Member's Zone

Trainees's Zone

Hellenic Open University
School of Communications

Key Personnel

Dr. Kostas Dimopoulos is a researcher in the area of Science Communication. His main research interests concern the image of Science and Technology in the mass media as well as science education, taking place within contexts of informal science learning. He has published relevant articles in highly valued academic journals like Public Understanding of Science and Science Education. He also teaches as a Lecturer on these issues in the graduate program ‘Studies in Education’ of the Hellenic Open University. Finally he currently participates in various national and European projects aiming at analyzing the presentation of techno-scientific issues in the contexts of Science Centers, public visits to nuclear physics research laboratories, and sites of the World Wide Web.

Institutional profile

The Hellenic Open University (HOU), is a Public University founded by the Greek Government in 1992 (fully operating since 1997) with prime mission to offer university level education using distance learning methods and to develop the appropriate material and teaching methods. In the aims of HOU is the promotion of scientific research in the field of transmission of knowledge from distance, is included. 10.500 students covering a wise spectrum of ages, half of which are enrolled in graduate programs in the School of Science and Technology (including 900 students enrolled in the Computer Science program).
Specifically, the HOU pursues to offer a second opportunity to adults for undergraduate studies. Moreover, its seeks to provide postgraduate curricula to graduates who wish to extend or upgrade their studies to subjects related to their work position. The HOU currently provides under-graduate programs some of which have strong relevance to ‘Science Communication’ like ‘Studies in Natural Sciences’, ‘Studies in Education’, ‘Adult Education’, ‘Environmental Planning of Cities and Buildings’, etc ) while it plans in the future to organize a special graduate programme in ‘Science Communication’ as a separate field of study.
The HOU being strongly interested and having developed significant know-how on technologies and techniques supporting open and distant learning can support the consortium in dealing with aspects of Science Communication that require relevant approaches. Examples of major large-scale projects undertaken currently by the HOU on the field of open and distant learning are:

• 2001-02 “Advanced telematic services in the Hellenic Open University”, funded by the Greek Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, (Third Community Framework Support (CFS) for Greece, total budget of about 541 KECU). The project aims to upgrade and extend the Network of Telematics of the HOU, as well as to plan and implement basic and advanced network services that concern its administration, the communication among the academic staff, the communication with the students and the facilitation of their transactions with HOU.

• 2001-2003 “Development of a distant-learning training module on energy efficient integrated building design in Urban Environment and Pilot Action involving the production and promotion of modules for the initial training for building professionals and craftsmen/technicians”.

• 2003-2005 “Organized Civil Society and European Governance”.

Selected Publications

Dimopoulos, K. & Koulaidis, V., (2002), The Socio-epistemic Constitution of Science and Technology in the Greek Press: An Analysis of its Presentation, Public Understanding of Science, 11, 225-241.
Koulaidis, V., Dimopoulos, K., & Matiatos, S., (2002), Science and Technology Centers as ‘Texts’, International Journal of Learning, 9, 717-735.
Dimopoulos, K. & Koulaidis, V., (2003), Science and Technology Education for Citizenship: The potential role of the Press, Science Education, 87, 241-256.
Dimopoulos, K., Koulaidis, V. & Sklaveniti, S., (2003), Towards an analysis of visual images in the school science textbooks and the press’ articles about science and technology, Research in Science Education, 33, 189-216.
Chrisridou, V., Dimopoulos, K. & Kou laidis, V., (2004), Constructing Social Representations of Science and Technology: The role of metaphors in the Press and the Popular Scientific Magazines, Public Understanding of Science, 13, 347-362.
Dimopoulos, K., Koulaidis, V. & Sklaveniti, S., (2005), Towards a framework of socio-linguistic analysis of science textbooks: the Greek case, Research in Science Education, 35, 173-195.