Associate Professor
Nektarios Karanikas

Biography

Dr Nektarios Karanikas is an Assoc. Prof in the Health, Safety and Environment discipline of the School of Public Health & Social Work at QUT. He was awarded his doctorate in Safety and Quality Management from Middlesex University (UK) following his research on the transformation of a safety program of a large and complex organisation into an operational safety management system. His research used established standards and quality and change management principles to design and implement new performance indicators. A/Prof N. Karanikas also holds a MSc in Human Factors & Safety Assessment in Aeronautics from Cranfield University (UK). His master’s thesis focused on the detection of human factors issues through the analysis of maintenance records. He graduated from the Hellenic Air Force Academy (GR) as an aeronautical engineer and worked as an officer in the Hellenic Air Force (HAF) for more than 18 years before he resigned at the rank of Lt. Colonel in 2014.

While in the HAF, A/Prof Karanikas served in various positions related to maintenance and quality management and accident prevention and investigations. He also was a lecturer and instructor for safety and human factors courses, the majority of which he designed or substantially revised. In addition to the application of quality and project management approaches and skills during his service as an engineer, his active and intense engagement into safety management activities of the HAF included the completion of shorter and longer safety projects. Those focused on organisation-wide interventions and the promotion of a mature and inclusive safety culture supported by effective strategies for proactive, predictive and reactive safety management.

In his previous appointment as A/Prof. of Safety & Human Factors in the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (NL), Nektarios undertook the design, delivery and continuous evaluation of relevant courses across the whole Bachelor curriculum. He supervised honour degree students conducting their research projects during their placement at various companies, and he delivered in-house and public masterclasses in safety, risk and investigation management. Also, A/Prof Karanikas led a 4-years co-funded project about Aviation Safety Metrics with the contribution of over 40 partners and smaller contract research and consultancy projects with a total budget of about 1,200,000 EUR. A/Prof Karanikas willingness to bring closer academia and industry led to his initiative to launch in 2016 the International Cross-industry Safety Conference, which he organised and chaired for three consecutive years.

A/Prof Karanikas has been an active member of various prestigious international and regional associations. He has published two edited books, numerous academic journal articles, including papers in top-tier safety journals such as Safety Science, Safety Research and Risk Analysis, peer-reviewed conference papers and book chapters and has contributed as a speaker to over 100 international and regional events. He is an Associate Editor for Safety Science, a member of editorial boards and a regular reviewer of safety, human factors and aerospace-related journals, and he volunteers in various activities of professional bodies.

During his professional and academic career, A/Prof Karanikas has employed a multitude of methodologies and different population samples, His research methods include documentation analysis from different organisational levels, analysis of historical records, administration of surveys and conduction of interviews with the participation of managers and employees from different locations, job functions and levels and diverse demographics and cultural backgrounds. He has demonstrable experience in quantitative data analysis through statistical tests and the processing of qualitative data through coding and thematic analysis. A/Prof Karanikas' ability to synthesise data and information from various sources has led to insightful findings for organisations as well as contextualised and workable roadmaps to develop holistic and operational solutions for safety