Meet the Partner: University of Cyprus

The Respiratory Physiology Laboratory at the Medical School of the University of Cyprus, led by Panayiotis Yiallouros, focuses on respiratory health, as well as public and environmental health research. Its activities integrate clinical, epidemiological, exposure assessment, and digital health approaches.

In recent years, the laboratory has coordinated several research projects examining the health impacts of air pollution, heat stress, and desert dust storms. It also collaborates closely with carers and patients affected by common conditions such as chronic respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, as well as rare genetic disorders including Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia and Cystic Fibrosis.

By bridging respiratory medicine, environmental health, and digital technologies, the laboratory contributes to the development of innovative mitigation strategies, supports evidence-based policy, and advances improvements in health outcomes in Cyprus and beyond.

Role in ISMED-CLIM

Within the Horizon Europe project ISMED-CLIM, UCY acts as Project Coordinator, under the leadership of Panayiotis Yiallouros. The project brings together partners from across the Mediterranean to address climate-related health risks such as extreme heat, air pollution, wildfires, flooding, and vector-borne diseases, while strengthening health system resilience.

What UCY Does in the Project

As coordinator, UCY provides overall scientific and operational leadership, ensuring that all project activities are aligned and effectively implemented. UCY contributes to:

  • epidemiological modelling of climate-related health impacts
  • assessment of risks linked to temperature, air pollution, wildfires and flooding
  • development of evidence-based recommendations and policy tools

Living Labs in Cyprus

UCY is also actively involved in testing solutions in real-life conditions through Living Labs in Cyprus. This includes:

  • a randomized controlled trial for pregnant women in Limassol
  • a trial for older adults with hypertension in Nicosia

These activities focus on testing early warning systems and practical interventions to reduce exposure to climate-related risks.

From Research to Practice

UCY supports the development of AI-enhanced Early Warning and Response Systems and contributes to the ISMED-CLIM digital platform, which connects climate data, health information, and decision-support tools.

By combining research, innovation, and real-world implementation, UCY helps ensure that project results are translated into practical solutions for citizens, healthcare professionals, and policy makers.

Driving Impact in the Mediterranean

Through its role in ISMED-CLIM, the University of Cyprus contributes to building more resilient communities across the Mediterranean, supporting the adoption of adaptation solutions and strengthening preparedness for climate-related health risks.

Meet the UCY’s team

  • Panayiotis Yiallouros

    Panayiotis Yiallouros, Professor

    Dr Panayiotis Yiallouros is Professor of Pediatrics and Head of the Respiratory Physiology Laboratory at the Medical School of the University of Cyprus, a position he has held since 2016. He is also the founder and a Consultant of the Pediatric Pulmonology Clinic at the Archbishop Makarios III Hospital in Nicosia, which serves as the tertiary referral center for pediatric respiratory diseases in Cyprus and is a member of the European Reference Network for rare lung diseases (ERN-LUNG).

    Dr. Yiallouros studied Medicine at the University of Athens and completed his training in pediatric pulmonology in St Thomas’ Hospital and Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children in London. His research focuses on pediatric lung diseases as well as environmental and climate-related health risks.

    Over the last 20 years, Prof. Yiallouros has acquired more than twelve competitive European and national research grants in the fields of respiratory medicine, environmental and public health (HORIZON EUROPE, EU FP7, LIFE+, IDEK, Cyprus Ministry of Health) bringing external funding exceeding 10 million euros. He currently leads the ISMED-CLIM project, which aims to implement a wide array of adaptation solutions to mitigate the health effects of climate change across the Mediterranean region.

  • Pinelopi Anagnostopoulou

    Pinelopi Anagnostopoulou, Assistant Professor

    Dr Pinelopi Anagnostopoulou is a Pediatrician – Pediatric Pulmonologist and Assistant Professor in Pediatrics at the Medical School of the University of Cyprus.

    Her research focuses on the respiratory physiology and lung function testing in infants and children, and the lung development in health and disease.

    She carries out clinical and translational studies on diagnostics and monitoring of chronic respiratory diseases (cystic fibrosis, primary ciliary dyskinesia, lung disease of prematurity, etc). In the ISMED-CLIM project she is actively involved in the project management team and in the assessment of the clinical outcomes of the living labs studies.

  • Panayiotis Kouis

    Panayiotis Kouis, Visiting Lecturer

    Dr Panayiotis Kouis holds a PhD in Environmental Health and is a Visiting Lecturer at the Medical School of the University of Cyprus. He has been a member of the Respiratory Physiology Laboratory since 2017 and a collaborator of the Laboratory of Medical Statistics, Epidemiology and Public Health since 2021. Since 2023, he is a faculty member of the Cyprus Harvard Endowment Program for the Environment and Public Health.

