The University of the Aegean (UAegean) was established in 1984. It is a growing and innovative public higher education and research institution, unique both in terms of scientific areas it focuses on and for its network structure (6 islands, 6 schools, 18 departments offering, in all, 18 undergraduate and tens of postgraduate (MSc) and equivalent Ph.D. programmes to more than 21,000 students by an academic faculty force of approximately 400 members) acting as Regional Innovator and strong social & economic factor in Greece. UAegean is an active member of the European Universities Association (EUA), the Euraxess network, the EMUNI senate; recently participates in the European Reform University Alliance [ERUA], under the European Universities Initiative of Erasmus+. UAegean has received consistently excellent feedback in evaluations at national, European and international level. The Research Unit is the administrative and managing mechanism of the University. It has implemented more than 2400 EU (H2020, ERASMUS and other programs) and national projects.

The Department of Tourism Economics and Management is a newly established department on the island of Chios, but its foundations are based on the academic legacy of the UAegean’s long-standing tradition of innovation & interdisciplinarity, and on the long-term scientific and applied experience in tourism that comes from the operation, since 1998, of the first Master’s Degree in Tourism in Greece and the operation, since 2000, of the Laboratory for Tourism Research and Studies. Especially the “Laboratory of Tourism Transport, Infrastructure, and Destination Development” (TTIDD-Lab) is a multidisciplinary laboratory encompassing fundamental and applied research in the fields of interregional transport systems, sustainable mobility, transport and tourism, air transportation, transport infrastructure, accessibility and connectivity, island mobility, sustainable development, regional development, education and training, innovative mobility services, strategy and decisions in transport, green mobility, tourists’ choices for green travel, transport economics, tourism management, and destination management.

Members of the UAEGEAN team involved in the project have participated in several EU-funded and national projects related to REFOCUS, such as SPINE, GREEN-LOG, OPTIMUM, HARMONY, MaaS4EU, the National Research Infrastructure for Transport, Shipping and Logistics in Greece entitled EN.I.R.I.S.S.T. Furthermore, its members have been active participants of distinguished networks such as Air Transport Research Society, Hellenic Institute of Transportation Engineers, Technical Chamber of Greece, Hellenic Aviation Society and others. Apart from the under-graduate programme, the Department of Tourism Economics and Management organises and operates the master’s degree Program “Strategic Management of Tourist Destinations and Hospitality Enterprises” in Chios, with almost 500 graduates and 27 teachning staff members. Finally, UAegean publishes Tourismos (Online ISSN: 1792-6521), an international peer-reviewed journal tourism and also supports the Journal of Air Transport Studies (ISSN:1791-6771).