362

About the Contributors

Christina M. Akrivopoulou holds a PhD in Constitutional Law and currently serves as Committee President in the Greek Refugee Authority in Athens. Her main research interests concern human and constitutional rights, the protection of the right to privacy, data protection, the private-public distinc- tion, and citizenship. She currently lectures in Hellenic Open University, and she has previously taught in Democritus University of Thrace, in Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and in the EMA-Unesco inter-university master class. She is a postdoctoral researcher of the Greek State Scholarships Founda- tion and of the Aristotle University Research Committee (Program of Academic Excellence). She is a member of the Thessaloniki Law Bar Association. She is collaborating with several Greek law reviews, and she is a member of many non-governmental human rights organizations in Greece and abroad. She is editor in chief of the International Journal of Human Rights and Constitutional Studies. She has edited for IGI the volumes, Personal Data Privacy and Protection in a Surveillance Era: Technologies and Practices (2010), Human Rights and Risks in the Digital Era: Globalization and the Effects of In- formation Technologies (2012), and Digital Democracy and the Impact of Technology on Governance and Politics: New Globalized Practices.

Nikolaos Garipidis is Attorney at Law in Thessaloniki Bar Association in Greece. He holds a PhD in Philosophy of Law and an LLM in History, Philosophy, and Methodology of Law from the Aristo- tle University of the Thessaloniki as well as an LLM in Legal Theory from EALT Brussels. His main research interests concern democratic theory, the counter majoritarian difficulty, constitutional power, redistributive justice, and the right to disobedience.

* * *

Stavros Amanatidis is a Senior Information Scientist at Novo Nordisk. He holds a Bachelor in Business Administration from University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece. After he graduated, he continued his studies in IT University of Copenhagen in Denmark. He holds a Master in Software Development, and he lives in Denmark. He has worked in several companies as software developer. He started his career in a start up Danish company, continued in the headquarters of Saxo Bank, and in the last year became a part of Novo Nordisk. He works as Senior Information Scientist in the Global Infor- mation and Analysis (GLIA) department. Being interested in deepening his knowledge in Information and Technology Science, he has attended several courses in various IT areas. About the Contributors

Haralambos Anthopoulos is currently an associate professor of Law and Public Administration in the Hellenic Open University, and he lives in Athens, Greece. He has published several books in Greek concerning the protection of fundamental rights, the freedom of conscience, the freedom of information, political anonymity, racism and social seclusion, as well as articles in relation to democracy, freedom of assembly, and the role of political parties in modern democracies. He is editor of the Greek law review, Newspaper of Public Law.

Sunil Aryal received a BIT degree from Purbanchal University, Nepal, in 2005 and MIT degree from University of Southern Queensland, Australia, in 2008. He worked as a Software Developer for a couple of years. He received an MIT (Research) degree from Monash University, Australia in 2012, where he is currently doing his PhD. His research interests include data mining, machine learning, and information system.

Marco Bani holds a MA degree in Humanities Computing (University of Pisa, Italy, 2008). He has formerly been a Research Fellow at King’s College of London, CCH (Centre for Computing in the Humanities). He is currently a PhD candidate in “Politics, Human Rights, and Sustainability” at Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna (Pisa, Italy).

Kiltidou Despoina is a PhD candidate in Comparative Law in Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Faculty of Law. The subject of her doctoral thesis is “International and Transnational Dimensions of Col- lective Bargaining within the Framework of Maritime Labour.” She holds a Master of Advanced Studies (LLM) in International Law, Faculty of Law, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Her main research interests concern Private International Law (Private International Maritime Law), Comparative Law, and International Trade Law. She received a Bachelor of Law, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and she works as attorney at law at Thessaloniki. Her occupational fields as a lawyer are Private International Law, Labour law, Employment Relations, and Commercial Law. In September 2012-December 2012, she cooperated as a foreign researcher with the Maritime and Ocean Law Center of University of Nantes (France), and she attended specialized courses in French Labour Law and European/French Maritime Social Security Law in University of Nantes. Furthermore, she is a Scientific Assistant to Associate Professor of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Christina Deliyanni-Dimitrakou in Comparative Law’s courses and in the Greek-French Master Program in European and Comparative Social Law (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki-University Toulouse 1). She speaks Greek (native), English, French, Italian, Russian, and Chinese.

Costas Eleftheriou is a PhD candidate at the University of Athens. His main interests include Greek party politics, European radical left parties, and philosophy of political science. In his PhD thesis, he examines the Greek Communist Party’s organisational and ideological development during the last two decades. He currently works as a political analyst at the National Confederation of Hellenic Commerce. He is also a Member of the Governing Board of the Hellenic Political Science Association.

