George Petihakis, has a Ph.D in Marine Ecosystem Modelling (2004), an M.Sc in Applied Fish Biology (1990) and a B.Sc in Ecology (1989). He is an elected Research Director of HCMR/Institute of Oceanography with more than 25 years of experience in marine science with particular emphasis on marine ecological modelling, marine observations, and data analysis. 

As a member of the HCMR POSEIDON team he has contributed to the development of the POSEIDON-M3A marine observing station in East Mediterranean and he is responsible for its operation and maintenance. 

Moreover, he is the overall responsible for the observing component of the POSEIDON System. As ecosystem modeller he has extensively used collected and processed data for the tuning and validation of ecosystem models for Cretan and Aegean Seas, East Mediterranean and Mediterranean Basins. Furthermore, he has developed a decision-making management tool for aquacultures, which provides valuable information on key parameters such as the location and size of the farm through a holistic environmental impact approach. 

He has been involved as coordinator, principal investigator or researcher, in 41 EU and national programs some of which are RECITE, EUROFORM, MATER-MAST II, THETIS, MFSPP, COST-IMPACT, MFSTEP, MEDEX, MedEcos, INSEA, INTERREG III-A, POSEIDON I&II, EuroSITES, MEECE, REPRODUCE, MedEcos, JERICO, SEAMAN, OPEC, FixO3, JERICO NEXT, EMSODEV, CSA Oceans 2, EMSO-LINK. 

He has 69 published papers in peer reviewed journals, 31 publications in books and scientific series, 141 publications in conference proceedings. During the period 2003 – 2008 he was Associate lecturer at the Technological Educational Institute of Crete (TEI), School of food technology and dietetics, Department of human nutrition and dietetics. He has been evaluator of research projects in National (GRST), in European (FP7) programs, in the Research Council (TRC) of the Sultanate of Oman, in the National Centre for Research and Development in POLAND and in the Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF). He is a referee in 12 scientific journals in the area of physical chemical and biological oceanography and an active member in 7 scientific organisations (Geotechnical Chamber of Creece (GEOTEE); Association of Aquaculture Experts; Association of Greek Oceanographers; European Society of Limnology and Oceanography; Greek Association of Researchers (EEE); International Society for Ecological Modelling; CoastNet’s Network). Since 2014 he is representing HCMR at the EuroGOOS General Assembly and since 2015 he an elected member of the Executive Board of the organization holding the position of Chair. 

Since 2016 he is a member of European Ocean Observing System (EOOS) Steering Group and an active participant in the JPI Oceans management board leading an implementation action on European Marine Calibration. Moreover, he is the supporting national representative at EMSO-ERIC, Assembly of Members AoM and regional facility (Hellenic Arc) leader.