Andreas Demetriou - Biography#

Full CV

Andreas Demetriou studied psychology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, where he received both his BA (1975) and his PhD (1983). He was a professor of development psychology at the Department of Psychology of Aristotle University until 1996, when he moved to the University of Cyprus where he is still a professor. He served in many top academic positions, such as Vice-Rector and Acting Rector of the University of Cyprus from 1999 to 2002. He also served as the founding president of the Cyprus University of Technology (2004-2008). He was the Minister of Education and Culture of Cyprus for three and a half years (March 2008-August 2011).

He is also a fellow of the International Academy of Education. He is also a member of many learned societies, including the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction, the International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development, the Society for Research in Child Development, and the Association for Psychological Science.

He served as editor or board member of many journals, including the Advances in Learning and Instruction, Learning and Instruction: The Journal of the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction, Developmental Science, Cognitive Development, and the British Journal of Educational Psychology. He was also the founding editor of Psychology: The Journal of the Hellenic Psychological Society.

He taught as Visiting Fellow or Professor at several Universities, including the Universities of Porto, Portugal, Lublijana and Marribor, Slovenia, Fribourg, Switzerland, and the University of Melboune, Australia, and lectured as invited lecturer for technical seminars on cognitive development at more than 50 Universities all over the world, including the Universities of Stanford, Harvard, Yale, McGill, Toronto, Munich, Leiden, Gothenburg, Wurtzburgh, Edinburgh, Leuven, etc.

He has published more than 150 books and articles in technical journals presenting his work on cognitive development. This work advances a new comprehensive theory of cognitive development. These publications include the following: (1) The Architecture and Dynamics of Developing Mind (1993, with A. Efklides and M. Platsidou) and (2) The Development of Mental Processing (2002, with C. Christou, G. Spanoudis, and M. Platsidou) in the series Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, (3) Life-span Developmental Psychology (1998, Wiley, with W. Doise, and C. F. M. van Lieashout), (4) Unity and Modularity in the Mind and the Self (2001, Routledge, with S. Kazis) and (5) Cognitive Developmental Change (2004, Cambridge University Press, with A. Raftopoulos). The journals New Ideas in Psychology (1998), Developmental Review (1999) , Developmental Science (1999) devoted special issues in the discussion of his theory of cognitive development.

As a Minister of Education and Culture, he lead a large program of reforms in Cypriot education which includes the development of new curricula across all subjects and grades from preschool to senior high school and the expansion of the university system of the country. He also lead the reform of the system of cultural governance that aims to bring the people of culture in the decision making mechanisms of the country.

At present, after the end of his term as Minister of Education and Culture, he started as Professor of Psychology and President of the University of Nicosia Research Foundation. His mandate is to lead the transformation of the University into an internationally active research University.