Valantis Zervos

MSc Student at Computer Science Department, University of Crete

Graduate Research Fellow, Information Systems Laboratory, ICS-FORTH

Member of the INGENIUM Student Board for the University of Crete

Short Bio

I am currently a postgraduate student at the Computer Science Department of the University of Crete (CSD, UoC), which is ranked first in Greece in Informatics and Computer Science. I hold a BSc from the same department (GPA: 9.57/10), graduating second in my cohort.

Since my second year of undergraduate studies, I have been a scholar at FORTH-ICS, contributing to research and industrial projects in collaboration with institutions such as the National Documentation and Electronic Content Centre of Greece (EKT), Huawei, and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. My work spans system development and research within the Information Systems Laboratory (ISL) at FORTH-ICS and the Computer Science Department of the University of Crete. I am currently a graduate researcher, working on ongoing projects alongside my master's thesis.

I have authored three research papers, one workshop paper, and one technical report, with publications appearing in venues such as TPDL, IJCKG, and the TGD Workshop at EDBT, along with an additional submission to HAICTA. I have received three scholarships, including national-level distinctions, and multiple academic awards. I have also achieved top rankings in academic competitions, including first place at the INGENIUM Senior Winter School (project: ApolloMed), second place in an entrepreneurship competition at the University of Crete (project: Triangle), and a top-five finish at the FuturEd AI Hackathon (project: MentorMind).

I have served as a Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Assistant at the University of Crete and am currently a member of the INGENIUM Student Board, representing the University of Crete.

My research interests include Web and Semantic Data Management, Knowledge Graphs, full-stack systems, and their integration with Large Language Models (LLMs).

Studies

MSc Candidate (2025-Present)

Computer Science Department, University of Crete (CSD, UoC)

Field of study: Databases, information and knowledge management

BSc (2021–2025)

Computer Science Department, University of Crete (CSD, UoC)

Grade: 9.57/10 (Ranked second)

Ranked 2nd among 74 graduates (July 2025) Ranked 2nd in the 2021-2022 admission cohort (40 graduates out of 179 admitted and still active as of Jan 2026).

High School Diploma "Apolytirio" (2018-2021)

General High School of Kastellanoi Messis Kerkyras

Grade: 19.6/20

Technical Reports

2024

Yannis Marketakis, Yannis Tzitzikas, Pavlos Fafalios, Michalis Mountantonakis, and Valantis Zervos
Analysis of the 'focus' and 'sentiment' of restoration interventions in the aquatic domain
Delivered to FAO-UN, Sep 2024

Honors & Awards

November 2025
"Evangelos Kastamonitis" Postgraduate Scholarship
Rotary Club Corfu

Scholarship awarded by Rotary Club Corfu to one Corfiot postgraduate student based on their academic performance, economic situation, and activity. It lasts until graduation if the student maintains their performance. This was the very first postgraduate scholarship to be offered by the Rotary Club of Corfu.

July 2025
Ranked second among my year's admission students, "Elisabeth Karamitzou" Award
University of Crete (UoC)

An annual award given to the top three students of each department of the University of Crete who completed their studies within the prescribed period of study, and based on their grades. I was ranked second among my year's admission students with a grade of 9.57/10.

January 2025
Top 13%, Summer@EPFL Internship Program
Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL)

I was shortlisted and ranked among the top 13% of all 5900 applicants worldwide in the Summer@EPFL Internship Program of the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, based on academic performance and curriculum vitae (CV). (Final selection not awarded.)

September 2025, 2024
DEPROFOIT Distinction
Computer Science Department, University of Crete

Praise awarded by the Department of Computer Science, University of Crete for successfully taking on a teaching assistantship during the academic year. The related courses were CS252: Object-Oriented Programming, CS109: English II, and CS209: English IV for both awards.

