Partners

Coordinator
CRE.THI.DEV (Greece)

Dimosthenis Papakonstantinou
Representative

Founder and administrator of CRE.THI.DEV., holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry (University of Athens, Greece) and an MA in Design Management from DE Montfort University of Leicester. He has been Managing Director (1985-2004) and Board Advisor (2004-2009) of ELKEDE where he coordinated many European projects. He has been member of the Executive Committee of the Advisor to EU Body for Research & Technology priorities (2000-2006), member of the executive committee of EARTO – European Association of Research & Technology Organisations. Is active member of local administration since 2003. President of the Municipality of Melissia Enterprise for local development (2003-2007) and Vice-Mayor of the Municipality of Pendeli (2014-2019), he has coordinated projects for the benefit of the local communities. Nowadays, he coordinates national and EU funded research and education projects on subjects such as textile, leather, food, environmental protection, entrepreneurship etc.

Lina Tsakalou

Chemical Engineer, with a degree from the Chemical Engineering School of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) and member of the Technical Chamber of Greece. She holds substantial experience in the design and implementation of transnational Erasmus+ and other EU-funded research and education projects for many which she has served as the Project Quality Manager. She has previously worked at ELKEDE Technology & Design Centre SA at its Quality Department and the Quality Control Laboratory for leather and footwear, in charge of the Product Certification Office, as well as a researcher for the Environment department. She has also been a trainer on quality subjects for entrepreneurs and on laboratory quality. Since 2017, she is a project manager for CRE.THI.DEV., in several EU and nationally funded projects, dealing with an extensive range of subjects with a focus on research and quality issues, such as the LEAMAN, INNOLEA, LEATHUB and REILEAP projects, which deal with the establishment of Leather Centres in Jordan, Egypt, Russia, Mongolia, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

Maya Dimitriadou

Maya Dimitriadou holds a BSc in Biology from Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece. Since 2012 she is a member of CRE.THI.DEV, where she has worked in many ERASMUS+ projects among which projects for textile and clothing. She mainly organizes and implements the Quality Assurance issues of the different projects. Before that, she has worked in ELKEDE, Technology & Design Centre for 20 years. During this period, she participated in SPRINT projects for Clean Technologies and for Quality Assurance in the Industry as well as in the development of Quality Systems in SMEs. She has been Quality Manager (1994-2011) of the Accredited Testing Laboratory of ELKEDE and she participated in the development and implementation of its Quality System. She, also, coordinated ELKEDE’s participation in the training Project «Quality Assurance in Production” for entrepreneurs from Moldavia, Georgia, Ukraine, Serbia, Albania, and Egypt.

IHU (Greece)

Evridiki Papachristou
Representative

Evridiki Papachristou, PhD - short bio Evridiki is a devoted fashion engineer, an academic, a 3D virtual product development expert, curator, educator, consultant, writer, reviewer and rapporteur of European projects. Evridiki (Eurydice), is an Assistant Professor at the Crea%ve Design & Clothing Department of the Interna'onal Hellenic University; the only public higher educaEonal program in fashion and clothing in Greece. She teaches Digital TexEle Design, CAD PaJern CuKng Systems, 3D Prototype, Research Methodology and Basic Principles of Bodymetrics. She is also the scienEfic responsible for an Erasmus+ project, 3DGarT. AQer many years spent researching and pracEcing the effecEve integraEon of 3D virtual prototype in the apparel industry, she is currently conducEng applied research on the intersecEon of fashion and data mining and knowledge discovery, to further the technology and its adopEon. Evridiki is also interested in the role of Industry 4.0 in creaEng insEtuEonal, social and cultural change towards more sustainable and circular pracEces. She is also a research member of the CAD/CAM Lab (Technical University of Crete- School of ProducEon Engineering & Management). Recent research projects involve a Conceptual Fashion Product Design Assisted by Ar'ficial Intelligence - AI-CFPD, and i-mannequin a Digital Pla[orm for the Design and Rapid Garment Prototyping - both co-financed by Greece and the EU. The first project aims at facilitaEng the design of clothing products, parEcularly in the field of product concept development, by providing personalized proposals to the designer as inspiraEon, by developing tool based on ArEficial Intelligence methods. The tools will work in addiEon to exisEng support systems for the development of clothing products such as Life Cycle Management Systems, CAD (Graphics), 3D Modeling systems, commonly used by companies and designers. The second project, is associated with the development of a system for automaEc digitalizaEon, rapid prototyping and seKng of parameters for clothing 3D models. In parEcular, the uElizaEon of this system is expected to improve the field of clothing industry, by meeEng specific requirements of clothing design and manufacturing companies, as well as the emerging needs in mulEmedia industry (i.e. films, games, or adverEsing) for virtual character (i.e. avatars) design and dressing up. The aim of this project is to integrate a series of innovaEons, while providing clothing 3D model creaEon in a short period, without requiring special knowledge and specializaEon by the potenEal user.

