Athanasios Papaioannou is Professor of Sport Psychology and Dean of the School of Physical Education and Sport Sciences of the university of Thessaly (2018-2024). He is the founder of the Master’s program in Psychology of Exercise and he has been the coordinator for the university of Thessaly of the Erasmus Mundus programme “European Master’s in Sport and Exercise Psychology” and still the director of this program. He holds a Diploma in Physical Education and Sport Science from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, an MPhil in Psychology of Physical Activity from the university of Manchester and a PhD in Psychology in Education and Sport from the university of Manchester. He is the treasurer of the European Federation of Sport Psychology (2019-2024) and from 2001 until 2017 he was Managing Council member of the International Society of Sport Psychology (ISSP), Vice-president of the ISSP (2013-2017) and the Treasurer (2005-2009) of this organization. He was also the Director of the 10th World Congress of Sport Psychology, Skiathos, June 2001. He is the past president of the Greek Society of Sport Psychology and past Vice-president of the Hellenic Academy of Physical Education. He was editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology (2008-2023) and he has been member of the Editorial Board of various journals. Professor Papaioannou has been the scientific coordinator of national and European projects aiming to promote physical activity and healthy lifestyles of children and adolescents and intercultural education. He has coordinated and evaluated the development of national curricula for Physical Education in Middle School and High School (2003-2024). He co-edited the Routledge Companion of Sport and Exercise Psychology with Dieter Hackfort and he co-authored 4 Greek books in the area of psychology and physical education, 2 books for public education in Greece and one Greek book in statistics. He wrote more than 150 articles in journals and congress proceedings in the areas of motivation, physical activity promotion and health-related behaviours. He has been invited speaker for the topic of motivation in sport and exercise in several international and national congresses. Professor Papaioannou is the recipient of the Honor Award of the ISSP. He is married with a young daughter and he likes jogging.

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