Despo Fatta-Kassinos: The first female scientist from Cyprus to be elected to Academia Europaea

University of Cyprus (UCy) Professor Despo Fatta-Kassinos has become the first female scientist from Cyprus to be elected to the Academia Europaea (The Academy of Europe).

Academia Europaea is the European Academy of Humanities, Letters and Sciences, and its members are eminent scientists and scholars from the physical sciences and technology, biological sciences and medicine, mathematics, the letters and humanities, social and cognitive sciences, economics and the law.

On 25 March 2024, following a rigorous peer-review process (e.g., significance and impact of research, funding, scientific publications, h-index), the Board of Trustees of Academia Europaea elected 365 leading international scholars as new members.

“This led to an important milestone for both the University of Cyprus and the scientific community in Cyprus, which is the election of Dr Despo Fatta-Kassinos as a member of the prestigious academy, under the Class of Exact Sciences, in the Section of Engineering,” UCy said announcing the news on its social media.

Dr Fatta-Kassinos is a Professor in the UCy’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and the university said “her induction into the esteemed academy marks a significant recognition of her scientific outstanding contributions to the field of environmental engineering”.

Dr Fatta-Kassinos is the second scientist from the University of Cyprus (the first was Professor Marios Polycarpou in 2022) and the first woman from Cyprus to receive this honour.
The induction to the Academy will take place in Wroclaw, Poland, on 26-28 November 2024, where Dr Fatta-Kassinos will also deliver a presentation about her research during a dedicated Class session.

The object of the Academy is to advance and propagate excellence in scholarship anywhere in the world for the public benefit and for the advancement of education. The Academy includes 85 Nobel Laureates and scientists with many prestigious awards and prizes including the Balzan Prize, and the Turing Award.
The Academy was founded in 1988 on the initiative of the UK’s Royal Society and other national academies in Europe. Invitations are made only after peer group nomination, scrutiny, and confirmation of the individual’s scholarship and eminence in their chosen field. The Council of the Academia confirms the election.