Dr. Christopher Kotsakis is a full professor of Geodesy in the School of Rural and Surveying Engineering at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. He holds a PhD degree in Geomatics Engineering from the University of Calgary (Canada) and he has worked on the areas of satellite, physical and mathematical geodesy since 1995.
Dr. Kotsakis is an elected Fellow of the International Association of Geodesy (IAG) which he has served in several roles since 1999. He was the president of IAG Commission 1 (Reference Frames) during the period 2019-2023 and also a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Geodesy since 2007. Currently, he is the representative of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) to the Committee of Space Research (COSPAR) of the International Council of Scientific Unions.
He also serves in the Governing Board of the IAG Global Geodetic Observing System (GGOS) as the representative of IAG Commission 1. His research is focused on modern data analysis and optimization techniques for geodetic estimation problems in relation to Earth observation and monitoring, with special emphasis on geodetic reference frames and modern height systems. He is the author/co-author of more than 100 papers and book chapters in peer-reviewed international journals and conference proceedings, and he has taught a large variety of undergraduate and graduate courses on modern statistics and estimation theory, least squares adjustment and its applications in geosciences and engineering, geodetic networks, gravity field modeling, GNSS data processing, deformation analysis and geodetic reference frames.
