In 2009, the John S. Latsis Public Benefit Foundation launched an initiative to promote scientific research by establishing and exclusively funding a series of International Summer Schools, which it hosted at its premises in the Pallas Athina Building, in various fields of knowledge, with the environment as the first field of reference.

The organizing bodies of the initiative were Greek universities and research centres, with a main objective of providing, on an annual basis and free of charge, the chance to 30 Greek and foreign postgraduate and postdoctoral students to participate at the programme, attending lectures conducted by speakers coming from Greece and abroad. The programme lasted until 2011, with each one of its cycles focusing on timely issues regarding Greece and the wider Mediterranean and South-Eastern Europe:

• 2009 | Climate — Climate Change — Impacts
• 2010 | Mediterranean Marine Ecosystems: Functioning and Evolution
• 2011 | Mediterranean Agroforestry and its Role in the Present Environmental Challenges

2009 to 2011 overview:

• a total of 305 applications were submitted in the framework of the 3 Summer Schools (128 from Greece and 177 from abroad)
• 91 academics participated in the 3 Summer Schools (43 from Greece and 48 from abroad).
• 81 renowned scientists participated as speakers (52 from Greece and 29 from abroad).

Watch the following short videos about the Summer Schools: