Papanikolaou Theodoros

Academic Positions

2026 – : Assistant Professor, Department of Physics, University of Patras, Greece
2023 – 2026: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Gravity and Cosmology (CosmoGrav) Group, Scuola Superiore Meridionale, Naples, Italy
2021 – 2023: Postdoctoral Resercher, National Observatory of Athens, Greece

Administrative Positions

September 2025 – September 2027: Secretary (elected) of the Hellenic Society of Relativity, Gravity and Cosmology

Education

2018 – 2021: PhD in Theoretical Cosmology, Université Paris-Cité, France, PhD Thesis Title: “Studying aspects of the early Universe with primordial black holes”, PhD advisor: Prof. Vincent Vennin
2017 – 2018: Master 2 in Nuclei, Particles, Astroparticles and Cosmology, Sorbonne Université, France, GPA: “Très Bien – 17/20” – Summa Cum Laude
2016 – 2017: Master 1 in Fundamental Physics, École Normale Supérieure de Paris, France, GPA: “Bien – 14.5/20”
2012 – 2016: BSc in Physics, Department of Physics, University of Patras, Greece, GPA: “Excellent – 9.96/10” – Summa Cum Laude

Foreign Languages

Greek: Native Speaker
English : Level C2, Michigan ECPE, IELTS Academic (Grade: 8.0/9)
French: Level C2, DALF C2 (Grade: 92/100)
Italian: Level Β2, Greek State Certificate of the Italian Language (Grade: 88/100)
Romanian: Level A2

International Collaborations

LISA Cosmology Working Group (Core Member)
COST Action CA21136 “CosmoVerse”
COST Action CA18108 “Quantum Gravity Phenomenology in the multi-messenger approach”
COST Action CA23130 “Bridging high and low energies in search of quantum gravity (BridgeQG)”

Reviewing Activity

Research Funding

October 2023 – September 2026: Postdoctoral Research Fellowship from the Scuola Superiore Meridionale di Napoli, Italy (International selection among ∼200 candidates).

October 2021 – September 2023: Postdoctoral Research Grant from the Foundation for Education and European Culture in Greece for post-doctoral research in the National Observatory of Athens.
October 2018 – September 2021: “Jean-Pierre Aguilar” Research Fellowship from the CFM Research Foundation for doctoral research at the Université Paris Cité.

Excellence Scholarships

Excellence Scholarships for BSc studies in Physics at the University of Patras attributed by the “Andreas Mentzelopoulos” Foundation and the National Scholarship Foundation of Greece.
Excellence Scholarships for Master studies in Paris attributed by the Lilian Voudouri and Leventis Foundations, the Foundation for Education and Europe Culture in Greece, the Greek Ministry of Education, the ICFP-LabEx of École Normale Supérieure (ENS) and the Lagrange Institute of Paris.

International Distinctions/Awards

“Honorable Mention” in the 2024 and 2025 Gravity Essay Competition of the Gravity Research Foundation in USA.
Inclusion in the Stanford/Elsevier’s Top 2% Scientists Ranking for the Years 2023 and 2024 (Top 1%).
International Excellence Award/Fellowship from Alexander S Onassis Public Benefit Foundation for participation in the 66th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting.

Teaching at the Undergraduate Program of the Department of Physics

Ordinary Differential Equations , 2026-today, 2nd semester
Special Topics of Elementary Particle Physics and Fields, 2026-today, 8th semester
Physics Laboratory IV (Electromagnetism), 2026-today, 4th semester

Teaching at the Master Program of the Department of Physics

Student Supervision

Membership to Scientific Associations

Research Interests