    He is involved in the study of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases with a special interest in the health impact of environmental exposures and climate change on sensitive subgroups.

    His experience includes the performance of observational studies and randomized trials involving children or adults and the integration of exposure and health monitoring using wearable and other sensors. In the ISMED-CLIM project, he participates in the project management team and the implementation of the Living Labs as well as supports the development of the project’s Policy Dashboard.

  • Antonis Michanikou

    Antonis Michanikou, Project Manager- Research Scientist

    Antonis Michanikou holds a BSc in Chemistry, an MSc in Biomedical Sciences, and is currently pursuing a PhD in Electrical Engineering at the University of Cyprus. Since 2018, he has been affiliated with the Respiratory Physiology Laboratory (Medical School, University of Cyprus), specializing in real-world environmental health research using home-based and wearable sensing to collect and analyze personal-level exposure and physiological data.

    He has contributed to national and international projects focused on vulnerable populations, delivering practical, evidence-based interventions to mitigate adverse climatic and environmental exposures, and currently serves as Project Manager of ISMED-CLIM.

  • Mikaella Sekidou

    Mikaella Sekidou, Research Scientist

    Dr Pinelopi Anagnostopoulou is a Pediatrician – Pediatric Pulmonologist and Assistant Professor in Pediatrics at the Medical School of the University of Cyprus.

    Her research focuses on the respiratory physiology and lung function testing in infants and children, and the lung development in health and disease.

    She carries out clinical and translational studies on diagnostics and monitoring of chronic respiratory diseases (cystic fibrosis, primary ciliary dyskinesia, lung disease of prematurity, etc). In the ISMED-CLIM project she is actively involved in the project management team and in the assessment of the clinical outcomes of the living labs studies.

  • Maria Kakkoura

    Maria Kakkoura, Research Scientist

    Dr Maria Kakkoura is currently a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) cofund Fellow at the Medical School of the University of Cyprus, implementing and coordinating the “Clean Air for Rare MUcociliary Clearance dIsorders” (CARMUCI) project. She has over ten years of experience in public and population health projects.

    Previously, she worked as Epidemiologist at the Oxford Population Health of the University of Oxford, where she worked on large, biobank prospective studies and multidisciplinary projects.

    Her expertise includes conducting and managing randomised trials, analysing big data, and performing epidemiological research on the health effects of environmental and lifestyle factors. In the ISMED-CLIM project, Maria is involved in the implementation of the Living labs, including recruitment of participants and assessment of health outcomes.

  • Georgios Nikolopoulos

    Antonis Michanikou, Project Manager- Research Scientist

    Antonis Michanikou holds a BSc in Chemistry, an MSc in Biomedical Sciences, and is currently pursuing a PhD in Electrical Engineering at the University of Cyprus. Since 2018, he has been affiliated with the Respiratory Physiology Laboratory (Medical School, University of Cyprus), specializing in real-world environmental health research using home-based and wearable sensing to collect and analyze personal-level exposure and physiological data.

    He has contributed to national and international projects focused on vulnerable populations, delivering practical, evidence-based interventions to mitigate adverse climatic and environmental exposures, and currently serves as Project Manager of ISMED-CLIM.

  • Panagiotis Bargiotas

    Panagiotis Bargiotas, Assistant Professor

    Dr Georgios Nikolopoulos is an Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health at the Medical School of the University of Cyprus. He leads the Laboratory of Medical Statistics, Epidemiology and Public Health and coordinates the MSc in Methods in Medical Research program. He is certified in Public Health (CPH) by the US National Board of Public Health Examiners, a Fellow of the American College of Epidemiology (FACE), and Vice President of the Public Health Epidemiology Section of the European Public Health Association.

    His research interests include infectious disease epidemiology and prevention with an emphasis on chronic infections (HIV and hepatitis viruses), evidence synthesis, research methods, environmental epidemiology, health policy and services research (implementation and evaluation), and guidelines development and adaptation. In the ISMED-CLIM project, he is actively involved in the study of the associations of climate change parameters with risk of non-communicable diseases across the Mediterranean region.

  • Nicolas Nicolaides

    Nicolas Nicolaides, Visiting Assistant Professor

    Dr Nicolas C. Nicolaides is a pediatrician – pediatric endocrinologist currently working as a Visiting Assistant professor in Pediatrics in the Medical School of the University of Cyprus. His research interests include stress, childhood obesity and hormone signaling.