CIAPE (Italy)

Desiree Scalia
Representative

Bachelor Degree in European Economics, Master Degree in International Relations and MBA in International Business and Sustainability with a focus on Entrepreneurship. Active in the field of EU projects since 2008; has experience consulting both public and private organizations and in the management of projects and connected activities, such as research, reporting and communication activities; she has been working in projects in the field of training, research and development, environment and circular economy, entrepreneurship both funded by direct and structural funds. She is also a trainer in EU project management and business models. She is certified as LEGO® Serious Play® Facilitator.

CITEVE (Portugal)

Alexandra Cardoso
Representative

Has a specialisation in Management and a degree in Psychopedagogy. With almost 20 years of professional experience in training (in Behaviour, Entrepreneurship and Gender Equality fields), innovation, entrepreneurship and gender equality fields, she is a researcher specialised in Diagnosis of Training Needs and actively involved in the development of innovative didactic resources. Highly experienced in the development of national and European applications, she is manager and researcher in national and European projects. Also has experience in recruitment and selection processes, psychopedagogical support and vocational guidance.

Andreia Ribeiro

has a degree in Psychopedagogy and a Master in Education. Her professional career was developed around education and vocational training, where she developed experience in public and private contexts in the areas of coordination of training, from the diagnosis of training needs to the development of pedagogical content. She is a trainer since 2004, in the areas of Behavioural, Pedagogical, Development and HR Management. She has experience in processes of Balance of Competences and monitoring of adults in processes of Recognition and Validation of School Competences. She also has experience in School/Formative and Vocational Guidance

JUST (Jordan)

Fahmi Abu Al-Rub

Representative

Prof. Fahmi Abu Al-Rub is a Member of Trustees at the Luminus Technical University College. He is a professor of chemical and biochemical engineering at Jordan University of Science Technology (JUST). Prof. Abu Al-Rub is the co-founder, with H.E. the Former Ambassador of Ireland to Jordan; Dr. Vincent, the Jordan Young Scientist-JOYS. He is the Director of the Applied Scientific Research Fund (ASRF). He was a Member Board of Trustees at the German Jordan University (2018-2022), and Philadelphia University (2009-2013). He was the Chairman of the Board of Center for E-Learning and Open Educational Resources at JUST (2018-2020). He was the Dean of Research at JUST during 2009-2013, and Vice Dean of Engineering during 2006-2009.

Prof. Abu Al-Rub published more than 100 papers in peer-reviewed top international journals and proceedings of national, regional, and international scientific conferences. The h-index and the i10-index of Prof. Abu Al-Rub according to Google Scholar are 25, and 40, respectively, with 2065 total citations. According to ResearchGate, the number of readings of Abu Al-Rub scientific works exceeds 400,000 readings.

Prof. Abu Al-Rub is an associate editor in the international journal: Sustainable Process Engineering section of Frontiers in Chemical Engineering. He is also on the editorial board of many international journals such as Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery, Journal of Environment and Biotechnology Research, etc.

Prof. Abu Al-Rub received in 2016, the King Abdullah the Second Award in Innovation, Abdel-Hameed Shoman Award for Young Arab Researchers 2001: Engineering Sciences (July 2003); and the Excellence Award in Teaching/College of Engineering, 2004, UAEU. Engineering Sciences (July 2003).

