Gelina Harlaftis, Professor of Maritime History in the Department of History and Archaeology of the University of Crete and head of the Centre of Maritime History at the Institute for Mediterranean Studies of FORTH, was unanimously re-elected Director of the Institute on 23 June 2021.

The election was made by a seven-member Evaluation Committee appointed by the Ministry of Development and Investments, chaired by Katherine E. Fleming , Professor of Hellenic Culture and Civilization in the Faculty of Arts and Science at the NYU.

Her official appointment is expected in the next few weeks.

Short Bio

Gelina Harlaftis, Director of the Institute for Mediterranean Studies of the Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas (FORTH) since 2017, is Professor of Maritime History in the Department of History of the Ionian University. She has graduated from the University of Athens and has completed her graduate studies in the Universities of Cambridge (M.Phil.) and Oxford (D.Phil.). She started her career as a lecturer in Piraeus University (1990-2003) and continued since 2003 in the Ionian University. She was Chair of the Department of History of the Ionian University (2004-2008) and President of the International Maritime Economic History Αssociation (2004-2008) and Director of the Graduate Programme "History and Documentation" of the Ionian University (2014-2017). In 2009 she was a Visiting Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford University, and in 2008 an Alfred D. Chandler, Jr., International Visiting Scholar in the Business History Program,Harvard Business School. She has also served as a visiting Professor in Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada (1998) and as an Honorary Research Fellow inthe Institute of Maritime Studies, Greenwich University, London (1999). Her research interests are in maritime history, economic and social history, business history, global history and diaspora history. She has published 26 books in English, Canadian and Greek publishing houses and more than 60 articles in edited volumes and international peer-reviewed journals. Her last book is titled Creating Global Shipping. Vagliano Brothers, Aristotle Onassis and the Evolution of Greek Shipping Business, 1820s-1970s, (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2019). She has extensive experience in the coordination and implementation of large research projects and has established a large international research network with scholars from all continents. She is currently project leader of the project "Onassis Business History" in collaboration with the Onassis Foundation (2017-2021) She has organized many international conferences in Greece and abroad, participates in numerous international organizing committees of conferences and journal editorial boards. She is member of the International Maritime History Association, European Business History Association and the Greek Economic History Association.