Shalin Hai-Jew works as an instructional designer at Kansas State University. She has taught online in Washington State through multiple institutions of higher education and WashingtonOnline for many years. She has B.A.s in English and psychology, and an M.A. in English, from the University of Wash-

363 About the Contributors

ington, where she was a Hugh Paradise Scholar. She earned an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership with a focus on Public Administration from Seattle University (2005), a private university, where she was a Morford Scholar. She taught at Jiangxi Normal University from 1988 – 1990 (in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, in the P.R.C.) and at the Northeast Agriculture University from 1992 - 1994 (in Harbin, Hei- longjiang Province, in the P.R.C.), the latter two years with the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). In her work in academia, she has on a wide range of projects. She has published her research broadly. She reviews for a number of publications and publish- ers. She has been taking graduate courses for many years now as continuing professional development.

Rawan T. Khasawneh was born in Irbid, Jordan in 1989. She is a full-time lecturer at Jordan University of Science and Technology. She obtained her Master’s degree in Management Information Systems from Yarmouk University, Jordan (2013), and her bachelor degree in Management Information Systems from Yarmouk University, Jordan (2011). Rawan is a member of the international editorial re- view board of the International Journal of Technology Diffusion (IJTD). Rawan has research interest in e-government topics like digital divide, security issues and adoption of e-government. In addition, she works on research projects in social media and sentiment analysis, e-marketing and E-CRM, knowledge management systems, and group decision support systems.

Eylem Kılıç is an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Education and Instructional Technology, Faculty of Education at Yüzüncü Yıl University in Turkey. She holds a BS degree from the Department of Computer Education and Instructional Technology of Ankara University and a PhD from the same department of Middle East Technical University. She worked as an adjunct faculty at Open University of The Netherlands in The Netherlands and Arizona State University in USA. Her research interests are multimedia design, cognitive load theory, human memory, human-computer interaction, and multicultural learning and technology.

Marta Maroni is a PhD candidate at the faculty of law at the University of Helsinki. She holds a Master´s degree in International Relations (University of Perugia, Italy). She previously worked as leg- islative assistant at the Italian Senate of the Republic (2008-2012), where she daily collaborated with the Standing Committee of European Union Policies and the Special Commission for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights. Her current research focuses on the emerging right to Internet access. Her main areas of interest are constitutional theory, democracy, and international human rights law.

Arjun Neupane has completed a PhD from the University of Southern Queensland (USQ), Australia. He received his Master of Information Technology from the USQ, Australia, and Bachelor of Computer Application form Pokhara University, Nepal. His research interests are e-procurement, anti-corruption, and ICT for development. He has published papers in prestigious journals and books and has extensive teaching and research experience in e-procurement and economic development.

Olga Eirini Palla is a lawyer. She holds a Bachelor in Law and a Master in International Law with specialization in International Economic Law. After having worked as a trainee lawyer, she started her own law firm in Thessaloniki, Greece in 2009. In 2012, she moved to Copenhagen, Denmark to work as a visiting researcher in Center of European Constitutionalization and Security, Faculty of Law in

364 About the Contributors

Copenhagen University. Being interested in ongoing education, she has attended several seminars and courses in legal and business perspectives. Currently, she works as an associate in a Danish law firm and she attends a Bachelor in International Sales and Marketing Management. She writes articles regarding European Law and Human Rights.

Fereniki Panagopoulou-Koutnatzi works as a legal Auditor at the Data Protection Agency in Greece. She has studied Law at the University of Athens (law degree and LLM) and the University of Humboldt in Berlin (PhD) and Public Health and Law at the Harvard University (MPH). She has teaching experience at the Universities of Athens, Piraeus, Panteion, and Peloponnese in Greece, the University of Berlin, and the Berlin School of Economics and Law (Main courses: Bioethics, Public Law, and American Law). She has published many books concerning bioethics, private sphere, social networks and blogs, and many papers regarding public law, new technologies, bioethics, and medical law. She speaks English, Greek (mother tongue), German, French, and Italian.

Lina Papadopoulou is an Assistant Professor of Constitutional Law at the Faculty of Law at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTh). She studied Law at the same University (1993), took the LLM Master in Law at the University of Trier, Germany (1994), and her PhD (on European Political Parties, 1999) at the University of Hanover, Germany (1998). She also completed an MSc in Political Theory at the London School of Economics (LSE, 1999). She conducted post-doctoral research as a Marie Curie Fellow of the European Commission in the area of European Constitutional Law at the LSE (1999/2001) and Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Her main research interests and publications focus on European Constitution Law, equality and non-discrimination issues, fundamental rights, esp. religious freedom, and political parties. She has recently (2009) published a monograph (in Greek) on the relation between national constitutions and Community law.

Marios Papandreou holds a LL.B., a LL.M. in International and European Studies, a Master of Advanced Studies in Human Rights, and is currently finishing his doctoral thesis in comparative human rights law. Having previously worked with the Office of the European Ombudsman, he is now working as an Accredited Parliamentary Assistant in the European Parliament. His interests cover human rights, EU law, comparative law, and the issue of poverty and inequalites.

