UPDU Staff
Byron Ioannou
Byron Ioannou studied Architecture (Dip. Eng.) and Urban & Regional Planning (MSc and PhD) at the National Technical University of Athens. He has also studied Planning Law (PG Cert) at Leeds Beckett University. He has an extended professional and research experience in planning, built environment and development issues. He is a member of ETEK (CY), TEE (GR) and the Royal Institute of Town Planners (UK). His current research focuses on development plans and regulation processes, planning law, housing and inclusive urban development, environmental aspects of urban development, urban green, density and sprawl. He is an external expert/ evaluator at the European Commission, the European Parliament and COST Research Organisation.
Lora Nicolaou
Lora Nicolaou (PhD) is an architect, with postgraduate work in urban design and she is qualified as a town planner in Cyprus, Greece and the UK. She was the Director of Urban Strategies at DEGW (London) (1998-2009) with a design and research portfolio in the UK, Ireland and the Netherlands. In parallel she held the positions of the Head of Research for the Urban Renaissance Institute (URI) at the University of Greenwich, UK (2004-2010). Lora also taught at Coventry Polytechnic (1987) Oxford Brookes University (Joint Centre for Urban Design), in a part-time senior lectureship (1989-2000) and the University of Cyprus in 2011. Her particular interest is the interpretation of user’s needs & preferences in a way that can intelligently inform building design and integrated development strategies.
Gregoris Kalnis
Gregoris Kalnis, teaches urban design, large scale architecture and sustainability assessment tools for the urban environment. He studied architecture at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) and Urban Design (MSc) at the Bartlett School of Architecture. He obtained a PhD in Urban Design from the University of Cyprus. He worked on several architectural, urban design and planning projects in Greece, UK and Cyprus. He taught Architectural Design at UCY and worked at the Centre of Documentation for Architecture and the City at NTUA. He has been involved in a number of research projects and he is currently a member of the Cyprus Management Committee for the EU program on Circular Cities. He is member of the Famagusta Study Advisory Group and member of ETEK’s Engineer Renewal Committee. He participated in several architectural competitions where he received different awards.
Eleni Pashia - Researcher
Eleni Pashia (Ph.D.) is Special Teaching Staff at Frederick University. She trained as an Architectural Engineer at the University of Patras, Greece, and holds a Ph.D. in Architecture from the University of Sheffield. Her doctoral research developed a distinctive approach to peacebuilding, combining urban design with critical pedagogy, feminist theory, and performative practices to transform relational borders through spatial practice. Her work spans architecture and design, education, culture, environment, and technology, with a focus on participatory, collaborative, and experiential methods, as well as sustainability and social innovation. She is particularly interested in bridging formal and non-formal learning, connecting academia with activism, and fostering inclusive environments that cultivate critical, reflective, and creative capacities for community engagement and social impact.
Agni Gregoriou - Research Associate
Agni Gregoriou is a PhD candidate at Frederick University, exploring how young people navigate and experience daily mobility in Mediterranean cities, focusing on the ways urban design can shape more inclusive and sustainable everyday journeys. A licensed urban planner with an MSc in Urban Design from Aalborg University, Denmark, and a BSc in Town, Regional, and Environmental Planning from Politecnico di Milano, Italy, she is deeply interested in the social dimensions of urban life. Through her involvement in Research/EU-funded projects, Agni works at the intersection of research and practice, translating insights into spatial strategies that foster accessibility, community connection, and urban resilience.
Maria Tziraki - Research Associate
Mary Tziraki is an urban and regional planning engineer (MEng University of Thessaly) with expertise in applied geography and geo-informatics. She has extensive experience in international projects of sustainable spatial development and has contributed to research programs focusing on spatial planning policies and governance in the fields of marine spatial planning, tourism development and carrying capacity.
Oleksandra Nikolaieva - Research Assistant
Oleksandra Nikolaieva is an urban planner and GIS specialist with experience in transport engineering and sustainable urban development. She has worked on projects in Ukraine, Cyprus, Georgia, Germany, the Middle East and internationally, focusing on transport modelling with PTV Visum, spatial data analysis, and inclusive mobility planning. Her expertise includes GIS workflows, accessibility studies, policy frameworks, and thematic mapping to support data-driven decision making for resilient and sustainable cities.