Professor Abu Al-Rub is/was a partner in more than 42 EU, FAO, and US projects with a budget exceeding 52.0 M€: Twenty-three ERASMU+ Projects, Four TEMPUS Projects, three ENI projects, two ENPI projects, Two ERANETMED projects, one FAO project, three USAID project, one PRIMA project, one Steven’s Initiative project, and one NSF project.

Salaheddin Abu Yahya

Salaheddin Abu Yahya, currently is a lecturer in the chemical Engineering Department at JUST. Prior to that, he was working as a professional lecturer in the Institute of Applied Technology in Abu Dhabi Polytechnic-UAE for a couple of years. Eng. Abu Yahya worked as lab instructor in the chemical Engineering Department at the Petroleum Institute/ UAE from August 2008-January 2016. From Feb 2008 –June 2008, he worked as Lab instructor at the chemical Engineering department at American University of Sharjah (AUS)- UAE. He worked as academic assistant in Qatar University (QU)/Qatar from Feb 2007-Jan 2008. Abu Yahya worked for two years as teacher assistant at CRU (College of Requirements Unit) at United Arab Emirates University, Al Ein-UAE since November 2004.

Abu Yahya is responsible for teaching many Chemical Eng. Core courses and labs as well as updating, preparing, renewing, and evolving these courses /labs regarding. i.e. Numerical Methods for Chemical Engineering, Unit Operation, Engineering Economy, Engineering Thermodynamic, Process Simulation using Aspen HYSYS, heat and mass transfer Lab, process control lab. ..etc.

Beside his academic work, Mr. Abu yahya has participated in many researches at different countries, i.e. (JUST, Jordan), crystallization kinetic (Twente university, the Netherlands), Water desalination (Bremen university, Germany), corrosion (AUS, UAE) and Introduction to Aspen Capital Cost Estimator, EEE1011, ASPENTECH-HOUSTON, TX / USA.

Mr. Abu Yahya is/was an active participant in more than 6 projects granted by European Union /Erasmus+. i.e. Innovation for the leather industry in Jordan and Egypt/ INNOLEA” In Portugal, “MEDDACER” project for European credit hour system in France.etc.

Research Interests: Process Modeling using HYSYS and Mat-Lab. Thermodynamic equilibrium Leather Technology/Tanning and Quality control.

BAU (Jordan)

Tariq Alazab
Representative

Professor of Mechanical Engineering on Faculty of Engineering, Al-Balqa Applied University (BAU), he was a Vice President for Vocational Education (2012-2016), President Counsel for Vocational Education (2011-2012), Dean of Amman University College (2010-2011), and Dean of Al-Salt University College (2002-2010).Prof. Al Azab was Partner in one of Tempus and 3 of Erasmus+ Projects, with a budget exceeding 10,000,000 EURO. Also, Prof. Al Azab is the coordinator of Al Balqa Applied University for many Esrasmus+ projects. Moreover, he participated in organizing many workshops, seminars and conferences in the field of Mechanical Engineering.

Abeer Y. Al-Hyari

Abeer Y. Al-Hyari Dr. Abeer Y. Al-Hyari is an assistant professor of Computer Engineering at Al-Balqa Applied university since 2019. Dr. Abeer also serves as dean assistant for development and quality assurance affairs at the Faculty of Engineering since 2020. Dr. Abeer served as a head of electrical engineering department for the academic year 2021-2022. Dr. Abeer holds a Ph.D. degree in computer engineering from University of Guelph/Canada (2019) and a M.Sc. in computer engineering and networks from University of Jordan (2012). Dr. Al-Hyari participated in many Erasmus projects and helped in organizing related events for them.

