Key details
Dr Avgousta Kyriakidou-Zacharoudiou
Associate Professor in Computing
Dr Avgousta Kyriakidou-Zacharoudiou is an Associate Professor in Computing at the School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences, University of Greenwich. Before joining the University of Greenwich in 2011 she was a researcher, teaching assistant and assistant examiner at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Her research interests focus on how large-scale distributed systems are developed collaboratively within complex, virtual and global organizational contexts. This has included qualitative research of Grid computing, e-Science, global systems development practices, collaborative work practices and virtual communities.
Dr Kyriakidou-Zacharoudiou has obtained her PhD in Information Systems from the LSE. She also holds an MSc in Analysis, Design and Management of Information Systems (LSE) and a BSc degree in Computer Science (University of Cyprus). Her PhD research was fully funded by EPSRC and involved in-depth observation of particle physicists collaborative systems development practices when developing their widely distributed Grid for their Large Hadron Collider Experiment. This has resulted to a framework of guidance revealing a set of dynamic collaborative practices, lessons and practical recommendations for those organisational contexts engaged in distributed systems development. Dr Kyriakidou-Zacharoudiou has also worked on a number of research projects including as a PhD researcher on the PEGASUS project which explored particle physicists' engagement with Grid-technologies and as a Post-Doctoral research officer on the Physical Science Information Practices project (a collaboration between LSE and the University of Oxford), which involved observing the managerial and collaboration practices, information seeking, organizing, archiving, and communicating capacities of scientists.
Dr Kyriakidou-Zacharoudiou has more than 10 years of teaching experience in Higher Education. She teaches a number of courses on systems analysis, design, development and management, including agile development and management at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. She is a project supervisor for undergraduate and postgraduate students and she is also responsible for internationally run BSc and MSc courses.
Responsibilities within the university
University roles
- Induction Week Lead
- Project Supervisor
- Personal Tutor
- Academic Conduct Officer
Module leader 2019/20
- System Modelling
- Agile Development with Scrum
- Principles of Software Engineering (Course Sharing)
Awards
10/2006 - 10/2010 Competitive Full PhD Scholarship (UK EPSRC)
05/2018 Nominated for the Inspirational Teaching award (University of Greenwich Student led teaching awards 2018)
05/2018 Nominated for the Outstanding Personal tutor award (University of Greenwich Student led teaching awards 2018)
Recognition
Fellow of The Higher Education Academy - Post Graduate Certificate in Higher Education successfully completed in May 2019
Certified Scrum Master (Scrum Alliance) (awarded March 2019)
Certified in DevOps Foundations (Devops Institute) (awarded May 2019)
Certified in Agile Foundations (Agile Business Consortium) (awarded May 2019)
Research / Scholarly interests
- Globally distributed systems development and management
- Digital Infrastructures
- Virtual collaborations and Collaborative work practices
- Communities and virtual communities
- Grid and Cloud Computing
- Innovation and Information Systems
Reviewer for:
- Knowledge Management Research and Practice Journal
- Information, Technology and People Journal
- International Conference in Information Systems
- European Conference in Information Systems
Key funded projects
10/2010 - 12/2011 Principal Research officer: Physical Science Information Practices Project. Funded by Research Information Network (RIN). Physical sciences, hunting for the exploration of fundamental laws of nature, have played a special role for the natural sciences in the 19th and 20th century. As a discipline they formed an interface between mathematics and other natural sciences, but also between natural sciences, engineering, applied sciences and technological development. Not only have they influenced other sciences, epistemic and social behaviour characterizing this specific scientific community has often functioned as role model for other sciences. For example: the preprint culture developed primarily in high-energy physics (the first exceptional field of large scale and international collaboration) diffused first into physics and triggered (together with the web - another by-product of high-energy physics) the current web-based repository and open access movement. More recent developments as 'web travel in time' (Memento project) or 'life-stream data on information seeking behaviour' (Mesur project) also have their origins in physical science research environments. Such developments make the managerial and collaboration practices, information seeking, organizing, archiving, and communicating capacities of this particular community an interesting case to be studied for possible effective regimes of information processing behaviour when confronted with complex problem solving tasks. This project seeks to explore this behaviour. The study results provide RIN with evidence on which to develop advice and guidance for a range of stakeholders, particularly focusing on research funders and institutions, to aid them in the formulation of their research policy, strategy and practice. More information is available at: http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/research/?id=62
