April 1996.

British Ecological Society, Winter and Annual Meeting, "Frugivory by carnivorous mammals: analysis of the 'quality' & 'quantity' components of seed dispersal.", (oral paper), Sheffield, UK, 18-21 December 1995.

Tenth International Conference on Bear Research and Management, "Fruit consumption by bears and other carnivores in the Rhodope mountain range of northern Greece.", (poster), Fairbanks, Alaska, USA, 16-20 July 1995.


COMPUTING:
I am proficient in the use of Microsoft Word for Windows (word processing), Excel (spreadsheet), PowerPoint (presentations), Access (database), SPSS (statistical package) on Windows and UNIX platforms and a variety of Macintosh software. I have also had extensive use of UNIX, electronic mail, IBM WebSphere Homepage Builder, a variety of communications software, electronic abstracts like BIDS and EDINA. I have good knowledge of all versions of Microsoft's Windows (3.1, 95, 98, NT) and of DOS.

INTERESTS:

• I was the founder and during 1995-97 I was the president of the Hellenic Society of Durham University.

• I am a qualified S.C.U.B.A. diver by CMAS.

• I am very interested in photography and have many years of experience in taking and developing photographs. I have taken part in two group photographic exhibitions and my photographs have been included in calendars and one nature guide.

• I am a very enthusiastic traveler. In 1998 I travelled extensively in the Amazon region of Brazil. I also spent a week in a native Indians' village in the Archipelago of the river Tocantins (tributary of the Amazon), observing their traditional fishing techniques. In 1995 I visited Alaska in order to make a presentation in an international scientific conference. I stayed in Fairbanks and Denali National Park.