Dr Xenia I. Loizidou is a graduate civil engineer of the National Technical University of Athens, she holds an MSc, DIC in coastal Engineering from the Imperial College of London and a PhD on participatory decision support systems for natural resources management from Aristotle University, Thessaloniki. For 30 years she has been a researcher, a European and international expert, a volunteer and an activist in the fields of coastal and marine environment and dynamics, climate change, marine litter, gender issues, peacebuilding, stakeholder involvement and participatory decision making and sustainable development strategies, policies and practices, green growth/economy. She has worked in more than 50 countries, travelling the coasts and the seas of the world. She holds several offices and has received numerous international awards for her work on sustainability, marine environment and gender equality, such as the Iconic Woman Award by the Women Economic Forum in New Delhi, 2016.

Her work is included in the U.S. State Department’s ‘1000 Ocean Actions’ initiative and she is highlighted in 20th anniversary report of Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Report GEM 2018/2019. She has been appointed Ambassador of Mediterranean Coasts for 2019 - 2020 by UNEP. Since February 2020 Xenia is Member of the Compliance Committee of the Barcelona Convention, and since April 2020 she is elected member of the Executive Committee and the Leadership Council of the Cyprus Sustainable Development Network of UN (SDSN Cyprus). Since September 2021 she is elected Vice President of the Women’s Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Cyprus.

She is the author/ co-author of more than 200 published papers in Scientific Journals and International Conferences, books and Technical Reports. She is co-founder of the consulting firm ISOTECH and founding member and the Chairperson of the NGO AKTI Project and Research Centre. She is the mother of two daughters, Leda and Maria.

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