Visiting Director of Scientific Research
Prof. Dr. Ioannis Gitas is the Director of the Laboratory of Forest Management and Remote Sensing at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTh), Greece, and serves as a Visiting Professor at the ERATOSTHENES Centre of Excellence. An acclaimed scholar in environmental monitoring, he is an elected Fellow of both the Cambridge Philosophical Society and the Hellenic Agricultural Academy.
With over 25 years of experience, Dr. Gitas specializes in the application of Remote Sensing and GIS for forest fire management, land cover mapping, and change detection. His extensive publication record includes more than 230 peer-reviewed papers and conference presentations. He holds several high-level editorial positions, including Editor for PeerJ and MDPI Earth, and Associate Editor for MDPI Remote Sensing.
A prominent figure in international scientific networks, Dr. Gitas currently represents Greece at ICOS ERIC and serves as the national contact point for the FAO Forest Resources Assessment. He is also a co-leader of the NASA LCLUC Mediterranean Regional Information Network (MedRIN) and a member of the GEO GWIS and GOFC-GOLD Fire Implementation teams. He earned his PhD and MPhil in GIS and Remote Sensing from the University of Cambridge.
