• Staff

    HEPHAESTUS Laboratory

Nicholas Kyriakides is a Lecturer at the Civil Engineering and Geomatics Department of the Cyprus University of Technology (was appointed as a full-time Post-Doctoral Researcher at the University since 2008). He holds a PhD in the field of “Earthquake Risk Assessment of RC buildings” from the Department of Civil and Structural Engineering, University of Sheffield with an Oversees Student Award Scholarship and a Scholarship from the A. G. Leventis Foundation in Cyprus. He also holds a 1st class BEng degree with Honours from the University of Nottingham. His research interests include the assessment of existing RC buildings under seismic loading and the enhancement in response after conventional and innovative retrofitting. His main scope of research is the probabilistic vulnerability assessment of structures subjected to seismic loadings through sophisticated analysis with numerical tools to simulate the propagation of brittle failure modes. In addition, and as part of his doctoral work, he has examined the earthquake hazard in Cyprus based on recorded data that he had gathered from local authorities, and has derived a peak ground acceleration attenuation law based on local characteristics concerning both the recorded PGA’s and the soil conditions. He has participated in both European and locally funded projects concerning the seismic risk assessment of structures in Cyprus. Indicatively, he participated in 2 FP7 projects, (1) Seismic Retrofitting of RC frames with RC infilling (SERFIN), (2) Seismic Strengthening of Deficient RC Buildings Using Ductile Post – Tensioned Metal Strips, and two projects funded by the local Research Promotion Foundation, (1) Seismic Safety and Vulnerability Mitigation of School Buildings (160.000 euros), and (2) Seismic Vulnerability and Strengthening of Existing Privately Owned Buildings (140.000 euros). Based on the findings from these projects he has derived the seismic risk assessment map for Cyprus for various seismic hazard scenarios using a newly derived vulnerability assessment framework that can be applied to conventional, cultural and critical structures and has been cited in many publications as innovative. He has also coordinated a research project funded by the local Research Promotion Foundation under the Framework Programme for Research, Technological development and Innovation 2009-2010 for young researchers. The topic of the project was the Retrofitting of RC Buildings with RC infills, (2013 – 2014) with a budget of 29 952 Euro for CUT. The project was a bilateral collaboration with Ecole Centrale de Nantes (FR) and in particular, Prof. Panagiotis Kotronis and it was ranked 1st in its category.

The main areas that were covered by the above projects was the damage propagation and response of existing Reinforced Concrete (RC) buildings subjected to seismic loading and other dynamic actions before and after retrofitting, and the simulation of the experimental results using numerical FE analysis. Life-cycle cost analysis was also performed to obtain the optimum retrofit level. Recently he has worked on the correlation of damage condition mapped in underground sepulchral monuments with historical seismic activity in the area using non-linear FE analysis on a simulation 3D model of a case study tomb (Tomb 4 in Tombs of the King).

Dr Kyriakides was actively involved in 10 funded research projects one of which he was coordinating, he has 6 pending research funding proposals submitted at the local Research Promotion Foundation, he is a Member of sub-committee CYS TC 18-Eurocodes for EC8, Member of the committee for the Protection of Critical Energy Infrastructure (PCEI) of the European Defence Agency and a candidate for the position of the moderator for the corresponding Consultation forum,  reviewer in many journals (Engineering Structures, Earthquakes and Structures, Natural Hazards, The Open Construction and Building Technology Journal, Arabian Journal for Science and Engineering etc.) and has given a number of invited lectures to governmental authorities (Civil Defence authority, Ministries of Defence and Interior, International Council on Monuments and Sites etc.). Ever since he was appointed as a researcher at CUT he coordinated the setting up and acquiring of equipment for the departmental Large structures laboratory and have used the lab for teaching purposes as well as research and consultation. He has also contributed to the Development and establishment of the Department of Civil Engineering and Geomatics and in particular of the Departmental strategic plan Course curriculum development and updating.

He has published more than 35 articles (Google Scholar) and has approximately 200 citations. A detailed CV of the project coordinator can be found in the Appendix.

