Dr. Michalakis CHRISTOFOROU

Education: He received his B.Sc. in Plant Protection from the Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki, Greece, an M.Sc. in Horticulture from the University of Reading, U.K and MSc in Geographical information Systems and Geospatial technologies and a PhD in Plant Pathology – Nematology, from the Cyprus University of Technology (CUT).

Professional background: He is currently a Research Fellow at the Department of Civil Engineering and Geomatics, working on the SWSOIP Project: ‘Smart Watering System for Optimising Irrigation Process’. From 2005 until 2016 he worked in the privet sector as an Agronomist in the Potato, Citrus, Olive, Pomegranate and Vine production. Also, from 2008 he is working as a research fellow and a special scientist at the CUT lecturing, Zoology, Nematology, Agricultural Machinery and Remote Sensing Technologies in Agriculture. He is an active member of the Eratosthenes Centre of Excellence, the Agricultural Microbiology Lab and the Geodesy Lab.

Research: His scientific interests focus on the study of soil biotic and abiotic plant diseases, using ground and remote sensing applications with the use of Multispectral UAVs. During his career he performed research in several areas of Plant Pathology – Nematology (PENEK & Potato), Ecology (FP7: CASCADE, Life Green Grapes,), Agronomy (AGROINNOECO – Interreg Balkan – Med), Remote sensing (SWSOIP – ESA) and is participating in Cost action projects (Sustainable Control of grapevine trunk diseases and Genomic BIodiversity Knowledge for Resilient Ecosystems). Dr Christoforou is a member the European Society of Nematologist (ESN), the Association of Applied Biologist (AAB), the Hellenic Phytopathological Society (HPS) and the Cyprus Association of Agronomists. 

Selected publications:

1. Erik Elsen, L. C Stringer,… Christoforou et al. 2020, Advances in understanding and managing sudden ecosystem shifts in Mediterranean drylands. Ecology and Evolution. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2020.561101.
2. Jucker Riva M, Baeza J, Bautista S, Christoforou M, et al. 2018. How does land management contribute to the resilience of Mediterranean forests and rangelands? A participatory assessment. Land Degrad 2018; 29: 3721–3735. https://doi.org/10.1002/ldr.3104.
3. Kanetis L., Tsimouris D. and Christoforou M. “Characterization of Rhizoctonia solani Associated with Black Scurf in Cyprus”. Plant Disease. (doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-10-15-1238-RE).
4. Themistocleous K , Papadavid G., Christoforou, M., Agapiou A. , Andreou K., Tsaltas D., Hadjimitsis D. G. ” Use of remote sensing and UAV for the management of degraded ecosystems: the case study of overgrazing in Randi Forest, Cyprus “, Proc. SPIE 9229, Second International Conference on Remote Sensing and Geoinformation of the Environment (RSCy2014), 92291V (August 12, 2014); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2069515.
5. Christoforou, Μ., Pantelides I. S., Kanetis L., Ioannou N. and Tsaltas, D. 2014. “Rapid detection and quantification of viable potato cyst nematodes using qPCR in combination with propidium monoazide” Plant Pathology https://doi.org/10.1111/ppa.12193.
6. Papayiannis, L.C., Christoforou, M., Markou, Y.M. and Tsaltas, D. 2013.”Molecular typing of cyst-forming nematodes Globodera pallida and G. rostochiensis, using real-time PCR and evaluation of five methods for template preparation”. Journal of Phytopathology. https://doi.org/10.1111/jph.12091.