Short CV
- BSc in Biology, Faculty of Science, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (1981)
- MSc in Biological Oceanography, Faculty of Science, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens (1985)
- PhD in the Department of Biology, School of Natural Science, University of Patras (1998)
Since 2011, she holds a position as Research Director at the Institute of Marine Biological Resources and Inland Waters of the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research. She is an expert on fishery by-catches, focusing particularly on discards mitigation; she was the coordinator of the MariFish project BADMINTON, and she is currently the HCMR scientific responsible for the Horizon 2020 project SEAwise. Since 2009 she has been engaged in Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) research efforts through her involvement, either as a WP,or a case study leader, in a number of research projects such as the FP7 project MESMA, the Horizon 2020 project MUSES, the DG-MARE ADRIPLAN, the UNEP-MAP MSP Med, the Interreg Med AMAre, the Interreg ADRION ARIEL, the PORTODIMARE. She is particularly focusing on a more efficient integration between policy needs and scientific advice, exerting efforts towards promoting links between MSP and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), and also the UNEP/MAP Ecosystem Approach (EcAp). She is a thematic expert of the IOC UNESCO MSP Global Initiative and a member of the UN SDSN Greece. She has been also part of the BlueMed Coordination and Support Action in the frame of which she was responsible for the Task of the BlueMed Young Communication Ambassadors. She has more than 150 publications and presentations in International Scientific Journals and Conferences. She has acted as chairperson or moderator, and was an invited speaker, in sessions dedicated to topics of her expertise in numerous international conferences and workshops.
Indicative Publications
- Liontakis A. and Vassilopoulou V. 2022. Application of stochastic modelling analysis to explore sustainability effects of fishing tourism in north-eastern Mediterranean EU waters: is it an opportunity for the few or a viable solution for coastal communities? Ocean and Coastal Management (in press)
- Stithou, M., Kourantidou, M. and Vasilopoulou, V. 2022. Sociocultural ecosystem services of small-scale fisheries: challenges, insights and perspectives for marine resource management and planning. In Aquatic Ecosystem Health and Management Society (AEHMS) Special Issue on ‘Ecosystem services of fish and fisheries: Social, cultural, and economic perspective’ Part 2 – Europe, Africa, and Asia. AEHMS 23. No.3 (in press).
- Maina, I., Kavadas, S., Vassilopoulou, V. and Bastardie, F. 2021 Fishery spatial plans and effort displacement in the eastern Ionian Sea: A bioeconomic modeling. Ocean and Coastal Management, 203 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2020.105456
- Vassilopoulou, V. 2021. MSP global Policy Brief: Climate Change and Marine Spatial Planning. Paris, UNESCO. (IOC Policy Brief no 3). https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000375721
- Cappelletto M., Giuffredi R., Kastanidi E., Vassilopoulou V. and L’astorina, A. 2021. Grounding Ocean Ethics While Sharing Knowledge and Promoting Environmental Responsibility: Empowering Young Ambassadors as Agents of Change. Frontiers in Marine Science, https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.717789
- Papatheochari T., Vassilopoulou V., Kokkali A., Grati, F., Coccossis H., Fabi G. and Bolognini L. 2021. Maritime Spatial Planning Concepts and Approaches: Focusing on Mediterranean Examples of Conflicts and Synergies Arising by Fishery Activities. In: Oceanography and Coastal Informatic Information Resources Management Association (Eds). Publisher: IGI Global, 2019, pp. 337-360. https://www.igi-global.com/gateway/chapter/215540
- Christou M., De Juan S., Vassilopoulou V., Stergiou K. I. and Maynou F. 2019. Monitoring the Environmental, Social and Economic Dimensions of the Landing Obligation Policy. Frontiers in Marine Science. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2019.00594
- Stithou,, Vassilopoulou V., Tsagarakis K., Edridge A., Machias A., Maniopoulou M., Dogrammatzi A., Bellido J.M., Carbonara P., Carbonell A. and Lembo G. 2019. Discarding in Mediterranean trawl fisheries—a review of potential measures and stakeholder insights. Maritime Studies, 18(2): 225-238.