Christis Z. Chrysostomou is a Professor at the Cyprus University of Technology and Vice Rector for Economic Planning and Development since the beginning of 2017. He was a lecturer at the Higher Technical Institute in Nicosia from 1990 to the end of 2007, and from November 2011 he was serving as the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Technology until elected as Vice Rector. His research interests concentrate on earthquake engineering topics such as the analysis and design of structures subjected to earthquake loads, the capacity assessment and retrofitting of existing structures, as well as in-situ measurement of the dynamic characteristics of structures and monuments and their health monitoring, which are directly related to the proposed Project. The last 8 years he participated in research projects, which were funded by the 5th, 6th,  7th Framework Programs and Horizon 2020 of the European Union with a total budget of 11.450.000 Euro of which 2.250.000 Euro were allocated for his participation in the projects. He participated in the committee for the development of the Cyprus Seismic Code, which was introduced in 1992. He also had a leading role in the development of the Levels of Safety to be used for the retrofitting of schools, which is now underway and it is the main objective of the proposed Project. He participated in peer-review-teams for the retrofitting of essential facilities of the Electricity Authority of Cyprus, the Cyprus Telecommunications Authority and the Public Works Department.

He was elected for three consecutive terms as a member of the General Council of the Scientific and Technical Chamber of Cyprus from 1996 to 2004. He represents Cyprus in the Technical Council of the Federation International du Beton (fib), in Commission 3 – Existing Structures of fib, in the TC250-Structural Eurocodes of the European Committee for Standardization (CEN), in the Technical Committee for the development of the European Standard for Earthquake Resistant Design (EC8) and in the Eurocodes National Correspondents Group that advises the European Commission on the implementation of the Eurocodes in Member States.  He is also a member of Project Team 3 for the revision of Eurocode 8-part 3 for the Seismic Assessment and Retrofitting of buildings. He was the chairman of the Technical Committee for the preparation of the National Annexes of Eurocodes and their introduction to Cyprus through legislation and training courses to engineers and he manages a budget of 600.000 Euro for three years, and he is currently the Chairman of the Cyprus Standards Technical Committee 18 which is the mirror committee of CEN/TC250 for Structural Eurocodes.

Elia A. Tantele is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering and Geomatics. She undertook her PhD studies as well as her Post-Doctoral Research in the area of optimization of preventative maintenance strategies on reinforced concrete structures using genetic algorithm and bayesian updating, from the University of Surrey, Department of Civil Engineering (UK). Her PhD was sponsored by Highway Agency and Transport Research Laboratory (UK).  She obtained a First Class BEng (Honours) Degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Surrey, UK. She also obtained a First class HND Diploma in Civil Engineering from the Higher Technical Institute. Dr Tantele worked as a bridge engineer in the consulting firm PB (Parsons Brinckerhoff) where she was specialized in the design, assessment, inspection and maintenance of various types of bridges; PB is one of the world’s leading planning, engineering, and program & construction management organization.

She was the Coordinator of a Cyprus Research Promotion Foundation research project entitled “Unified performance prediction model for structures and infrastructures incorporating diverse monitoring data”. In addition she participated in the SmartEN Marie Curie ITN programme on ‘Smart Management for Sustainable Human Environment’ funded by the European Commission with €3.7 million (2009-2013). She is a member of the Cyprus Scientific & Technical Chamber (ETEK). Her research interests include techniques of risk and reliability, multi-criteria optimization of maintenance, corrosion of reinforced concrete, life-cycle performance, structural health monitoring, and use of artificial intelligence algorithms-genetic algorithms.

