People

Academic Staff

Despina Grigoriou (Michael), Lab Coordinator
Despina Michael-Grigoriou is an Associate Professor at the Department of Multimedia and Graphic Arts of the Cyprus University of Technology and the founding director of the GET Lab - Microsoft Computer Games and Emerging Technologies Research Lab (getlab.org), which was established in 2012 with seed funding by Microsoft. She is also a Principal Investigator of the H2020-TEAMING-RISE project, with a budget of ~50M euros, which led to the establishment of the CYENS Centre of Excellence. Within the Centre she leads the Visual Sciences research pillar and the `Virtual Reality for Well-Being’ research group. She received her PhD in Computer Graphics from the Computer Science Department of the University of Cyprus (2010) and she worked as a post-doctoral visitor at the EVENT Lab of the University of Barcelona (2011) specializing on experiments around Virtual Reality systems. She joined the Cyprus University of Technology in 2012 and served as a Lecturer (2012-2015) and as an Assistant Professor (2016-2020). Prior to that she held the position of a Lecturer at the University of Nicosia (2009-2011).

Despina has received several awards and distinctions, including the Anita Borg scholarship awarded by Google (2008), best papers awards (VSMM 2014 & VS-GAMES 2014), a certification of top downloaded journal paper (CAVW 2018-2019) and a best poster audience choice award (ICAT-EGVE 2020). Her research interests are on Virtual Reality with current focus on Well-Being. She is an active member of the scientific community of Virtual Reality serving from several posts. She was the general chair of the international conference ICAT-EGVE 2018, she is a member of the ICAT steering committee (since 2018), the Eurographics Virtual Environments (EGVE) working group (since 2019) and of other professional bodies. She serves as a regular reviewer of leading international journals and conferences (e.g. VIRE journal, IEEE VR conference) and she has been involved in, participated or/and coordinated, more than fifteen EU and locally funded research projects and grants.

Senior Research Associates

Domna Banakou, Senior Research Associate
Dr Domna Banakou completed her PhD in Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology at the University of Barcelona in 2017. She also holds a Master’s degree in Computer Graphics, Vision and Imaging from University College London (UCL), UK, and a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the Ionian University, Greece. She combines technical expertise and experience in research methodologies to understand and promote the use of virtual reality in the fields of psychology and cognitive neuroscience. Her research focuses on body representation in immersive virtual reality, exploring the perceptual, behavioral, and higher-level cognitive correlates of body ownership illusions that occur as a function of the type of body in which embodiment occurs.

 Researchers & PhD Students

Christos Hadjipanayi, PhD Student
Christos Hadjipanayi is a research associate with GET Lab, Department of Multimedia and Graphic Arts, Cyprus University of Technology. He received the B.Sc. degree in Communication and Internet Studies and the M.A. degree in Interactive Multimedia from Cyprus University of Technology. His research interests include virtual reality, video games, UX design and social issues.

Ali Najm, PhD Student & RISE Research Associate
Ali Najm is a PhD student with GET Lab and a research associate with RISE VR for Well-Being research group. He received a B.Sc. degree in Engineering from Azad University of Tehran, Iran (2009) and an M.A. degree in Business administration from University of Cyprus (2012). His research interests include virtual reality, video games, data analysis and monitoring/interactive instruments. Ali has more than ten years of experience in development of monitoring instruments including primary research, technical design, 3D modelling, animation and software development as well as project management and interpretation of monitoring data.

Christos Kyrlitsias, Research Associate, PhD Graduate
​​Christos Kyrlitsias is a Research Associate in the Department of Multimedia & Graphic Arts. He has recently completed his PhD at the Department of Multimedia & Graphic Arts, Cyprus University of Technology. He holds a BA in Multimedia and Graphic Arts and an MSc in Design and Development of Computer Games and Interactive Technologies at Cyprus University of Technology. Since 2014, Christos is a Research Associate at Microsoft Computer Games and Emerging Technologies research lab and H2020-TEAMING-RISE (Stage2) project. His research interests include applications of virtual reality in psychology, video games, and interactive applications.

Research Affiliates

Dimitris Sokratous, Research Affiliate/Associate
Dimitris Sokratous holds a Bachelor οf Science Degree in Physiotherapy and in Physical Education and Sports Science, he has a Master of Science Degree in "Brain and Cognitive Sciences" as well, and he is a PhD candidate candidate in the field of Neurorehabilitation, at the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, of the Cyprus University of Technology (CUT). Additionally, he is the chairman of the Cyprus Neurological Physical Therapy Specialized Group and a research affiliate/associate at the Microsoft Computer Games and Emerging Technologies Research Lab (GET Lab), at the Department of Multimedia and Graphic Arts, of the CUT. Dimitris Sokratous at the present state, he is the senior physiotherapist at the Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics and he is a member of the Special Teaching Staff at the Frederick University (Limassol campus).

 PhD Graduates

Maria Christofi, PhD Graduate
Maria Christofi is a Research Associate at the Department of Multimedia and Graphic Arts. She got her Ph.D. from the Department of Multimedia and Graphic Arts of the Cyprus University of Technology (2021). Her topic was on "Virtual Reality as a Medium for Attitude Change". She holds a B.Sc. in Computer Science (2014) from the University of Cyprus and an M.Sc. in Design and Development of Computer Games and Interactive Technologies (2015) from the Cyprus University of Technology and the University of Cyprus. She is currently a Research Associate at GET Lab, at the H2020-TEAMING-RISE (Stage2) project and at the CYENS Centre of Excellence in Nicosia, Cyprus, at the "Virtual Reality for Well-Being" MRG. Her research interests include Virtual Reality, video games, embodiment, and psychology.

Panagiotis Charalampous, PhD Graduate
Panagiotis Charalampous has recently completed his PhD at the Department of Multimedia & Graphic Arts, Cyprus University of Technology. He has a diversified scientific background as he holds a BSc in Informatics from the Technological Institute of Athens, an MBA in Management of Engineering and Technology from Northcentral University in Arizona as well as a wealth of professional certifications on various Microsoft Technologies. He has a professional experience in a wide range of software applications and his current research interests evolve around computational acoustics and their applications on virtual reality, interactive environments and video games. Alongside with his PhD studies, he is a senior software engineer at Mediterranean Acoustics R&D, assisting on research and development of innovative software applications in various fields of acoustics.