Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences 2010
Sir Christopher Pissarides has been a member of the academic staff in the Department of Economics at the University of Cyprus since 2010.
In 2009, he was awarded the title of Honorary Doctorate by the Faculty of Economics and Management.
Christopher Pissarides is Regius Professor at London School of Economics and Professor of European Studies in the Department of Economics at the University of Cyprus. He specialises in the economics of labour markets, microeconomic policy, economic growth, and structural change. He was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences jointly with Dale Mortensen from Northwestern University and Peter Diamond from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for his work on the analysis of frictional markets. Prior to that, in 2005, he became the first economist, outside the US, to be awarded (jointly with Dale Mortensen) the prestigious international IZA (Institute of Labour Economics) Prize in Labour Economics. He has written extensively in professional journals and the Press, and his book “Equilibrium Unemployment Theory” is a standard reference in the economics of unemployment, while it has been translated into many languages. He is a frequent contributor to the Press on matters relating to the Eurozone and the future of European integration. He is an elected fellow of the Econometric Society, the British Academy, the Academy of Athens, the Academy of Europe, and several other scientific societies, while he is also a Lifetime Honorary Member of the American Economic Association. In 2011, he was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Makarios III, the highest honour of the Republic of Cyprus. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2013.
27 Grants in total from the ERC
The University of Cyprus has a dynamic presence in the European Research Area. Securing grants from the European Research Council (ERC), the main funding body for science and research excellence in the European Union, constitutes proof of the strong research activity of the University of Cyprus. ERC grants are part of the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation funding (previously known as “Horizon 2020” and currently as “Horizon Europe”). They are highly competitive and are considered particularly rewarding for the researchers who receive them. To date, the University of Cyprus has managed to secure a total of 27 European Research Council projects from all five types of grants awarded by ERC:
“KIOS” Research and Innovation Centre of Excellence
The KIOS Research and Innovation Centre, headed by Prof. Marios Polycarpou (Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering), was established in 2008 and was subsequently upgraded to a Research and Innovation Centre of Excellence in 2017, in the framework of the EU’s strategic programme “Spreading Excellence and Widening Participation – Teaming”. Imperial College London is its strategic partner. The primary objective of the Centre is to conduct multidisciplinary research and innovation in the field of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), with a focus on the monitoring, management, control, and security of critical infrastructures, which include large-scale, complex systems, such as power and energy systems, water systems, transportation systems, telecommunication networks, healthcare systems, and emergency management and response systems. KIOS research and innovation outcomes contribute to the socio-economic progress, the green growth, and the digital transformation, both at the local and global level.
Centre of Excellence in Biobanking and Biomedical Research
Biobank.cy, the Centre of Excellence in Biobanking and Biomedical Research, headed by Professor Constantinos Deltas (Medical School) was created following the evaluation and approval of the scientific proposal CY-Biobank, in the framework of the highly competitive selection process of the European Commission and the strategic programme “Spreading Excellence and Widening Participation – Teaming”, in 2019.
The Centre aspires to contribute to next-generation medical research in Cyprus through the development of five pillars: a). Biobank, b). Molecular Medicine Research Centre, c). Molecular Genetics Laboratory, d). Education, e). Innovation.
The Biobank has been developed as a cutting-edge biomedical research infrastructure, aspiring to create new knowledge for improving human health and contribute to the prevention, diagnosis, prognosis, and therapy of diseases. The material archived in the Biobank constitutes a national treasure and heritage for the research community of Cyprus in support of genetic, epidemiological and other useful clinical studies. Data processing, always with respect to privacy and data protection, will lead to the discovery of new knowledge and the establishment of innovative applications, thus leading to the discovery of new drugs.
CYENS Centre of Excellence
The CYENS Centre of Excellence was established in 2018 following the successful evaluation of the project (RISE- Research centre on Interactive media, Smart systems and Emerging technologies) in the framework of the highly competitive selection process of the European Commission and the strategic programme "Spreading Excellence and Widening Participation - Teaming", which focuses on strengthening research, innovation and excellence. The Municipality of Nicosia is the coordinator, with the three public universities of the country (the University of Cyprus, the Cyprus University of Technology and the Open University of Cyprus) and two leading European scientific institutions, University College London and the Max Planck Institute for Informatics, as partners. The CYENS Centre of Excellence aims to promote world-class research activities and pave the way for bridging the gap between scientific research and innovation in the field of information and communication technologies (ICT), specialising in interactive media, smart systems and emerging technologies.
