Award of Excellence of the Republic of Cyprus to Prof. Phoebe Koundouri#
Professor Phoebe Kondouri MAE, member of the Economics, Business and Management Sciences Section of Academia Europaea since 2022, received the Award of Excellence of the Republic of Cyprus, the highest distinction conferred by the Cyprus Academy of Sciences, Letters and Arts, recognising scientists with outstanding international impact. Receiving this award from my homeland is both a profound honour and a moment of reflection on the responsibility that accompanies scientific service to society.
The award ceremony took place on 15 December 2025 at the Presidential Palace of the Republic of Cyprus, in the presence of the President of the Republic, members of the Cyprus Academy, and invited guests.
About Phoebe Kondouri#
Professor Dr. Phoebe Koundouri
is an economist renowned for pioneering human-centric, interdisciplinary, mathematical systems that enable the sustainable interaction between nature, society, and the economy. She holds an MPhil and PhD from the University of Cambridge and has held academic positions at the University of Cambridge, UCL, LSE, the University of Reading (UK), and the Technical University of Denmark. She is currently Professor at the School of Economics, Athens University of Economics and Business; Visiting Professor at the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge and Senior Research Fellow at Peterhouse, University of Cambridge — her alma mater.
She is the founder of the Alliance of Excellence for Research and Innovation on Aeiphoria-AE4RIA
(involving 200 researchers), and she is included (in various prestigious rankings) as top 1-2% of world scientists (19 books, 650 published papers, 100 projects, impact in 120 countries). Since 2019 she is the President of the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (EAERE), Chair of the World Council of Environmental Resource Economists Association, Chair of the United Nations SDSN Global Climate Hub (2000 universities), and Co-chair of SDSN Europe (900 universities). She serves as an advisor to numerous multilateral institutions—including the United Nations, G20, World Bank, European Commission, European Investment Bank (EIB), European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the World Health Organization (WHO)—as well as to national governments around the world.
Prof. Koundouri says:
"My academic journey—from the University of Cambridge, UCL, LSE, University of Reading, Technical University of Denmark and Athens University of Economics and Business—taught me early on the power of interdisciplinarity. For more than three decades, my research has focused on addressing today’s polycrisis through integrated frameworks linking nature, the economy, and society. Through my research centre,AE4RIA – the Alliance of Excellence for Research and Innovation on Aephoria, now the largest research team in the world working on the sustainability transition, this work supports sustainability transitions in over 120 countries."