- Depellegrin D., Venier C., Kyriazi Z., Vassilopoulou V., Castellani C., Ramieri E., Bocci M., Fernandez J. and Barbanti, A. (2019). Exploring Multi-Use potentials in the Euro-Mediterranean sea space. Science of the Total Environment, 653, 612-629 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.10.308
- Petza D., Chalkias C., Koukourouvli N., Coll M., Vassilopoulou V., .Karachle K., Markantonatou V., Tsikliras A. C. and Katsanevakis S. 2019. An operational framework to assess the value of fisheries restricted areas for marine conservation. Marine Policy, 102: 28-39.
- Villasante S., Antelo M., Christou M., Fauconnet L., Frangoudes K., Maynou F., Morato T., Pita C., Pita P., Stergiou K.I., Teixeira C., Tserpes G. and Vassilopoulou V. 2018. The implementation of the landing obligation in small-scale fisheries of the Southern European Union countries. In: The European Landing Obligation: Reducing discards in complex multi-species and multi-jurisdictional fisheries. Sebastian Uhlmann, Clara Ulrich and Steven Kennelly (Eds.). Publisher: Springer, pp. 89-108. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-03308-8_5
- Krassanakis V. and Vassilopoulou V. 2018. Introducing a data-driven approach towards the identification of grid cell size threshold (CST) for spatial data visualization: An application on Marine Spatial Planning (MSP). Journal of Urban and Environmental Engineering12(1), DOI: 10.4090/juee.2018.v12n1.003014
- Maeda E. E., Mäntyniemi S., Despoti S., Musumeci C., Vassilopoulou V., Stergiou K.I., Giannoulaki M., Ligas A., Kuikka S. 2018. A Bayesian model of fisheries discards with flexible structure and priors defined by experts. Ecological Modelling, 366, 1-14.
- Lembo G., Bellido J. M., Bitetto I., Fachini M.T., Garcia-Jimenez T., Stithou M., Vassilopoulou V. and Spedicato M.T. 2017. Preference modeling to support stakeholder outreach towards the Common Fishery Policy objectives in the north Mediterranean Sea. Frontiers in Marine Science, 4:328. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2017.00328
- Brodersen M. M., Pantazi M., Kokkali A., Panayotidis A. and Vassilopoulou V. 2017. Cumulative impacts from multiple human activities on seagrass meadows in eastern Mediterranean waters: the case of Saronikos Gulf (Aegean Sea, Greece). Environmental Science and Pollution Research, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-0848-7
- Tsagarakis K., Carbonell A., Brcic J., Bellido J., Carbonara P., Casciaro L., Edridge A., Garcia T., Gonzalez M., Krstulovic Sifner S., Machias A., Notti E., Papantoniou G., Sala A., Skeljo F., Vitale S. and Vassilopoulou V. 2017. Old Info for a New Fisheries Policy: Discard Ratios and Lengths at Discarding in EU Mediterranean Bottom Trawl Fisheries. Frontiers in Marine Science, https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2017.00099
- Koutsidi M., Tzanatos E., Machias A. and Vassilopoulou V., 2016. Fishing for function: the use of biological traits to evaluate the effects of multispecies fisheries on the functioning of fisheries assemblages. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 73: 1091–103.https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsw006
- Sigurðardóttir S., Stefánsdóttir E.K. Condie H., Margeirsson S., Catchpole Tl., Bellido Jm, Eliasen Sq., Goñi R., Madsen N., Palialexis A., Uhlmann S., Vassilopoulou V., Feekings J.and Rochet M.J. 2015. How can discards in European fisheries be mitigated? Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of potential mitigation methods. Marine Policy, 51: 366-374.
- Eliasen Sq., Papadopoulou K.-N., Vassilopoulou V. and Catchpole T. Socio-economic and institutional incentives influencing fishers’ behaviour in relation to fishing practices and discard. ICES Journal of Marine Science, doi: 10.1093/icesjms/fst120
- Tsagarakis K, Palialexis, A. and Vassilopoulou V. Mediterranean fishery discards: review of the existing knowledge. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 71(5): 1219-1234.