Winner. Scientist of the Year 2021

Mary Koutselini

Academic title, degree: Ph.D., Professor Emerita
Fields of science: Education; Gender Studies
Research interest: Gender equality; Differentiated instruction; Educational reform
Institution: University of Cyprus
Position: Professor, Chairholder of the UNESCO Chair in Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment
Country: Cyprus

Nicosia

Dr. Mary Koutselini is Professor of Curriculum and Instruction, Chairholder of the UNESCO Chair in Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment of the University of Cyprus, and President of the Cyprus Agency of Quality Assurance and Accreditation (CYQAA). She is also the Coordinator of 15 International, European, and National Research programs in the areas of her specialization and an active member of several national, European, and international academic associations and editorial boards of scientific journals. She is a regular member of the European Academy of Arts.

Professor Mary Koutselini participated as an expert in working groups of the European Commission and advisory global, European, and national boards and networks. She served as a head person of the Center of Learning of the University of Cyprus, of the Department of Education, and as an external evaluator of Universities, Research, and academic staff in Cyprus and abroad.

Studies:
• Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, B.A. in Greek Philology
• State University of New York, U.S.A., M.A. in Curriculum Development and Evaluation
• University of Athens, Greece, Ph.D. in Curriculum Development and educational policy

Work experience and membership:
• Regular member of the European Academy of Arts (2019-onwards)
• President of the CYQAA (2015-2020) (2020-2025)
• Chairholder of the UNESCO chair in Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment of the University of Cyprus (2010–onwards)
• Member of the Global Network of UNESCO Chairs on Gender
• Honorary Doctor of the University of Ioannina - Greece
• Member of the Global Network of UNESCO Chairs in Gender (2010-onwards)
• Head of the Scientific Committee of the Cyprus Ministry of Education and Culture for the Educational Reform in Cyprus (2013-2020)
• President/member of the Scientific Committees for the Evaluation of Universities and academic staff in Greece
• President/member of a number of scientific boards and organizations
• Developer and Coordinator of the University of Cyprus programs of study: Gender Studies (MA); Curriculum and Teaching (BA, MA).

Professor Dr. Koutselini is the coordinator of the post-graduate programs Curriculum, Instruction and Comparative Education and of the interdisciplinary program “Gender Studies”. She has authored 15 books and more than 150 articles and invited chapters in scientific refereed journals and books.

Since 2015 Professor Mary Koutselini has been the President of the Cyprus Agency for Quality Assurance and Accreditation of Higher Education. She is a member of editorial boards and Evaluation Committees in Cyprus, Greece, and abroad. She gained a lot of honorary recognitions.

Awards/Recognition (selected):
• Scholarship for undergraduate studies awarded by The Scholarship National Foundation of Greece (IKY)
• Literature award - 2nd prize on Essay Writing awarded by the Ministry of Culture and Education - Cyprus
• Fellowship from The State University of New York SUNY – Albany (New York)
• British Council Award
• Cyprus American Scholarship Project.

Mary Koutselini introduced in the scientific community the philosophy of meta-modernity, as a productive reflection on both, the depersonalization of modernity and the chaotic argumentation of post-modernity. Research in the context of meta-modernity supports action research practices and reflective development at schools. Meta-modern thinking promotes the contextualized teachers’ development and understanding of educational praxis. Policymakers, stakeholders, and teachers always discuss what students should know and rarely, why they don´t learn. Thus, meta-modern approaches facilitate answering questions of equality and teaching as caring. How to transcend the discrepancy between good intentions and results; How to promote equal opportunities for diverse persons; How we reverse the functionalistic view of equal opportunities as legal rights to actual best positioning of different students, who – like their teachers - do not have only minds but also feelings, experiences, and status in the society.

The work of Professor Koutselini serves two crucial areas of the quality of life and society: Educational standards and Gender Equality. Her work contributed to the formation and establishment of official policy both through her collaboration with ministries and the Cyprus House of Representatives along with her participation in European and international fora.