Koundouri Phoebe

Professor Dr. Phoebe Koundouri is a world-renowned pioneer in innovative, human-centric, interdisciplinary systems for the sustainable interaction between nature, society, and the economy, included in the Stanford University list of Top 2% world scientists. She is Professor at the School of Economics, and Director of ReSEES Laboratory, Athens University of Economics and Business. She is also Research Professor at the Technology, Management and Economics Department, Technical University of Denmark. She is Director of the Sustainable Development Unit (SDU) at ATHENA Information Technology Research Center.

She holds an MPhil and a PhD in Economics from the University of Cambridge and held academic positions at University of Cambridge, University College London, University of Reading, and London School of Economics. She has published 19 books, more than 650 scientific papers, including publications in Nature, the Lancet, and top ranked economics, econometrics and sustainability science journals. She co-edited several prestigious academic journals, including Nature: Climate Action and Environmental and Resources Economics. She organized numerous international scientific conferences, supervised more than 30 PhD students, and gave keynote speeches and public lectures across the world.

Professor Koundouri is an academician, elected fellow of prestigious academies including Academia Europaea, World Academy of Art and Science, European Academy of Sciences and Arts, InterAcademy Partnership, Academy of Engineering and Technology of Developing World, Pontifical Academy, European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, European Forest Institute.

In 2019, she was elected President of the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (EAERE) the biggest scientific association in the field, with more than 1500 member institutions, from more than 75 countries and she is now chairing the World Council of Environmental and Natural Resource Economists Associations (WCERE). In 2020 she received the prestigious European Research Council Synergy Grant, and in 2023, she was awarded the Academy of Athens Award for Scientific Excellence.

She is the director of the Alliance of Excellence for Research and Innovation on Aeiphoria (AE4RIA), linking the research and innovation work of research centers, innovations accelerators and numerous science-policy networks and academies, with more than 200 researchers and 100 large, interdisciplinary, competitively funded projects (with applications in more than 120 countries). She is chair of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) Global Climate Hub and co- chair of SDSN Europe, with 2000 universities involved.

She is Academia Europaea Representative to S20 Task Force 2 on Bioeconomy of the G20 Heads of States, Commissioner for the Lancet Commission on COVID19 Recovery, member of the Fraternal Economy of Integral and Sustainable Development of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, member of the European Investment Bank Climate Leaders Network and the Leading Women for the Ocean (LWO); She is member of the Regional Action on Climate Change International Advisory Committee (RACC-IAC); EU Climate Pact Ambassador; Earth-Humanity Coalition (EHC); Special Scientific Committee on Climate Change of the Ministry of Environment and Energy; She acts as an advisor to the UN, World Bank, European Commission, EIB, EBRD, OECD, WHO, and many others, including public and private international and national companies.

Prof. Koundouri lives in Greece (Athens) with her husband, Prof. Nikitas Pittis, and their three daughters: Chrysilia, Billie and Athena.