March 2024
Eighth place, Nicholas and Robert Askounes Ashford Educational Scholarship
Hellenic Institute of Advanced Studies (HIAS)

I was ranked 8th in Greece in the Nicholas and Robert Askounes Ashford Educational Scholarship of the Hellenic Institute of Advanced Studies, based on academic performance and research proposal (final selection not awarded).

November 2023
"Evangelos Kastamonitis" Undergraduate Scholarship
Rotary Club Corfu

Scholarship awarded by Rotary Club Corfu to one Corfiot undergraduate student based on their academic performance, economic situation, and activity. Lasts until graduation if the student maintains their performance.

July 2023
FORTH Undergraduate Student Scholarship
Institute of Computer Science (ICS), Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas (FORTH)

Scholarship awarded by the Information Systems Laboratory (ISL), FORTH to undergraduate students of the lab. Lasts while the student is active and productive on ISL and until graduation.

Contests

26-30 January 2026
1st Place, ApolloMed (INGENIUM Senior Winter School 2026)
TUIASI, Romania

Developed an AI system for medical recommendations with a focus on ethical design. Ranked 1st in the Ethical AI BIP and top 3 overall among 12 teams.

2-3 October 2025
5th Place, MentorMind (FuturEd AI Hackathon)
Computer Science Department, University of Crete

Built a RAG-based AI academic assistant in 24 hours using LLMs and knowledge retrieval techniques. Ranked 5th among 15 teams.

Feb - June 2024
2nd place, Triangle (MEM-343: Entrepreneurship and Innovation course)
Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics, University of Crete

The business idea Triangle got second place in the open-to-the-public business idea presentation event in the context of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship course. The business ideas presented were evaluated by a five-member jury, with Triangle taking – in a tie – 2nd place among 15+ other projects.

Work Experience

Nov 2025 - Present
Member of the INGENIUM Student Board
Representative of the University of Crete

Collaborate with student representatives from partner universities to contribute to initiatives, policies, and activities related to student engagement and academic collaboration across the INGENIUM network.

Oct 2023 - Present
University Teaching Assistant
Computer Science Department, University of Crete, Heraklion, Greece

Supported the delivery of undergraduate courses through assignment design and grading, tutorials, and student mentoring. Contributed to course organization and coordination for large classes (200-350+ students), primarily in programming and academic communication courses.

  • CS463: Information Retrieval Systems (Spring 2026) [~90 students]
  • CS252: Object-Oriented Programming (Fall 2023, 2024, 2025) [∼360 students]
  • CS109: English II (Spring 2024, 2025) [∼200 students]
  • CS209: English IV (Spring 2024, 2025) [∼220 students]

July 2023 - Present
Graduate Researcher at FORTH
FORTH-Institute of Computer Science, Heraklion, Greece

Conduct research and development in the areas of Knowledge Graphs, Web and Semantic Data Management, and Large Language Models. Design and implement systems for data processing, information extraction, and knowledge-driven applications, with a focus on integrating structured data with modern AI methods. Some projects also included full-stack development. Previously: Undergraduate Research Fellow.

Research/Professional Software Projects

July 2025 - Present
A Knowledge Graph driven Pipeline for Validating RAG and Multi-Hop based LLM Answers
Huawei Technologies Research & Development (UK) Ltd [via ICS-FORTH]

Contributed to the design and implementation of a KG-driven validation pipeline for Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) systems. Developed mechanisms for semantic triple validation, entity consolidation, and Knowledge Graph verbalization to support answer verification and hallucination reduction in LLM-based QA systems.

February 2026
Dancing Group "Alios" Webpage
Dancing Group ”Alios” [Freelance Work]

Designed and implemented the webpage of the Dancing Group "Alios" Corfu using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript by utilizing AI tools. Accessible via www.alios-corfu.com

July 2024 - Sept 2024
FAO Restoration Analysis: GIS
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO-UN) [via ICS-FORTH]

Designed and implemented a Geographical Information System (GIS) platform as an extension of the work "Analysis of the 'focus' and 'sentiment' of restoration interventions in the aquatic domain" which takes as input a data file (.mra file) from the tool presented in the paper and shows its contents on a live map. Implemented using ReactJS, MaterialUI and ArcGis.

