**About the Editors**

**Nikolaos Koukouzas** holds a BSc degree in Geology with an MSc and PhD degrees in Industrial Mineralogy from Leicester University, UK. He received his bachelor's degree in Geology from the National University of Athens in 1987. He continued his postgraduate studies in the UK, receiving a 4-year grant from the State Scholarship Foundation of Greece, and completed his PhD in 1995. Dr. Koukouzas is currently Director of Research in the Centre for Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH) and Director of the Laboratory of the Solid Fuels in CERTH, supervising a team of scientists with offices in Athens, Thessaloniki, and Ptolemais, Greece. He is Member of the Executive Committee of the Monitoring and Assessment Exercise of the Research Fund for Coal and Steel, National Delegate in the Government Group of Zero Emission Power Plant Technology Platform (ETP-ZEP), and National Delegate in the Policy and Technical Group of the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum – CSL coordinated by US DoE. His research expertise is focused on coal geology, industrial mineralogy, coal geochemistry, fossil fuel characterization, coal combustion byproducts, coal slope stability, waste and mine water treatment, and CO2 storage and monitoring. Dr. Koukouzas has served as Project Manager with scientific responsibility of numerous research projects, with over 25 years' experience on energy and environment issues. He has 250 publications corresponding to 1650 citations and a h-index of 21.

**Pavlos Tyrologou** is Research Fellow at CERTH, holds a BSc (4 years with Hons) degree in Geology and Applied (Engineering) Geology from Glasgow University, an MSc in Applied Environmental Geology from Cardiff University, and a PhD in Environmental Geotechnical Engineering from Imperial College London which was fully supported by a scholarship award from The Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, UK. He is professionally accredited in the UK both as a Chartered Geologist and Eurogeologist in the field of Engineering Geology. Pavlos has 15 years of consultancy experience in various public infrastructure design/works in Greece, United Kingdom, Madagascar, and Sint Maarten. He is an expert witness for both the Athens Public Prosecutor's Office and Athens Court of Justice. He has evaluated more than 65 research and business projects as independent evaluator for both the European Commission and Greek Government. Pavlos, due to his wide expertise, serves as Coordinator in the European Federation of Geologists (EFG) on the Natural Hazard and Climate Change Panel, and is a member of the panel of experts on soil protection. On the same note, he is the Greek representative within the EFG council through the Association of Greek Geologists. He is a member of a) the Greek Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, b) Geological Society of London, c) International Society for Rock Mechanics, and d) Member of International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, in which he serves on the technical committee of the Engineering Practice of Risk Assessment and Management. He also has extensive research experience in several European H2020 projects, including proposal writing, inception and execution (CHPM30, UNEXMIN, SLOPES, KINDRA, INTRAW, COALTECH2051, StrategyCCUS, LEILAC2, RECPP) and in various tasks including project management and research activities. His current research interests are focused on climate change and related activities and how these are related to security issues such as state fragility and vulnerability.

**Petros Koutsovitis** is Assistant Professor at the University of Patras, Department of Geology. He holds a PhD in the fields of Mineralogy, Petrology and Geochemistry from the University of Athens, Greece. Dr. Koutsovitis has been a Post-doctoral researcher at the University of Vienna (under an FWF-funded project) and was later employed at the Greek Institute of Geology and Mineral Exploration, within the frame of ESTMAP (Horizon 2020) and YPOTHER (NSRF-funded) projects. He continued his research activities at the Centre for Research & Technology (CERTH), participating in EU-funded Horizon2020 and RFCS project's (STRATEGY-CCUS, COAL2GAS & COALBYPRO), as well as at the University of Athens as an Academic Educational Fellow. Dr. Koutsovitis has also participated in the INTRAW Horizon 2020 programme, in cooperation with the European Federation of Geologists (EFG). He has published several papers in peer reviewed Journals and has been awarded by the Academy of Athens for his research.