Renos A. Votsis is a Research Fellow in the Department of Civil Engineering and Geomatics. He received a Higher National Diploma in Civil Engineering from the Higher Technical Institute (Diploma, First Class). He continued his studies at the University of Surrey (UK) to obtain Bachelor of Engineering (BEng Honours, First Class) where he received the department’s scholarships for his HTI performance. During that period he was awarded the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) UK prize for the best graduate and the Felix Pulzer Memorial Prize 2001 for the best Performance in Civil Engineering courses. He then studied for a PhD with a scholarship from the University of Surrey and the ORS, in the area of dynamic analysis and damage identification in fibre reinforced polymers (FRP) structures using non-destructive testing (NDT) methods and damage identification techniques (DIT). After receiving his PhD, he worked for the UK consulting firm Tony Gee and Partners (TGP) in the Special Projects Group; TGP at that time, has been awarded many prizes including “Best medium size Consultant in the UK” (2008) and “Best places to work” (2009). Dr Votsis is a member of the Cyprus Scientific and Technical Chamber (ΕΤΕΚ). His research interest include: Dynamic analysis/testing, FE modelling and Numerical

Kyriacos Neocleous (BEng, PhD) is a Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Civil Engineering and Geomatics of Cyprus University of Technology and he is the Head of Eratosthenes’ Construction Innovation Unit. Dr. Neocleous obtained his BEng degree (1st Class Honours) in Civil and Structural Engineering (1996) and PhD in Structural-Concrete Engineering (2000) from the University of Sheffield (UK). He is a member of the Cyprus Scientific and Technical Chamber and, previously, he held the position of Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Civil and Structural Engineering of the University of Sheffield. He has co-supervised 11 PhD students and numerous undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations on concrete engineering. He has published over 95 books, papers or reports of which 60 in refereed journals, conferences and books.

Dr Neocleous’ research interests include construction sustainability, concrete engineering (incl. fresh and hardened properties), novel fibre reinforcements for concrete, durability testing, rigid transport pavements, safety road furniture, building thermal-insulation, probabilistic design philosophy, and environmental life cycle assessment. He has vast research & commercialisation experience on the use of recycled tyre materials in concrete engineering; in 2002, he was awarded a 2-year individual Marie-Curie Post- Doctoral Fellowship on waste tyre recycling in concrete. Dr Neocleous has co-managed the FP6 EcoLanes project (2006-09) which utilised recycled tyre steel wires in roller-compacted concrete road pavements, while recently he participated in the FP7 Anagennisis project, leading the LCA activities as well as fatigue resistance of steel fibre reinforced concrete and development of fibre-reinforced rubberized concrete for road safety applications.

Stelios Yiatros is an Assistant Professor in Structural Engineering in the Department of Civil Engineering and Geomatics at the Cyprus University of Technology since May 2016. He was elected Lecturer at the same university on October 2011. Prior to his election at CUT, he was a Lecturer in Structural Design at Brunel University in the UK. Between 2015-2017 Stelios was a Marie Curie Intra Fellow at Cranfield University (UK) where he undertook experimental structural integrity and stability research metal foam sandwich components. Upon the successful entry of CUT in the Climate Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC), Stelios became the Education Lead for the local network, while he is also one of the co-founders of Chrysalis LEAP, the first green business idea accelerator in Cyprus.

Stelios holds a MEng in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Imperial College London (UK) and a PhD in nonlinear structural mechanics with a scholarship from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (UK) at the same university. Stelios is a Member of the Cyprus Scientific and Technical Chamber (ETEK), Graduate Member of the Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE), Associate Member of the American Association of Civil Engineers (ASCE), member of Stability Committee of the ASCE Engineering Mechanics Institute and Associate of the City and Guilds of London Institute. He has also maintained a close contact with the civil engineering and the construction industry, having worked in the past in an engineering consultancy and contractors in Cyprus and the UK. He has published articles in international peer-reviewed journals and international conference proceedings and is acting as a reviewer for high impact international journals. In 2008, Stelios and his collaborators received the Trevithick Prize for the Best Paper in Engineering Sustainability from the Institution of Civil Engineers. In 2015 he was awarded merit in Excellence in Structural Engineering Education by the Institution of Structural Engineers for his innovative teaching case study for Integrated Design.

His research interests include topics of nonlinear structural stability and integrity of sandwich and composite structures as well as sustainable construction methodologies. He is also interested in the use of novel tools to improve the intuitive understanding of structural behaviour as well as cleantech entrepreneurship.

