Hands Up

He studied at the Kapodistrian University of Athens and he has been working as a professional sign language interpreter since 2013. He has a Master’s Degree from the University of Macedonia in International Relationships and European Policies regarding the accessibility of people with disabilities, and now he is a PhD candidate at the Ionian University in the Department of Interpreting and Translation. In 2019 he was elected President of the Association of the Interpreters of Greek Sign Language (AIGSL), while in 2020 he became the secretary general of the European Forum of Sign Language Interpreters (EFSLI). He has participated in European and International Conferences about deafness and sign language interpretation, and also in specific training on audiovisual translation, such as: subtitling for the deaf and hard-of-hearing and acoustic description for people with visual disabilities. He was a mentor to social start-ups in the 6th cycle of the EGG program. He speaks English and Russian, has a braille certification and has also been a martial arts athlete for many years. In September 2019 he published his first book and in 2020 the first accessible fairytale for deaf and blind children in Greece. He collaborates as a sign language interpreter with the Hellenic Federation of the Deaf and the National Institution for the deaf. In September 2016 he took on the role of communication co-ordinator at the efsli pan-European conference which took place in Athens, while in 2023 he was the Head of the Organizing Committee for the Conference which took place on September 2023 in Thessaloniki, Greece.

She studied English language and literature at the Kapodistrian University of Athens and she continued her studies in the field of learning difficulties. She has a Braille certification. She attends pan-European and national conferences on special education. She has also participated in seminars on audiovisual translation for the blind and partially sighted and seminars on special subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of hearing. She has plenty of experience in teaching English as a second language to deaf and hard-of-hearing students. She was a volunteer at the European Forum of Sign Language Interpreters which took place in Athens in 2016. She took part in the Reload Greece startup accelerator program. She was one of the mentors in the Greentech challenge competition and in the 6th cycle of the egg program. She was involved in sports and latter in dancing. She speaks English, Spanish, and Russian. She has been learning the Greek Sign language as well.

Born in Thessaloniki, he is bilingual and can communicate fluently in both Greek Sign Language (GSL) and Modern Greek. He has two degrees in occupational therapy and pedagogy, as well as a master’s degree in psychopedagogy. He is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Thessaly, specialising in Applied Linguistics of Sign Languages. With over 20 years of experience teaching GSL as a second language and interpreting, he is renowned for his insightful perspective and in-depth understanding of interpreting practices. He is the co-author of the textbook “Basic Principles and Practices of Communication with the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, written with Sapountzaki Galini, and has also published articles in scientific journals and conference proceedings. He is also actively involved in the Scientific Committee of the Candidate Interpreter Examinations of the Association of GSL Interpreters and has served as an evaluator for GSL proficiency and interpreting examinations. Through his speeches and presentations, he shares his knowledge of deafness, sign language development and teaching, and interpreting.

He studied at the Department of Informatics of AUEB & he is actively involved in content production since 2012. He started working as a volunteer at a Digital Media team of the university (WebTV, Web Radio, Online Magazine) where he worked as a radio producer and WebTV editor-in-chief, camera-man, video editor & presenter. Since 2014 he decided to form his own start-up company, along with a group of friends & partners, which he finally founded, under the brand name “Neoperativa”. With constant training & education in the business, marketing & branding matters, he managed to build a strong network of people in the start-up world. Right after his brand was closed in 2018, he started working for Lommer, a Greek Design Brand, which design & produces unique bags & accessories. The role of the Digital Marketing Specialist gave him more knowledge & confidence to maintain other partnerships as a freelancer. He knows how to use well different content platforms (Photoshop, Premiere, Illustrator), as well as e-commerce & blogging strategies & tools (SEO optimization, Front-End Development, WordPress CMS).

He studied graphic design and specializes in Corel and Photoshop programs, at the same time he continued his studies on photography and he constantly expands his knowledge of technology with his participation in national and international seminars and conferences. He is a native sign language speaker and he is bilingual since he was born into a deaf family and was raised in deaf people’s community.