PTUK (Palestine)

Mahmoud Jazzar,Representative

Dr. Jazzar is currently working as an associate professor in computer science and Dean for the College of IT at Palestine Technical University – Kadoorie. He served as director of Kadoorie center for innovation in teaching and learning during 2017 – 2018, and head of Quality Dept. during 2019-2022. In addition, he participated in the administration, training and course development of the Erasmus+ projects such as Fostering Entrepreneurship in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (FESTEM) project and in the Erasmus+ project so called Pathway in Forensic Computing (FORC). Prior working at Palestine Technical University - Kadoorie, Dr. Jazzar worked as Dean with Royal University for Women in the Kingdom of Bahrain and Assistant Professor in Computer Science with Al-quds University, Curtin University of Technology- Sarawak, and Birzeit University. Dr. Jazzar is a member of IEEE Computer Society, IAENG, MySEIG, and the Malaysian Information Technology Society (MITS). He joined many organizing and technical program committees and as a reviewer of many international conferences and journals. His main research lies in the area of Computer and Network Securities, Intrusion Detection and Protection, Forensics, and Intelligent Systems. He has supervised several research projects, published one book and several scientific research papers in his research domain.

Samer Saabi

Mr. Samer Saabi is currently working as Director of Fashion Design Department & Lecturer of Fashion Design at Palestine Technical university & he has been working as lecturer in Fashion Design for 25 years till now, he has a Diploma in Fashion Design & clothing manufacturing from Jordan & a Diploma of Education & Vocational Qualifications. And he was the head of Evaluation committee of graduation projects of fashion design for several years. He had an extensive training in the fields of Fashion Design, Textiles, Fashion Design curriculum mini courses of sewing through many sources like USAID, GIZ, UNIDO. In 2019 Mr. Saabi Participated in Fashion Training in Robert Gordon University Aberdeen in Scotland through Mobility Agreement (Staff Mobility) - Erasmus+ Project.

Dana Qedan

Mrs. Dana Qedan is currently working as fashion technician at Palestine Technical university- Kadoorie since 2013 till now. She has a Diploma & Comprehensive Degree in Fashion Design & Clothing Manufacturing from Palestine Technical University – Kadoorie. She had many trainings in many fields like Fashion Design, Textiles, Fashion Design curriculum development, sewing machines maintenance, computer design and drawing course (Optitex), & Certificate of internal and external audit through GIZ.

Mrs. Qedan was working as responsible for production and associated with sewing in many local tailoring in the field of design and marketing before her current job at PTUK.

Bashar Hamouda

Mr. Bashar Hmouda is currently working as fashion technician at Palestine Technical university since 2014 till now, he has a Diploma & Comprehensive degree in Fashion Design & Clothing Manufacturing from Palestine Technical University – Kadoorie. He had many trainings in many fields like Fashion Design, Textiles, Fashion Design curriculum development, Sewing machines maintenance, Computer design and drawing course (Optitex), communication Skills & Digital Marketing. And he had Course in design and quality management at Shenkar College –Tel Aviv. Mr. Hmouda has rich experience in the fashion field, as he has been working in this field since 2002 at Local market before he had his current job at PTUK in 2014, and he is still working to improve his experience.

NU-VTE (Palestine)