Rogiros Illampas is a Post- Doctoral Research Fellow at the Cyprus University of Technology (CUT). His research interests focus on (i) the physico-mechanical characterization of construction materials through laboratory and in-situ testing (ii) the experimental and numerical structural assessment of building systems (e.g. large-scale laboratory testing of structural members and of full building models, finite element simulation and analysis of static and dynamic response); (iii) the development of sustainable, environmentally-friendly materials and (iv) the design and evaluation of compatible masonry repair solutions. Dr Illampas holds a diploma in Civil Engineering from the National University of Athens, an MSc in the Conservation of Historic Buildings from the University of Bath and a PhD in Civil Engineering from the University of Cyprus. His PhD study examined the structural response of adobe masonry constructions using experimental and computational methods. During his postgraduate studies Dr Illampas also participated in a number of funded research projects addressing the optimization of building materials’ properties and the establishment of infrastructure for the characterization of monumental building materials. Following the completion of his PhD, Dr Illampas was involved in an FP7 Marie Curie transnational cooperation project examining the Analysis and Design of Earthquake Resistant Structures. He was then awarded a private scholarship from the “Shiakolas Foundation” to conduct research on the development of prototype cement- and lime-based masonry units containing high volumes of waste material for a novel bioclimatic building system. Since 2017 he has been working at the Construction Materials and Structures laboratories of CUT carrying out tests on composite slabs for the evaluation of relevant Eurocode 4 provisions. In addition to his academic research work, Dr Illampas has been actively involved in numerous consultancies (worth over €100,000) for the public and private sectors, concerning the sampling and characterization of building materials and the structural appraisal of existing buildings. Results of his research work have been published in peer-reviewed journals, book chapters and conference proceedings. Dr Illampas is an affiliated member of RILEM and a member of the Cyprus Technical Chamber

Thomaida Polydorou is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Post- Doctoral Research Fellow at the Cyprus University of Technology. She holds a Ph. D in Civil Engineering in the field of Structural Engineering and Materials from the Civil Engineering Department at Kansas State University in Manhattan, KS, USA, where she was awarded a sponsorship by the Prestressed Concrete Institute (PCI) to investigate the bonding characteristics of prestressing steel in cementitious materials, for determination of acceptance criteria for prestressing strand in pretensioned applications. Her research focuses on a wide range of Civil Engineering topics including the following: Prestressed concrete structures, concrete engineering, experimental evaluation of materials, quality control testing, evaluation of bond between concrete and various reinforcements, steel fibre reinforced rubberised concrete, construction sustainability and circular economy. She is currently working on the EU funded MSCA-IF research project ‘SAFER’ which involves Steel Fibre Reinforced Rubberised Concrete applications. She has also assisted on research activities of the project ‘Anagennisis’, funded by the EU’s FP7 programme, in the field of Innovative Reuse of All Tyre Components in Concrete.

Andreas Christofe is a member of the Eratosthenes Research Centre at the H.O. He has served as Chief Civil Engineer in the field of design, production and quality control of ready-mix concrete. During his employment he focused on importing and introducing new technologies for ready-mix concrete to improve the use of raw materials and enhance production capabilities. He is a licensed contractor from The Council for the Registration and Control of Contractors in Cyprus since 2008 and he worked as a general manager in R & A Constructions Ltd dealing with large infrastructure projects. He is currently participating in the research activities of the Anagennisi project funded by the EU’s FP7 programme in the field of Innovative Reuse of All Tyre Components in Concrete.

Loukas Yiannoukos is a Laboratory Technician in the Department of Civil Engineering and Geomatics. He received the Diploma of Technician Civil Engineer from the Higher Technical Institute. He continued his studies at Cyprus University of Technology receiving his BSc in Civil Engineering and later an MSc in Civil Engineering and Sustainable Design. His main research subjects during his studies where focused in reinforced concrete design with destructive tests in real scale specimens and the assessment of corrosion induced damage on reinforcement with accelerated corrosion tests.