10/2006 - 09/2010 PhD Researcher: PEGASUS PROJECT - Particle Physicists' Engagement with Grid-technologies: A Socio-technical Usability Study: Experimental particle physics has always demanded new technology and this demand has led to many new innovations, of which the Web is perhaps most notable. Currently particle physics is demanding a new form of computer system capable of processing the vast quantity of data which will be produced by a new particle accelerator at CERN (Europe's particle physics laboratory based in Geneva called the Large Hadron Collider - LHC), scheduled to start in 2007. This experiment will produce a staggering 12-14 million gigabytes of data per year and so requires a wholly new form of computer system to process the data. This new system is called a Grid and consists of many distributed computers, storage arrays, and sensors, all working together so that any user can draw on very large amounts of computing power without needing to know about how it works or even where the computers and data are located. The UK's particle physics community has constructed a Grid (called GridPP1) as a pilot demonstrator of this technology. They are now in the process of evaluating this pilot project, and developing a new Grid (GridPP2) ready for the new accelerator where it will be used by a large number of physicists analysing the new data. However implementing new information systems is always difficult. While the pilot projects may prove technically successful, things are often very different when they start to be used to do real work. In particular the users will need to change the way they work in order to accommodate the new system, they will require (or even demand) the new system to be changed in unexpected ways because it doesn't fit with their needs, and furthermore the type of work they do collectively will be changed. This project aims to understand the way particle physicists are constructing their Grid, and how they are introducing it into use. This is relevant for improving the usability of all Grids and for wider information systems research for three reasons; first, particle physicists are very pragmatic in the way they construct technology and tend to employ tools and techniques in different ways to other developers (for example software companies or big firms). Second, particle physicists are distributed across the globe and have for a long time worked together as a "virtual organisation"; something which is of great interest to other scientists as "e-science" leads them to work in similar ways. Third, because the LHC will start in 2007, and so GridPP2 must be ready on time, we will be able to observe the compromises and decisions particle physicists make to construct a usable system to a deadline. This means that the research can provide a relevant juxtaposition to current research on other innovative systems development approaches, for example Open Source Development and Agile Methods. More information is available at: www.pegasus.lse.ac.uk
Recent publications
Kyriakidou-Zacharoudiou, A and I. Kourti (2019) "Aligning Traditional and Virtual Collaboration in the Digital Age: Lessons Learned from two Distinctive Collaborative Projects".,The 11th International Symposium on Process Organization Studies, Theme: Organizing in the Digital Age: Understanding the Dynamics of Work, Innovation, and Collective Action, Chania, Crete, June 2019
Kourti, I and A. Kyriakidou-Zacharoudiou (2019) "Bridging technological and traditional ways of collective action: A comparative case study of two Service Inter-organisational Collaborations", 2019 Organisational Studies Workshop, Mykonos, Greece, May 2019.
Kyriakidou-Zacharoudiou, A and Y. Zheng (2017) "Engendering Virtual Communities of Practice: A study of a Globally Distributed Grid Development Project", In Proceedings of the 38th International Conference on Information Systems, Seoul
Venters, W and A. Kyriakidou-Zacharoudiou (2012) "Interventionist Grid Development Projects: A research framework based on three frames". Information Technology & People, Vol. 25 Issue 3, pp.300 - 326
Meyer, E.T., M.E. Bulger, A. Kyriakidou-Zacharoudiou, L. Power, P. Williams, W. Venters, M. Terras and S. Wyatt (2011) "Collaborative Yet Independent: Information Practices in the Physical Sciences". Research Information Network (RIN) Report Series, IOP Publishing. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1991753
Kyriakidou, A. and W. Venters (2009) "Distributed large-scale systems development: Exploring the collaborative development of the particle physics Grid." 5th International conference on e-Social Science, Cologne.
Kyriakidou, A. and W. Venters (2009) "Clusters Of Competence" In The Distributed Development Of Grids: A Particle Physics Community's Response To The Difficulties Of Global Systems Development.", IFIP WG9.5 "Virtuality and Society" International Workshop, Athens, Greece.
Venters, W., T. Cornford, A. Kyriakidou, Y. Zheng. (2009) "Grids' Knowledge Infrastructure: A case study of the LCG computing Grid at CERN through a practice lens." 5th International conference on e-Social Science, Cologne.
Kyriakidou, A. and W. Venters (2008) "Distributed development of large-scale global systems: Exploring the collaborative practices of particle physicists as they develop a Grid for the LHC", presented at IFIP 8.2 OASIS workshop 2008, Paris, France.
Kyriakidou, A. and W. Venters (2007) "The multi-disciplinary development of collaborative Grids: The social shaping of a Grid for healthcare",15th European Conference on Information Systems (nominated for best paper), St Gallen, Switzerland