Dimitris Pnevmatikos

Professor in the Department of Psychology, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Western Macedonia

Dimitris Pnevmatikos, PhD, currently serves as the Vice-Head of the Department of Psychology at the University of Western Macedonia in Greece, a department he founded in 2019. Additionally, he holds the position of head of the Lab of Cognitive Science and is a prominent member of the Primary Education Department, where he has made significant contributions to various graduate and postgraduate courses. Throughout his career, Prof. Pnevmatikos has been deeply involved in academia and research. He served as the head of the Post-graduate Program in Educational Sciences and has supervised an impressive number of theses, including 14 PhDs and three postdoctoral projects. His scholarly contributions extend to over 130 articles and books, covering diverse topics within psychology and education. Notably, he authored the Greek national books for 1st-grade mathematics, demonstrating his impact on education at a foundational level. Prof. Pnevmatikos is highly engaged in professional organizations and committees. He has held key positions, such as Executive Committee member and SIG Coordinator, within the European Association for Research in Learning and Instruction (EARLI) and the Hellenic Psychological Society. Moreover, he served as President of the Association for Values and Knowledge Education (AVaKE) from 2018 to 2022. His expertise is widely recognized within the academic community, as evidenced by his involvement in reviewing for numerous scientific journals and serving on their editorial boards. He also guest-edited a Special Issue on Critical Thinking for the Journal of Education Sciences in 2023. Prof. Pnevmatikos has led several pivotal national and European projects as the principal investigator. These projects, including FP6, Thales, ARISTEIA, and HORIZON2020, as well as ERASMUS+, have contributed significantly to advancing STEM education, understanding cognitive mechanisms in children, designing teacher training courses, fostering critical thinking skills education, and developing Social Assistive Robots (SARs) and digital platforms for schools.

Presentation title: Creating Critical Thinking Professionals: Challenges for Higher Education and Strategies for Enhancing Critical Thinking