Associate Professor Ioanna Kostarella 

Field of specialization, studies, work experience:

Dr. Ioanna Kostarella was born in 1976 in Kozani, Greece and works as an Associate Professor at the Department of Journalism and Mass Communications of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. She holds a BA in Journalism and Mass Communications from the same department, an MA in Communications Studies and a Ph.D from the Institute of Communications Studies of the University of Leeds, U.K.

Before joining the University, she has had a long professional experience as a press officer for the local government. She has also worked as a journalist for local and national media.

Ioanna Kostarella speaks English, German and Italian and her research interests include journalism and new media, the interaction between media and foreign policy, European media, communication and journalism for development and environmental communication.

Description of prior teaching/training activities:

Dr. Kostarella has been trained on intercultural communication and refugee education and she is a trainer on related issues for several public and private organizations. 

She acts currently as the manager of the Thessaloniki Open Learning Initiative (OLIve), part of the programme Refugee Initiatives 2 under the Erasmus+ umbrella, through which immigrants and people with refugee background are benefited by attending educational programs, which can help them connect to the highest education and the labour market.

In the past, she has been a partner of the Integrall Program (Integration by language learning), part of the Grundtvig Project of the European Union.

In July 2016, she took part in the workshop under the title “Camp Convivialities and Refugee Communications” held by the University of Leicester and specifically the Media and Development Group. The aim of the workshop was to bring together academics, humanitarian agency representatives, civil society groups and artist communities to explore the diverse range of communication practices in refugee camps.

Additional information (such as publications, awards, link, etc):

Recent journal articles & book chapters

• Κωσταρέλλα, Ι. (2018). Φύλο και Περιβαλλοντική Πολιτική στο Διεθνής Περιβαλλοντική Πολιτική, (επιμ.) Μανωλάς Ε.& Ταμπάκης Στ., Θεσσαλονίκη: Εκδόσεις Δίσιγμα.

• Touri, M., Kostarella, I. & Theodosiadou, S. (2017), 'Journalism culture and professional identity in transit: technology, crisis and opportunity in the Greek media' in J. Tong and S.H. Lo (eds.) Digital Technology and Journalism: An International Comparative Perspective, Palgrave McMillan.

• Tσαντόπουλος, Γ., Κωσταρέλλα, Ι. (2017). Μέσα Μαζικής Επικοινωνίας και Περιβάλλον στο Περιβαλλοντική Κοινωνιολογία - Μέσα Μαζικής Επικοινωνίας και Περιβάλλον, (επιμ.) Μανωλάς Ε., Εκδόσεις Gutenberg.

• Touri, M., Theodosiadou, S. & Kostarella, I. (2016), 'The Internet's Transformative Power on Journalism Culture in Greece: looking beyond universal professional values' Digital Journalism, DOI:10.1080/21670811.2016.1166062

• Touri, M. & Kostarella, I. (2016), 'News Blogs vs Mainstream Media: Measuring the gap through a frame analysis of Greek blogs', Journalism: Theory, Practice and Criticism, DOI: 10.1177/1464884916648097

• Θεοδοσιάδου, Σ., Κωσταρέλλα, Ι. (2016). Η Συμμετοχική δημοσιογραφία ως μοχλός πίεσης στην επίλυση περιβαλλοντικών προβλημάτων: Μια μελέτη περίπτωσης της πλατφόρμας εξόρυξης πετρελαίου Deepwater Horizon της BP στον Κόλπο του Μεξικού, 8ος τόμος της σειράς Θέματα Δασολογίας και Διαχείρισης Περιβάλλοντος και Φυσικών Πόρων του Δημοκρίτειου Πανεπιστημίου Θράκης, (επιμ. Ε. Μανωλάς και Γ. Τσαντόπουλος) με θέμα Περιβαλλοντική Εκπαίδευση και Επικοινωνία, σελ. 99-113.

Awards/Scholarships

• Dr. Kostarella has been a scholar of Botsis Foundation, while in 2005 she won the prize for the best article in the Greek regional press awarded by the General Secretariat of Information/Communication.

• She is part of the research team of the project proposal with the title “Communication and Journalism for Sustainable Development: Greece as a Case Study», which has been selected for scholarship by the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation.