Ludwig von Bertalanffy PhD Scholarship awarded

The Ludwig von Bertalanffy PhD Scholarship was awarded to Asimina Koukou from Greece for a period of three years. She convinced the  Scholarship Committee set up by the Bertalanffy Center in a competitive interview with four candidates after scrutinising the applications.

Her Phd research supervised by Prof. Katharine Sarikakis at the Department of Communication of the University of Vienna and ao.Univ. Prof. Wolfgang Hofkirchner at the Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science investigates the role of social media in the transformation of the organisation of society in times of crisis. In the epicentre of her work is the notion of public sphere and its revitalization for the formation of a sustainable democracy and society.

She will investigate the formation of current social movements and their communicative spaces, their philosophical origins from a systems perspective as well as their purposeful design of social systems to tackle the current crisis in Europe, e.g. in Greece.

She holds a degree in Philosophy, Education and Psychology (University of Ioannina, 2004) as well as in Mass Media and Communication (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 2008). She completed her Master’s degree in European and International Relations at the University of Athens (2010). Her master thesis elaborated on “The United Nations’ Global Compact: Its contribution to the protection of the environment – Examples from the Greek reality”.

Asimina will also contribute her experience as a teacher, workshop facilitator, public relation freelancer and European Youth Press country coordinator. Mrs. Koukou started to work at the Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science in January 2014.