Wafa’a A. Rabayah was born in Irbid, Jordan in 1985. Graduated from Jordan University of Science and Technology with a Bachelor of Computer Science in 2007 and is Master’s degree student specializing in Management Information Systems at Yarmouk University in Jordan. Wafa’a has research interest in e-government, social network, and decision support systems.

Rasha A. Abu Shamaa was born in Amman, Jordan in 1982. Currently a Graduate Management Information Systems Master Student in Yarmouk University, Jordan, she has a Bachelor degree in Com- puter Engineering and a practical experience in system analysis and design and e-commerce marketing. Rasha has research interests in e-commerce, Web analysis, and social media.

Jeffrey Soar holds the Chair in Human Centred Technology, School of Management and Enterprise at the University of Southern Queensland. He holds Honorary Professor positions at Jiangxi Institute of Economic Administrators, The University of Queensland, and Curtin University. In 12 years in academia,

365 About the Contributors

Prof. Soar has been awarded more than 20 grants and research commissions including national competi- tive grants. Prof. Soar’s research has guided national policy in Australia, New Zealand, and other nations. Through international agencies, he has developed information strategy for the Pacific Islands and other developing nations. Jeffrey came to academia from a career at the highest senior executive levels in the public sector. In New Zealand he had nationwide responsible for IT and telecommunications services to national emergency response agencies; he also successfully managed New Zealand’s largest public sector technology project involving infrastructure, data services, telephony, radio telecommunications, applications development, and implementation.

Gianluca Sgueo holds a PhD in Public Law (University of Lecce, Italy, 2010). He is currently a Post- doc candidate in Democracy and Globalization at University of Coimbra (Center for Social Studies). He is Adjunct Professor in European Law at the University of Viterbo (Italy).

Athanasios Tsakiris holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Athens. His main in- terests include Political Sociology, Pressure Group and Social Movement Politics, Sociology of Work, Digital Politics, Film Studies. In his PhD thesis, he studied the bank employees’ trade union movement in Greece between 1974 and 1993 in order to determine the factors that influenced the movement’s ac- tion and strategies as well as its contribution to the development of the democratic political system after the Metapolitefsi (regime change from military dictatorship to parliamentary democracy). He works at Emporiki Bank as Head of the Translations Department. He is also Member of the Governing Board of the Hellenic Political Science Association.

Vehbi Turel has a First Class Degree in Teaching of English as a Foreign Language, MEd in Educa- tional Technology and TESOL, and a PhD on Design of Interactive Multimedia Language Software. He is a professional software developer and is mainly interested in teaching, research and creating CALL materials in English, Kurdish, and Turkish. He has around 26 years of teaching experience and works as a co-editor as well as a reviewer of different international journals. For example, on the basis of his exceptional commitment, efforts, and service to the journal, among the more than 200 reviewers, he was one of the 20 reviewers awarded the title of “Top Reviewer 2011 of Computer-Assisted Language Learning.” He teaches and publishes at international level. Likewise, he was awarded the top reward by TUBİTAK for one of his articles published in an international journal in 2010.

Despina Tziola is a PhD Student at Comparative Law in Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. She has a LLM in International Studies. She lives and works as a lawyer in Thessaloniki since 2010. She participates in the Project of International Association of Constitutional Law about Social Rights, and she has commented the following decisions: Β11ΑL21/11R of Bundessozialgericht, C-451/11 of European Court of Justice, UKSC 38/2012 of United Kingdom Supreme Court, CASE DORDEVIC v. CROATIA of European Court of Human Rights, CASE SZIMA v. HUNGARY of European Court of Human Rights, CASE CATAN and others v. RUSSIA and MOLDOVA of European Court of Human Rights and Decision 353/2012 of Tribunal Constitucional de Portugal. Her comments about the above decisions and her recent articles (“The Combined approach of Articles 2 (1) and 28 (1) of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 as a Source of International Law of Non-Discrimination” and “The Connection of the Right to Education to the Succession of States”) will be published in Inter- national Journal of Human Rights and Constitutional Studies.

366 About the Contributors

Kishor Vaidya, PhD, is an Associate Professor (Adjunct) at the University of Canberra, Australia. Dr. Vaidya is also an Adjunct Senior Lecturer at the University of Southern Queensland, Australia. His research interests include Inter-Organizational Information Systems (IOIS), especially e-Procurement, public procurement, application of organizational theories in IOIS and business management, and pro- gram evaluation. He has developed his research interests in issues pertaining to the use of technologies in reducing corruption in public procurement. Most recently, Dr. Vaidya is working on an action-oriented/ Web analytical research project to assess the impact of various Internet marketing strategies (including search engine optimization) on the conversion rate of e-commerce Websites (studentbusinessonline.com).

367