He was employed in the private sector in various fields including structural design, drafting, quantity surveying and site supervision in domestic and industrial projects. Before joining Cyprus University of Technology he was employed at the Council for the Registration and Control of Contractors in Cyprus as a Technician Civil Engineer, coordinating and supervising contractors for their compliance with the construction legislation.

Loukas Yiannoukos is a member of the Cyprus Scientific and Technical Chamber (ΕΤΕΚ).

During his employment in the University he had the opportunity to provide laboratory support for research activities in the fields of Steel Reinforcement Corrosion, Water Supply Networks, Waste Water Treatment, Sustainable Use of Waste Materials in Concrete and Pavements and Real Scale Concrete Structures Tests. He also participates in laboratory services for the private sector.

George Alexandrou is a Senior Laboratory Instructor in in the Department of Civil Engineering and Geomatics. He received the Diploma of Technician Civil Engineer from the Higher Technical Institute. He then joined the private sector construction business, participating in various large scale infrastructure and development projects. Later he was employed at the Higher Technical Institute as a Laboratory Assistant, where he was in charge of student training and tutoring both in the laboratories and workshops.

During his employment in the HTI he was promoted to 1st Class Laboratory Assistant. He joined Cyprus University of Technology in the position of Laboratory Instructor where he installed all the new equipment of the Department.

During his academic employment he had the chance to be engaged with various ongoing research programs including the Research Infrastructure for the Study of Corrosion in Concrete Steel Reinforcement, Water Supply Networks Modelling, Integrated use of Space, Geophysical, and
Hyperspectral Technologies intended for monitoring water leakages in water supply networks in Cyprus, Catastrophic Shifts in Drylands and Sustainable Pavement Infrastructure for Surface Transport.

Elpida Georgiou completed her Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering at Cyprus University of Technology in 2011. She then continued her studies in London and gained her Master’s Degree in Earthquake Engineering with Disaster Management from UCL in 2012.

At the moment, Elpida is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Civil Engineering and Geomatics of Cyprus University of Technology under the supervision of Professor Christis Chrysostomou. Her research interests are concentrated on the retrofitting of existing structures and more specifically on the “Seismic Retrofitting of RC Frames with RC Infilling”, which is also her doctorate thesis’ subject.

During her study years, Elpida has worked as a Research Fellow for the Research Program “SERFIN” in 2013, which her supervising professor, Dr. Christi Chrysostomou has taken on at the Department of Civil Engineering and Geomatics of Cyprus University of Technology. She has also been entitled as an external special Fellow of her Department to undertake the completion of a proposal under the program “Horizon 2020” in 2014 and 2016. Moreover, she has worked as an external special Fellow of her Department for the “Nonlinear analysis of RC frames infilled with RC walls” in 2015. Elpida currently offers teaching assistance at her department for undergraduate courses.

She is a member of the Technical Chamber of Cyprus (ETEK), the Society of Earthquake and Civil Engineering Dynamics in London (SECED) and the Society of Civil Engineers of Cyprus (SPOLMIK).

Christiana Filippou has educational background in civil engineering, looking to forge a career in a field of research, design and strengthening of structures. Christiana Filippou completed her barcerol degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering at University of Cyprus (UCY) in 2011. She continued her studies in in National Technical University of Athens and gained her MSc in “Analysis and Design of Earthquake Resistant Structures” (ADERS).

Christiana Filippou is a PhD candidate at the department of Civil Engineering and Geomatics at Cyprus University of Technology in Limassol. Her supervisor is the Professor Christis Chrysostomou. Her research is concentrated on the strengthening techniques for existing structures, the response of old-type RC structures, the behavior of masonry-infilled RC frame structures and on the finite element analysis. The main subject of her doctorate thesis’ subject is the “Behavior of masonry Infilled RC Frames retrofitted with Textile Reinforced Mortar”.

Christiana Filippou has been entitled as an external special Fellow of her department to undertake the completion of a proposal under the program “Horizon 2020”. Moreover she offers teaching assistance at her department.

She is a member of the Cyprus Scientific and Technical Chamber (ΕΤΕΚ) and Society in civil engineers of Cyprus (SPOLMIK).