Project coordinator
Dr. Kypros Milidonis
Kypros is a Associate Research Scientist at The Cyprus Institute (CyI) since March 2018. He holds a 5-year Diploma Degree (BSc and MEng) in Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics (2008) and a PhD in Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering (2015), both from University of Patras (GR). After a short post-doc at the same Institute, he secured a position as a Research Associate/Scholar at the Engineering Department of the University of Cambridge, UK, working on energy conversion systems. Kypros is a highly experienced research Engineer/Academic with excellent technical, experimental and computational skills combined with strong academic and theoretical background. He has multiyear experience in participation and management of cutting edge joint research projects in collaboration with the industry (funded by various sources such as the Horizon 2020, Aerospace Technology Institute (UK), Innovate UK etc).
He has a solid background in experimental and computational Fluid Mechanics, Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer, and he is expert in the design of Energy Conversion Systems, extending over a wide range of subjects, from fundamental theoretical research to applied industrial applications. In March 2008, Dr. Milidonis joined forces with the Solar Energy and Desalination (SED) group of CyI, focusing on enhancing the research, operational capabilities and multidisciplinarity of the group by bringing his expertise and cross-fertilizing his skills and know-how to the rest of the SED team’s capabilities.
Despite his relatively short presence in CyI, this cross-fertilization resulted into the application of two CST related patents. Kypros is the lead scientist responsible for the scientific/technical infrastructure development of the SED group, and he is also contributing in the development of advanced computer tools for the analysis and design of the Light collection and concentration subsystem of CST tower systems.
Kypros has a strong record of peer-reviewed publications (>35) in high impact journals and international conferences, and apart from research he has a wide range of teaching experiences including classroom lecturing, laboratory instructing, thesis supervision and mentoring, e.t.c. He is also acting as a reviewer in various high impact journals in the field of Aerospace, Energy, CST, Thermodynamics, Heat Transfer and Experimental and Computational Fluid Dynamics.
Other team members
Prof. Costas Papanicolas (M), CyI
President of CyI and the CEO of the Cyprus Research and Educational Foundation, Professor Emeritus at the University of Athens Greece and Adjunct Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, USA. Advisor to the President of the Republic of Cyprus on Climate Change and Presidential Special Envoy for Climate Change. He holds B.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Physics from the MIT (USA). He has served as researcher at CEA (Saclay, France) and as Full Professor at the University of Illinois (U-C) and at the University of Athens, Greece. He directed the Institute of Accelerating Systems and Applications of Greece of the National Technical University of Athens and the Physics Laboratory of the University of Athens. He served on the National Advisory Board on Science and Technology of the Hellenic Republic and on the Research and Innovation Council of the Republic of Cyprus. He has been awarded the “Medal of Excellence for Service to the Republic” by the Republic of Cyprus for his contributions to research and education to the Republic of Cyprus
Prof. Manuel Jesus Blanco (M), CyI
He has thirty-eight years of experience as a solar researcher and engineer, contributing to the advancement of the state-of-the-art on CST technologies internationally. He is currently the European Research Area Chair in Solar Thermal Technologies for the Eastern Mediterranean at CyI and Vice-Chair of the Executive Committee of SolarPACES, the Technology Collaboration Program of the IEA regarding Solar Power and Chemical Energy Systems and former Chair of the organization. Previous appointments include Director of the Australian Solar Thermal Research Initiative (ASTRI); Senior Research Scientist at CSIRO; Director of the Solar Thermal Energy Department of the National Renewable Energy Centre of Spain; Director of the Plataforma Solar de Almería of CIEMAT, the largest European CST research infrastructure; Principal Investigator of the SOLGAS and SIREC solar tower R&D projects, which paved the way towards PS10, the first commercial solar tower power plant. Dr. Blanco has authored numerous scientific publications and participated in many international expert committees.
Dr. Fabio Maria Montagnino (M), CyI
He is considered among the European leaders of innovation ecosystems by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology. He is the Head of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at The Cyprus Institute. He has been involved in more than 30 research and innovation projects and clustering actions, holding the role of coordinator in many of those. In the last decade, his interest has been focused on the holistic combination of creativity, entrepreneurship and innovation, towards the sustainable development perspective. He is leading the task force about Green Economy and Innovation within the East Mediterranean and Middle East Climate Change Initiative, promoted by the Republic of Cyprus.
Ass. Prof. Victor Grigoriev (M), CyI
He received a PhD degree in optics from Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (Erlangen, Germany) in 2012. He took postdoctoral fellowships firstly (2012) at the Fresnel Institute (Marseille, France) and later on (2014) at CSIRO Energy Centre (Newcastle, Australia). In 2018, he joined the EEWRC of CyI as an Assistant Professor. His research interests include integrated optics, fiber optics, metamaterials, light scattering and metamaterials for sensing applications and designing heliostat fields for concentrated solar thermal power plants.
Dr. Marios Georgiou (M), CyI
A physicist with 10 years of professional experience. He holds a BSc in Physics and a MSc in Applied and Environmental Physics from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (Greece) and a PhD in Environmental and Atmospheric Sciences from CyI. Currently he is the Manager of the PROTEAS Facility and his research is focused on the characterization of novel concentrators, operational strategies, heat transfer and thermal desalination processes. Within the last five years, he has been heavily involved in several EU funded projects dealing with solar desalination and CST technologies.
Mr. Marios Kontopyrgos (M), CyI
Marios joined the Cyprus Institute in 2022 as a Research Technical Specialist at the Energy Division of EEWRC for the VariFocaLH project. He received his BSc with High Distinction in Aerospace Engineering in 2018 and his MSc in Aerospace Engineering in 2019 from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (Worcester MA, USA). During his Masters he was involved with research on human evacuation of buildings with hazardous environments. At The Cyprus Institute, Marios will be working on the design and implementation of the multifaceted variable focusing heliostat and mostly on the development and integration of LabVIEW Virtual interfaces for the monitoring, control and data acquisition system of the heliostat.
