Professor Yannis Valinakis is presently President, the Jean Monnet European Centre of Excellence at the University of Athens. He served as Deputy Foreign Minister of Greece (responsible for political and european affairs), 2004-2009, Member of Parliament for the Dodecanese Islands, and previously as advisor to the Foreign Minister and member of the MFA Planning Staff. He studied law, international affairs and strategic studies in Athens, Heidelberg and Paris (Ph.D. Paris-1 Sorbonne University).

Ηas taught international relations, defense policy, european affairs, etc at the University of Athens.

Post-doc research and teaching assignments at various universities and international research institutions.

Professor Valinakis served as a Member of the Board and of the Academic Council of the W. Martens Centre for European Studies in Brussels (2008-2022), Director of Studies and General Director of the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP) and founder, Director General and President of the Jean Monnet European Centre of Excellence at Athens University (since 2010). He has also served as a Resident Fellow at the Institute for East-West Studies in New York, a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Security Studies of the European Union (Paris), a Visiting Senior Fellow at the European Institute (London School of Economics, and at other prominent research institutions. He has published widely in several languages.

His more recent books deal with Greece’s EEZ, its Foreign, European and Security Policies, “Exiting the Crisis” etc. He is currently finalizing a new book on Greek-Turkish Affairs.

Prof. Valinakis is also active in the private sector as President and CEO of Meditours S.A.