Giannis Manetas

Giannis Manetas is an emeritus professor at the University of Patras. He was born in Athens in 1947. He studied natural sciences and geography at the University of Athens and earned his PhD in Biological Sciences from the University of Patras in 1976. He worked at the same university from 1978 and was appointed as a professor of Plant Physiology in 1993. In addition to the University of Patras, he conducted research at the National Center for Scientific Research "Demokritos," the "Abisco" Experimental Station in Lapland, and the Universities of Stirling (Scotland), Gothenburg (Sweden), Essen, and Karlsruhe (Germany). He considers the most significant achievements of his career to be the systematic avoidance of university bureaucracy, the refusal to pursue any administrative position, and maintaining close friendships with many of his students. Throughout his career, he changed research fields several times. Although he passionately loved them all, he could not remain committed to any one field for more than a few years, as he realized that a holistic approach suited him better than excessive specialization.