Team
Dr. Stamatios (Tom) Krimigis
Emeritus Head, Space Exploration Sector, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory; Former President, Academy of Athens
Dr. Stamatios (Tom) Krimigis is Emeritus Head of the Space Exploration Sector at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), and former President of the Academy of Athens (2024) where he occupies the Chair of Science of Space and Applications. He has built instruments that have flown to all 9 classical planets beginning with Mariner 4 to Mars in 1965 and ending with New Horizons to Pluto in 2015; also the Moon, the asteroid Eros, and the Parker Solar Probe to the Sun in 2018. Dr Krimigis is Principal Investigator on NASA’s Voyager 1 and 2 Interstellar Mission to the outer planets and the Galaxy. In 1999 the International Astronomical Union named asteroid 1979 UH as 8323 Krimigis.
Among his recent awards are the Smithsonian Institutions’ National Air and Space Museum Trophy for Lifetime Achievement (2015), the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal (2016), and the Theodore von Karman Award (2017) of the International Academy of Astronautics. He is a member of Academia Europaea, and was honored by a special resolution of the U. S. Senate “for exceptional contributions to space science” (2018).
A short video on his career, produced by the Smithsonian, can be found at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvqtPPy6bQg
Myrto Vounatsou
concept & artistic programming
Myrto Vounatsou holds a BA (hons) in Media & Communication from U.C.E. Birmingham and an MA in Arts Management & Arts Criticism from City University, London. She has studied classical singing but also delved into traditional music next to researcher and singer Domna Samiou. She was for many years Senior Press Officer at Megaron–The Athens Concert Hall and Head of Communication at the Molyvos International Music Festival. She has collaborated with various cultural institutions in Greece and abroad as project co-ordinator. She has always been fascinated by the relation of the arts, education, the environment & technology.
Alexandra Mitsotaki
President & Co-founder, World Human Forum
Alexandra Mitsotaki is co-founder and president of the World Human Forum, a global citizen initiative which has its symbolic base in Delphi, launching international initiatives from important sites such as Delos, Aristotle’s Lyceum in Athens and Eleusis.
In 1998 she founded ActionAid Hellas, the Greek affiliate of ActionAid, the international organisation against poverty and injustice. For the last 10 years she was in charge of the Hellenic Cultural Centre in Paris of which she is now vice-chair. Reacting to the financial crisis in Greece, in 2014 she co-founded Action Finance Initiative, the first microcredit organisation in Greece.
She is a member of the High-Level Roundtable of the New European Bauhaus, an initiative of the European Commission aiming to connect the European Green Deal to our living spaces. Her interdisciplinary experience over the past years has made her a profound supporter of the importance of a holistic approach to tackle the big challenges of our time.