July 2023 - Jan 2024
EKT WorkFun+
National Documentation and Electronic Content Centre of Greece (EKT) [via ICS-FORTH]

Designed and implemented a statistics component with data visualization (bars, pies) using ReactJS and MaterialUI. Developed a barcode generation service using Java for PDF outputs.

Course Projects

All course codes are from the University of Crete
Apr 2025 - May 2025
Analysis, Design, Implementation and Evaluation of an E-Sports Platform
CS351: Information Systems Analysis and Design

Analyzed and designed a platform for hosting E-Sports events and their content, as a CS351: Information Systems Analysis and Design course project. The platform was partially - as requested - implemented, and fully evaluated. The implementation was made using React-TS, Docker, HTML5/CSS, and Material-UI. The evaluation was made using W3 Validator, Wave, Lighthouse and Heuristics.

Apr 2025 - May 2025
Information Retrieval System (IRS)
CS463: Information Retrieval Systems

Implemented an information retrieval system that can index and answer queries on a corpus of 2.5GB consisting of medical research articles, as a CS463: Information Retrieval Systems course team project. The system was also evaluated using various metrics. The implementation was made using Java and Python.

Dec 2024 - Jan 2025
E199
CS359: Web Development

Created a web platform for the Fire Department allowing incident submission & management, user sessions, communication, and more, using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, OpenLayers Maps, Bootstrap, JQuery, and other libraries as a CS359: Web Development course project.

Feb 2024 - Jun 2024
Alpha Compiler
CS340: Languages and Compilers

Created a compiler for the Alpha programming language using C, Flex, and Bison. The compiler compiled Alpha code to execute on an Alpha Virtual Machine.

Apr 2024 - Jun 2024
Business Plan: Triangle
MEM343: Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Researched, created, and presented the business plan Triangle during a public pitch event. Ranked second place in a competitive evaluation among 15+ other projects.

Dec 2023 - Jan 2024
Vehicle Rental Management System
CS360: Files and Databases

Built a complete rental management system for businesses using Java and SQL. The system supported client registration, vehicle tracking, and payment management.

Dec 2022
Stratego: Ice vs Fire
CS252: Object Oriented Programming

Developed a 2D multiplayer strategy game in Java, featuring various game modes and intuitive user controls.

Schools, Seminars, Workshops

25-29 May 2026
INGENIUM Senior Summer School 2026
Science Meets Industry: Ethical AI Development
MTU, Cork, Ireland (INGENIUM Program)

Participated in an intensive programme on Sustainable Innovation and Entrepreneurship, focusing on research impact, innovation ecosystems, and the development of real-world solutions. Developed and presented, using a theatrical play, a solution addressing electric vehicle (EV) range anxiety within a multidisciplinary team, exploring its societal, environmental, and economic impact.

Organized & Presented on 31 Mar 2026
Invited Workshop in the context of CS-209: English IV
"How To Present" Workshop
31 March 2026, CSD, UoC, Greece

Designed and delivered a workshop on presentation skills for undergraduate students, covering slide design, delivery techniques, and audience engagement through interactive sessions and live demonstrations. Attended by ~25 students and received positive feedback (4.5/5 average).

26-30 Jan 2026
INGENIUM Senior Winter School 2026
Science Meets Industry: Ethical AI Development
TUIASI, Iasi, Romania (INGENIUM Program)

Participated in an intensive programme on Ethical AI Development, focusing on the design, evaluation, and societal impact of AI systems. Developed and presented an AI system for medical recommendations within a multidisciplinary team. Project ranked 1st in the Ethical AI programme and top 3 overall.