Derar Eleyan
Representative

Professor Eleyan now holds the position of President of Nablus University for Vocational and Technical Education in Palestine. He has excellent experience in academic and industry fields. He obtained a doctorate in information systems and a master's degree in business information technology from the University of Manchester, Britain. He served as Assistant President and Vice President for nine years at Palestine Technical University Kadoorie. He worked for five years as an assistant professor at Birzeit University in the Department of Computer Science, where he taught various courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels and supervised master's students in scientific computing and software engineering. He also worked as a lecturer and course team leader in Computing at the University of Essex/UK, where he taught various modules such as Information Systems, Project Management, Databases, Web Database, Website Management, Computer and Business Ethics, Research Methods and Development of various programs at Bachelor's and Master's levels. He was a visiting lecturer at the University of Manchester, where he taught on the Master's program in Enterprise System Modelling and Business IT. He participated in organizing many international scientific and technological conferences in Arab and European countries and Turkey. He has served as an external reviewer for several international conferences and journals in information science, information systems, and business process modelling. His research interests focus on systems dynamics, software quality, information systems, business process modelling, customer service, satisfaction and return on investment, IT management, IT project management, service quality, academic quality and performance evaluation, business and computer ethics, software testing quality assurance, Ease of use, e-commerce websites, web-based decision-making systems. He has published many scientific papers in conferences and peer-reviewed scientific journals, and has nearly a hundred scientific papers available on the Scientific Research website (Google Scholar). Professor Eleyan was selected to be a member of the jury of the Reimagine Education for Education Awards, the Oscars in Education for the year 2020. He has good experience as an information systems advisor to the European Union Commission for a support project for the Ministry of Social Development. Software developer at the Arab Bank for two years, Palestine. Director of the German Technology Centre at the Ministry of Labour, Palestine, for four years. He participated as a member of the Steering Committee for the IT Strategy in Palestine in 2013 and is now a member of some associations such as the British Computer Society (BCS), the British Institute of Learning (IFL), and the Systems Dynamics Society (SDS). Professor Eleyan is one of the founding members of the Education Experts Initiative in Palestine. Member of the Board of Directors of Al-Isra Hospital in Tulkarem/Palestine. Member of the Board of Directors of the Supreme Council for Creativity and Excellence. National Coordinator of the European Cooperation Fund in Science and Technology in Palestine since 2020. Member of the Board of Directors of UNIMED since 2022, Member of the Board of Directors of the Palestine Monetary Authority since May 2023.

Samer Jarrar

Dr. Jarrar is the Coordinator of the Faculty of Agriculture and Sustainable Natural Resources, Dr Jarrar in 2006 has obtained his PhD in Plant Virology from the University of Bari in Italy, and MSc and DSPU degrees in integrated Pest Management from the International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies - Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari in Italy (CIHEAM – IAMBari) in Italy. In 1996 he got the first degree (B.Sc.) in Plant Production and Protection from the University of Hebron in Palestine.

In 21^st April Dr. Jarrar was appointed as D.G. of the Palestinian National Agricultural Research Center (NARC_MoA). from 2018 till 2021 Dr. Jarrar has worked in Palestine Academy of Science and Technology (PALAST) as Vice President for Planning and Projects Management, he also worked as a freelancing consultant with many local and international Organizations, as USAID, EU, UNDP, FAO, MSM, PALTRADE etc., one of the longest assignment was one-year consultancy with the Maastricht School of Management (MSM) as senior consultant and advisor for the steering committee of the Palestinian Academic Agri-business Cooperation Project PAAC (targeting 4 Palestinian universities + the FEDERATION OF PALESTINIAN CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE, INDUSTRY & AGRICULTURE in West Bank). He also worked as agri-food expert with some Palestinian private agri-business companies. From 2014 – 2017 Jarrar was the Director of the Canaan Center for Organic Research and Extension (CORE) in Palestine. From 2002 ‐ 2014 Dr. Jarrar worked as scientist at CIHEAM-IAM Bari last 6 years he was the assistant to the Director of International Cooperation and Projects management department, in Italy. From 2000 to 2002 he worked at the Palestinian Ministry of Education & Higher Education as a head of the Agricultural Vocational Education Department. In the first three years of his career, he worked with local NGOs as coordinator for agricultural and rural developmental projects. Last but not least, Dr. Jarrar has a significant teaching and research experience at local and international academic and research Institutions.

His areas of interest are; plant pathology, agroecology and organic farming, sustainable agriculture and rural development, cooperation and project management, Planning.

Fuad Erman

FUAD ERMAN was born in Palestine. He received the B.Eng. degree in electronics and communications engineering from Al-Baath University, in 2013, the M.Eng.Sc. degree in communication and network engineering from Universiti Putra Malaysia, in 2017, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from Universiti Malaya, in 2020. From June 2022 to June 2023, he was a Postdoctoral Researcher with the Engineering Optimization and Modeling Center (EOMC), Department of Electrical Engineering, Reykjavik University, Iceland. He is currently an assistant professor with the College of Communications and Information Technology, Nablus University for Vocational & Technical Education, Ramallah, Palestine. His current research interests include RFID antennas, RFID sensors, wearable antennas, and wireless power transfer (WPT).

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

​​​​