Rector, Professor of International Relations and International Political Economy, Neapolis University Pafos (NUP), Cyprus

Keynote Speech: “The Western Balkans Path to Europe: What Next? Global, Regional and Local Challenges and Opportunities”

 

Short Bio: Pantelis Sklias (1969) is a Professor of International Relations and International Political Economy (IPE) and since September 2018 Rector Neapolis University Pafos (NUP) in the Republic of Cyprus. He graduated (1990) from the Department of International Relations of Panteion University in Athens. He was awarded both his MA in International Relations (1991) and his Ph.D. in International Relations and IPE (1998) from the University of Sussex (UK). He accomplished (2000) his post doctorate thesis at the Hellenic Center of Political Research of Panteion University with a fellowship from the State Fellowship Foundation. His post-doctoral research topic is “The IPE of the relations between the EU and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the ex-Soviet Union”. From 1999 until 2002 he has been a Visiting Research Fellow of the Postgraduate Center for Culture, Development and the Environment (CDE) of the University of Sussex. He taught in different universities in Greece. He was the Chairman (2013-2017) of the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the University of the Peloponnese and Vice Chairman of the Special Research Committee of the University. He served (2016-2018) as a member of the Board of the Cyprus Agency of Quality Assurance and Accreditation in Higher Education (DI.P.A.E.). In the academic year 2017-2018, he was the Dean of the School of Security and Global Studies at the American University in the Emirates in Dubai. From February 2020 until February 2022, he has been appointed President of the Rectors’ Conference for Cypriot Universities and member of the Council of the European University Association. He served in senior governmental positions (2007 – 2009) and has extensive professional and policy experience in Technical Assistance projects and initiatives developed by international organizations, including the European Union and the UN, in the Western Balkans, Greece and Cyprus. He currently serves as the Political Auditor of the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies (WMCES), the Think Tank of the European People’s Party, the majority party in the European Parliament. His research has been widely published and cited both nationally and internationally.