21 Oct 2025
Seminar (Online)
Gen-AI Skills for Work and Beyond
The Tipping Point (with Dialectica)

Gained practical experience in applying Generative AI tools to domains such as project management, customer experience, and early career development.

21 - 25 Jul 2025
CCI Summer School
CIDOC CRM Interoperability and Applications
Centre for Cultural Information, ISL, ICS-FORTH, Heraklion, Greece

Trained in conceptual modeling, interoperability, and knowledge graph construction using CIDOC CRM, with applications in cultural heritage and digital humanities.

9 - 14 Feb 2025
INGENIUM Junior Winter School 2025
From Idea to Disruption: Transforming Visions into Innovations
Xamk University, Mikkeli, Finland (INGENIUM Program)

Collaborated in a multidisciplinary team to develop and pitch a business solution to a real-world stakeholder problem, focusing on design thinking and communication.

Academic Volunteering

2025
Researcher's Night
26 Sept 2025

Assistant/Guide at FORTH

2025
"Developing Faculty members' Pedagogical Acuity"
ToTT 1st International Faculty Development and Higher Education Conference
23 May - 25 May 2025

Tech Support at Computer Science Department, University of Crete

2026, 2025, 2024
University Open Week for Schools
29 Jan - 2 Feb 2024, 3-7 Feb 2025, 2 - 6 Feb 2026

Assistant/Guide at Computer Science Department, University of Crete

2025, 2024, 2023
Career Fair UoC
Nov 2025, Mar 2023, Apr 2024

Tech Support at Mathematics and Applied Mathematics Department (2025, 2023), and Chemistry Department (2024), University of Crete

Other Volunteering

Only the most notable ones are listed here.
2023 - 2025
Event Organizer: Traditional Dance Performance event
August 2023, 2024, 2025

Fully organized a traditional dance performance event and taught traditional dancing to a group of about 10 students at the central square of Kynopiastes as part of the village's 15th August events

2023 - 2025
Cultural Intervention Program
Nov 2023 - Apr 2024, Nov 2024 - May 2025

Presented the history of Cretan costumes, dances, and traditions at elementary and primary schools of Heraklion as a presenter of the "Cultural Intervention" program by the directorate of Elementary Education of Heraklion.

2022 - Present
Sales Representative
July and August of 2022 - 2025

Promoted the lottery/giveaway, held by the Philarmonic Orchestra of Kynopiastes, face-to-face to stores and people on the street, and sold 100 lottery coupons on average each time.

Languages

Greek
Native
English
Proficient (C2, ECPE Certification)

Hobbies

Traditional Greek Dancing
Teacher, group leader, and performer in national and local shows, with Dancing Group "Allios", Lyceum of Greek Women of Heraklion, and more since 2019.
Music
Musician (Percussion) in the Philarmonic Orchestra of Kynopiastes since 2012.
Game Dev
Developed and maintained Minecraft servers since 2016, primarily on Spigot 1.8.8, including serving as lead developer of the top Minecraft server in Greece (over 50 concurrent players) and building and owning servers that reached 30+ concurrent players; selected projects and implementations are available online.
Acting
Actor in the Amateur Theater Group of Kynopiastes Youth, having taken part in more than 9 performances from 2017 to 2023.
Traveling
10 countries up to now, and continuing... Always up to something! :)

References

  • Professor at University of Crete
  • Affiliated Researcher at ICS-FORTH
  • Deputy Chair at Computer Science Department, University of Crete

  • Associate Professor at University of Crete
  • Collaborating Researcher at ICS-FORTH
  • Chair at Computer Science Department, University of Crete

Noni Rizopoulou

Professor at University of Crete

Senior Research Engineer and Technical Head of CCI at ICS-FORTH

Vangelis Kritsotakis

Software Engineer at ICS-FORTH

Dimitris Sampsonidis

  • Career Counsellor at University of Crete
  • Co-Founder at Youth Crete (Region's of Crete NGO)