Foreword - Avant Propos

Ceci n'est pas une page web!

Welcome to my personal web page!

This site is part of the NLPD@QUB Group: Nonlinear Plasma Dynamics at Queen's University Belfast.

Please use the menu on the left column to navigate through different sub-topics.

Affiliation & address for (post) correspondence

Queen's University Belfast (QUB)
Department of Physics and Astronomy
Centre for Plasma Physics (CPP)
BT7 1NN Belfast
Northern Ireland
United Kingdom

Contact information

ALL email correspondence should be addressed to

Academic email (only) may be sent to:

Personal www page: www.kourakis.eu (actually a mirror of this site).

Find us on (Social Media): Facebook; LinkedIn; ResearchGate.

Find us on (Metrics Databases): ResearcherID (B-7885-2010); NASA (ADS); ORCID (0000-0002-4027-0166); Google Scholar; Academia.edu.

IMPORTANT NOTICE on communication: Email is THE preferred mode of communication; all other messages "may" (or may not) be answered. Anonymous messages or requests WILL definitely be ignored. (I guess the motivation underlying this is obvious; thanks for understanding.)

Previous affiliations - academic service:

- Editorial Board Member (EBM): Scientific Reports (Nature group; EBM for Fluids and Plasma Physics): 2014- .

- Editorial Board Member (EBM): Plasma (MDPI, Switzerland): 2017- .

- Editorial Board Member (EBM): Open Plasma Physics Journal: 2009 - .

- Member of the Physics Evaluation Group, Discovery Grants Program, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC); 2014-2017.

- Visiting Researcher (Pesquisador Visitante), Instituto de Física Teorica - Universidade Estadual Paulista, Sao Paulo, PS, Brazil: supported by the State of Sao Paulo Research Fund (FAPESP) via the UK Academies/CONFAP - Fellowship and Research Mobility program; 2017.

- Special Visiting Researcher (Pesquisador Visitante Especial - PVE), Instituto de Física - Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Av. Bento Gonçalves 9500, CEP 91501-970 - Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil: supported by the Brazilian Research Fund (CNPq - Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnologico - Brasil); 2014-2016.

- Visiting Scholar, Department of Complex Systems, University of Sydney, Australia; 2009 & 2011.

- Research Associate, Universiteit Gent, Sterrenkundig Observatorium, Gent, Belgium; funded by FWO (Flemish Research Fund) funding.

- Visiting Fellow (2008-15) & Research associate (2003-07): Ruhr Universität Bochum (RUB), Fakultät für Physik und Astronomie, Theoretische Physik IV (TP4), Gebäeude NB7, D-44801 Bochum, Germany.

Short Bio

I received my BSc degree in Physics (1989) from University of Crete (Heraklion), my DEA (MSc) degree (1992) from the University of Burgundy (Dijon, France) and my "Doctorat en Sciences" (PhD) degree (2002) from the Free University of Brussels (ULB, Belgium).
Following a series of research posts in Germany (Ruhr University Bochum) and in Belgium (Ghent University), I was offered an academic post at Queen's University Belfast (Northern Ireland, UK) in 2007, and acquired tenure in 2009.
I have also held visiting researcher positions in UNESP (State University of Sao Paulo, Brazil), at UFRGS (Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil) and the University of Sydney (Australia).

Activity overview

My time is shared among research, teaching, administration and service to the academic and research community.

Research: My scientific work focuses on Nonlinear Science and Applied Mathematics, as applied to Plasma Physics and Materials Science, among other areas. I am coordinator an EU-funded mobility network (Quantum Plasmas, IRSES grant). I have visited and carried out research at various Universities, including Bochum (Germany), Sydney (Australia), Durban (S. Africa), Porto Alegre (Brazil), Athens and Crete (Greece), to mention a few. In Belfast, I have created a small group of collaborators in our Centre for Plasma Physics, who are active in nonlinear plasma dynamics. For a description of our research, please visit the scroll-down menu on the left.

Teaching and Curriculum Development: Extensive experience in teaching and project supervision, at both undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) levels. I have built up from scratch a web-based master's with colleagues from Queen's (MSc in Plasma Physics), and an intra-EU Plasma Physics and Applications jointly with colleagues from abroad;
I have served as local coordinator for Queen's University, of an EU Erasmus IP programme (organising a series of Summer Schools, with colleagues from six other European countries).
Please visit the Teaching tab on the left.

University administration: At Queen's University, I have served as: UG/PGT (MSc) Adviser of Studies; PGT Admissions Officer; UG Exams Liaison Officer; Student Progress and Special Circumstances Committee member, among other duties.

Service to the academic community: Extensive experience in academic administration and scientific service: I have served as Editorial Board Member for Scientific Reports (Nature group), for Open Plasma Physics Journal (OPPJ), for Plasma (Switzerland) and Nucleus (Pakistan) journals; evaluation panel member for NSERC (Discovery Programme, Canadian Research Council); proposal reviewer for funding agencies (in UK and abroad); external examiner for postgraduate degrees; peer reviewer (referee) -numerous times- for refereed journals. At Queen's University, I have contributed to the organisation of the University as: UG/PG Adviser of Studies, PG Admissions Officer, UG Exams Liaison Officer, Student Progress and Committee member and Special Circumstances Committee member, among other duties.

The (limited...) time left is spent among travelling, cinema, photography, literature and, above all, with good company :-). (I used to have "motorcycle riding" here; this happens less and less though...)

For details, please click on the tab(s) on the left, or download my CV.