Vasilis Papalymperis (President)

Started working in education in 1989 first as a German teacher, then as Communications Director and Units Coordinator in private schools.

He is the initiator of the program “Greece! This is my country!” which was presented at a Press Conference organized at the Offices of the European Parliament in Athens in 2013. The goal of the program was to highlight and promote Greece abroad, to create bridges of communication between Greek students and students from other countries, to strengthen solidarity between the peoples of Europe, and also to financially support SOS children’s villages.

He is also the initiator of the Club’s two international programs: The “World Cultural Heritage Youth Symposium” and the “International Olympic Summer School”.

He has closely worked with the Hellenic National Commission for UNESCO and has twice represented Greece at meetings of the international Organization abroad.

In June 2023 he was invited by the Education Sector of UNESCO and the German National Commission for UNESCO to attend the ASPnet Coordinators’ General Conference in Berlin, where the Network’s International Coordinator officially declared the Hellenic Cultural and Educational Club for UNESCO as a Partner of the Network, thus recognizing its contribution to Education.

Amalia Petrova (Vice President)

Born in Thessaloniki, Amalia Petrova holds a BA degree in German Studies. After 15 years of experience as a teacher and education manager in primary and secondary education, she was retrained as an International Baccalaureate educator. Between 2010-2015, she conducted workshops for subject group teachers in primary and secondary school level on “assessment”,” teaching strategies” and ”presentation skills”. 

She has many years of experience in organizing international programs for students. She organized Summer Schools for students in Austria and Switzerland (1990-1995), as well as International Student Exchange Programmes (1994-2015). Additionally, under her role as Head of the Education Sector of the Annual World Cultural Heritage Youth Symposium, she designs and conducts workshops for international groups of students for the Hellenic Cultural and Educational Club for UNESCO. (2019-today) 

She is author or co-author of 12 educational books, all related to the teaching of the German Language. Her book “Schritt für Schritt ins Grammatikland “ (volumes 1 and 2), which was first published in Greece, has become best seller and both volumes are distributed also internationally by Hueber Verlag, Germany (Volume 1 since 2010 und Volume 2 since 2018). In November 2022 her first children book (mini novel) was published in Greek. Moreover, she is regularly invited to deliver workshops or lectures at Goethe Institute conferences in Athens as well as in conferences organized by publishers; her talks cover topics mainly related to teaching and new publications. 

Since 2015 she works as a project manager of EU funded projects at City, University of London, At the same time, she works as a soft skills trainer of Doctoral Candidates and as a certified LEGO SERIOUS PLAY trainer. 

Vangelis Symeonidis (General Secretary)

Vangelis Symeonidis received his Bachelor of Arts (B.A. Hons) in Humanities at West London Polytechnic and he attended his first Master’s Degree at the University of Hull (M.A, European Integration & Cooperation) and his second Master’s at University of Kent at Canterbury, (M.A, International Relations and Affairs). He started his career in international education initially as an A Levels Politics and IB DP History teacher in 1995. In 1997, he became examiner for the IB DP History and since then Member of IBEN where he served the IB as a consultant, events organizer and workshop leader, too.  He has worked for 22 years as IB DP Coordinator and Member of the Senior Management Team for a prestigious IB World school in Athens, Greece. In January 2011, he was elected Acting Member in the IB DP Committee and in 2015, Member in the Hellenic National Unesco Committee for the Management of Social Transformation. From 2018 to 2020 he worked as a Communications Advisor for the University of Nicosia and from 2020 to 2022 as a Consultant for a greek Digital Education Provider. Recently,  he joined the Cambridge Assessment International Education as an Assessment Specialist. 

Vicky Pavlidi (Member)

Vicky Pavlidi is born in Athens.  She is a Special Educator, an Educational Psychologist and a Career Advising Specialist. She has worked as an Educational Psychologist for Hammersmith and Fulham, London, UK at the Psychology in Education Service and the Adoption Panel. She has also worked for more than two decades at Geitonas School, Athens Greece as a Principal Educational Psychologist and a Career Advising Specialist. Since 2019 she is the owner and director of Zer0-19 Educational Psychological Centers in Athens and Korinth, Greece.

She has many years of experience at lecturing parent school meetings in various schools throughout Greece and the UK. She develops innovative career advising programs for teenagers (aged 14-19 years old) who experience challenges with career decision making. She works thoroughly with children of all ages (0-19) and their families. Her research interests focus mainly on individuation and autonomy, emotional well – being, decision making processes, communication strategies between peers, organization and school planning. She offers supervision to teachers and educational psychologists in training (postgraduate and undergraduate degrees). 

She is a Licensed and Certified Practitioner Educational Psychologist within the HCPC-UK (PYL-26700) and a Licensed and Certified Career Advising Specialist within the EOPPEP – GREECE (AM202).

Anastasia Psallida (Member)

Anastasia Psallida is a PhD Candidate at the Department of International & European Studies of the University of Macedonia and a Research Associate in the UNESCO Chair of Intercultural Policy for an Active Citizenship and Solidarity at the University of Macedonia. She holds a BA in Classics (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens), a MA degree in Sociology (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki) and a MA degree in European Policies for Youth, Entrepreneurship, Education, and Culture (University of Macedonia).

She is a high school professor and Head of the Department of International and European programs at private school in Thessaloniki.

Moreover, she is a certified adult educator and as a member of House of Europe in Rhodes has participated in Erasmus+ programs and conferences as keynote speaker about Inclusive and Sustainable Europe, Intercultural Dialogue in Greece and abroad.

She is a member of the UNESCO Center for Women and Peace in the Balkans (2022).

Her research interests focus on UN & EU Youth Strategies and Policies, especially for non-formal education, Education for Human Rights, Inclusive Education, Cultural Heritage, Intercultural Dialogue and Intercultural Cities, Media and Information Literacy.