The Director of HIT / CERTH, Dr. Evangelos Bekiaris, was elected as the new President of the European Organization EURNEX (EUropean rail Research Network of EXcellence, http://www.eurnex.org), which brings together leading researchers from scientific institutions and universities across Europe.
Currently, EURNEX consists of 31 member institutions from 18 European countries and China and it involves more than 600 senior researchers from the scientific disciplines with relevance for the entire railway system.
«Research, production of knowledge and distinctions»
The Director of HIT, Evangelos Bekiaris, is a PhD Mechanical Engineer of the National Technical University of Athens and one of the founding members of HIT (Hellenic Institute of Transport) one of the Institutes of CERTH (Center for Research and Technology Hellas),
since he was the first elected researcher of the Institute in 2001, as well former Head of the sector “Driver & Vehicle”, before taking up the position of the General Director of the Institute in 2016.
HIT is a highly recognized research body in the field of Transport. Since its establishment in 2000 it has been a leading research institution in Greece offering specialized basic and applied research and highly technical services in all fields of transport and reports to the General Secretariat for Research and Technology (GSRT), of the Greek Ministry of Education, Research and Religious Affairs. Its headquarters are located in Thessaloniki, while it has also branches in Athens, Piraeus and Rhodes.
Dr. Bekiaris’ European course is also very important, as he is an active member of many organizations within the transport sector in Europe and worldwide, serving also in presiding positions in many of them (i.e. President of the European Conference of Transport Research Institutes (ECTRI - www.ectri.org) from the beginning of 2019, Chairman of the Forum of European Road Safety Research Institutes (FERSI - www.fersi.org) from 2008 to 2011, President of the European Association HUMANIST European Centre of Excellence in Human Machine Interaction (HMI) in Transport (humanist-vce.eu ) from 2012 until 2015, Vice-President of the European Association for Battery, Hybrid and Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (AVERE - avere.org) from 2014 until 2016. At the same time, he is the National Representative for the HORIZON 2020 in the Smart, Green and Integrated Transport Programme Committee.
The unanimous election of Dr. Bekiaris in the presidency of the European Organisation EURNEX is an important part of HIT's efforts to strengthen its position in the European rail transport sector, together with the establishment of the Institute’s new lab "Rail Transport Systems & Services”, while is also part of the National steps towards the improvement of rail and combined transport.