    In the ISMED-CLIM project he is actively involved in the assessment of the clinical outcomes of the living labs studies.

  • Nicolaos Nicolaou

    Nicolaos Nicolaou, Clinical Professor – external collaborator

    Dr Nicolaos Nicolaou is a Consultant Allergist for Children and Adults at the N Asthma and Allergy Center in Limassol, Cyprus, and a Clinical Professor of Allergy and Paediatric Allergy at the University of Nicosia Medical School.

    Within the ISMED-CLIM project, Dr Nicolaou is involved in Living Lab 2, serving as a protocol advisor and acting as a liaison between the research team and obstetricians, facilitating communication and engagement with participating pregnant women.

  • Leonidas Ioannou

    Leonidas Ioannou, Visiting Lecturer

    Dr Leonidas Ioannou is an environmental and occupational physiologist with expertise in Kinesiology, Health Sciences, Physiological Modelling, and Environmental/Occupational Physiology.

    He holds two PhDs and a Habilitation in Physiology and serves as Assistant Professor at the Jožef Stefan Institute (Slovenia) and Visiting Lecturer at the Medical School of the University of Cyprus. In ISMED-CLIM, he supports data collection, curation, and interpretation.

  • Thaleia Gkraikou

    Thaleia Gkraikou. Research Scientist

    With a background in Nursing and specialization in Environmental sciences, Thaleia contributes to the ISMED-CLIM project through equipment installation, assessment of exposure parameters and clinical outcomes.

    She also monitors participant compliance, provides technical support, and maintains regular communication to ensure data quality and participant well-being.

  • Ioannis Xinari

    Ioannis Xinari, Research Scientist

    With a background in biology, Ioannis Xinari contributes to the ISMED CLIM project by installing research equipment, evaluating exposure conditions, and supporting the monitoring of clinical outcomes.

    He also oversees participant adherence and maintains structured communication to ensure data integrity and participant well being.

  • Iasonas Lambrianou

    Iasonas Lambrianou, Professor

    Iasonas Lamprianou is Professor of Quantitative Methods at the University of Cyprus. He specializes in the operationalization and measurement of latent variables in the social sciences. Iasonas has a long-standing interest on the application of Rasch models on empirical data and has published widely in diverse disciplines such as education, political science, sociology, and psychology.

    In the ISMED-CLIM project, he is involved in the engagement of the social stakeholders and in assessing how various socioeconomic factors affect the public’s response to the climate change-related health risks.

  • Venetia Pappa

    Venetia Pappa. Assistant Professor

    Venetia Papa (Ph.D.) is an Assistant Professor in Journalism and Digital Media at the Department of Communication and Internet Studies, at the Cyprus University of technology. She has previously worked at the Department of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Cyprus.

    Venetia’s research interests are situated at the intersection of new media technologies, journalism, and citizenship. Her work delves into topics such as algorithmic curation, media and journalism, exploring how algorithms and automation impact news production and the public's engagement with media. In the ISMED-CLIM project, she is the coordinator of the social sciences team researchers.

  • Theodoros Kyriakides

    Theodoros Kyriakides, Research Scientist

    Dr Theodoros Kyriakides is a social anthropologist and research associate at the University of Cyprus Medical School, contributing to the ISMED-CLIM project on climate change and crisis management.

    His work focuses on climate and health policy, societal resilience, and the interaction between governance, risk, and lived experience in the Mediterranean. He combines qualitative research, policy analysis, and stakeholder engagement to support evidence-informed adaptation strategies.

  • Marina Neophytou

    Iasonas Lambrianou, Professor

    Prof. Dr Marina Neophytou is a Professor of Environmental Engineering leading the Environmental Fluid Mechanics (EFM) Laboratory - Isle of Excellence and also the elected Dean of the Faculty of Enginering of the University of Cyprus (2023-26). In ISMED-CLIM, she contributes scientific leadership in urban microclimate modelling, air quality, and climate adaptation strategies, supporting evidence-based policy and resilience planning.

  • Petros Mouzourides

    Petros Mouzourides, Senior Research Scientist

    Dr Petros Mouzourides is a Senior Postdoctoral Researcher at the Environmental Fluid Mechanics (EFM) Laboratory - Isle of Excellence at the University of Cyprus, specializing in environmental fluid mechanics, urban air quality, and microclimate modelling. In the ISMED-CLIM project, he contributes to atmospheric modelling and the integration of observational and modelling tools for assessing climate impacts and supporting evidence-based adaptation strategies in the Mediterranean region.