Researcher

SHORT CV

Stavros Nikiforos Spyrellis is a Researcher at the Institute of Social Research of the National Centre for Social Research (EKKE), with expertise in Social Urban Geography. He is a member of the Laboratory of Social Transformations of Urban Space (LaSTcity).

He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Geography from the University of the Aegean and a Master’s degree from Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne. In 2013, he was awarded a PhD from Université Paris VII (Denis Diderot) with a dissertation entitled “Social Segregation in the Metropolitan Area of Athens: Economic Factors and Schooling Issues.”

His research and teaching experience provide in-depth knowledge of the methods and tools of Human Geography, the epistemological foundations of geographical science, and a comprehensive overview of the field of Urban Geography, which constitutes the core focus of his work.

He has taught at the Athens University of Economics and Business, Université Paris Nanterre, Université Gustave Eiffel (Marne-la-Vallée), and Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne.

His research focuses on the analysis and spatial representation of social, economic, and educational segregation, with particular emphasis on the metropolitan areas of Athens and Paris. He has worked as a researcher in research institutions in Greece (EKKE), France (CNRS), and the United States (University of California, Berkeley). He has also served as a visiting researcher at Université Gustave Eiffel (2023) and the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales – EHESS (2025).

He was the Principal Investigator of the research project “Social Segregation and Deprivation in Athens 2011–2021 (SeDe)” (HFRI/ELIDEK, 2023–2025), which examined the restructuring of the social geography of Athens during the 2010s. His current research activities also include participation in the Regional Observatory for Social Inclusion of the Region of Crete, aiming at the development of spatially targeted social policies.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

• Urban geography (population, activities, territories)
• Social Geography (inequalities, social and educational division of space)
• Economic Geography (localized production systems, location models)
• Urban planning (urban master plans, development actors)
• Database management and geographic information systems
• Immigration (flows, policies, concentrations)
• Cartography

SELECTED PROJECTS

• 2013- Editor. ‘Athens Social Atlas’ implemented at Harokopio University and funded by the Onassis Cultural Foundation
• 2023-2025 Principal Investigator. "Segregation patterns and deprivation areas in Athens 2011-2021 - SeDe". Program funded by the Hellenic Foundation for Research & Innovation (H.F.R.I,)
• 2021-2024 Research Associate. Research project: Interconnecting Histories and Archives for Migrant Agency: Entangled Narratives Across Europe and the Mediterranean Region – ITHACA ». Implemented at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and funded by H2020-SC6-MIGRATION-2020, scientific supervision Professor Eugenia Bournova
• 2020-2022 Post-doctoral in Social Geography. Research project : ISTOPOL implemented at Harokopio University and funded by ELIDEK, scientific supervision Professor Thomas Maloutas
• 2020-2022 Research Associate. Research project: Inclusive cities: infrastructures of social integration and refugee settlement. Implemented at University of Crete and funded by ELKE of the University of Crete, scientific supervision Professor Vassilis Arapoglou
• 2017-2018 Research Associate. Research project: Digital Refuge: Aggregating and Visualizing Asylum Seeker and Host Community, Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS), University of California Berkeley school, scientific supervision Professor Katerina Linos
• 2016-2017 Post-doctoral in Geography. Research projects : SEMAST et PARIS 2030 (septembre – novembre), Universities Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée (UPE-MLV) and Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne, UMR Géographie Cités laboratory. Post-doctoral in Geography. Research project: RELAT Health (novembre – mars) Paris 7 University Denis Diderot, LABEX laboratoire UMR Géographie Cités.
• 2015-2017 Research Associate. Research project: “Tendances et perspectives du commerce ethnique dans le centre-ville athénien”, École Française d’Athènes (EfA), Athens, Greece
• 2013-2015 Research Associate. ‘Dynamic management and mapping of social data’ funded by the program KRIPIS of the Ministry of Education, scientific supervision Professor Thomas Maloutas

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

• Maloutas, Τ. & Spyrellis, SN. (2025)"Permanence and change in urban segregation: Segregation trends in different neighbourhoods of Athens, 1991–2021" European Urban and Regional Studies
• Ubareviciene, R., van Ham, M., Tammaru, T., Basílio, L., Berzins, M., Credit, K., Silva, D., Harris, R., Kalm, K., Kauppinen, T., Krisjane, Z., Malheiros, J., Maloutas, T., Manley, D., Musterd, S., Nello, O., Nevanto, M., Novotný, L., Ouředníček, M., Porcel, S., Ribardière, A., Šimon, M., Smętkowski, M., Spyrellis, S., Strömgren, M., Van Gent, W., Wessel, T., (2025). A Comparative Study of Socio-Economic Segregation in European Capital City-Regions: From Segregation to Desegregation?, Urban Studies.
• Maloutas, T., Spyrellis SN., Vatavali, F. (2025), “ Unregulated Urban Regeneration in Athens: Greening and Taxation of the Built Environment as Impending Levers of Increasing Inequalities." LAND
• Maloutas, T. & Spyrellis SN. (2025). Occupational categories: changing social profiles and spatial patterns in the city, in Thomas Maloutas (ed),Athens: A Rapidly Changing Metropolis in the European South, Routledge, Oxon UK and New York NY, USA, p. 130.
• Polyzou, I. & Spyrellis, S.N. (2024) Housing practices of Albanian immigrants in Athens: an in-between socio-spatial condition, LAND
• Karadimitriou, N. & Spyrellis, S.N, (2024), Measuring Deprivation and Micro-Segregation in Greek ITI SUD: Time to apply a common method ?, LAND
• Maloutas, T., Fragopoulos, Y., Kourkouridis D., Kostaki E., Makri A., Spyrellis S.N. (2024), Exploring spatial proximity and social exclusion through two case studies of Roma settlements in Greece, LAND
• Arapoglou, V. & Spyrellis, S.N, (2024), Arrival infrastructures: segregation of displaced migrants and processes of urban change in Athens, Geographies
• Maloutas, Τ., Spyrellis, SN., Szabó, Β., Kovács, Ζ. (2023) "Vertical segregation in the apartment blocks of Athens and Budapest: A comparative study" European Urban and Regional Studies
• Linos, K., Carlson, M., Jakli, L., Dalma, N., Cohen, I., Veloudaki, A., Spyrellis, S.N., (2021) “How Do Disadvantaged Groups Seek Information About Public Services? A Randomized Controlled Trial of Communication Technologies, Public Administration Review
• Papadopoulos, A., Fratsea, M.L., Spyrellis, S.N., Baltas, P., (2021) “ Exploring the contribution of migrant labour in Greek agriculture, Italian Review of Agricultural Economics
• Maloutas, T., Spyrellis S.N., Capella A., (2019), “ Residential segregation and educational performance. The case of Athens ”, Urban Studies.
• Maloutas, T. & Spyrellis, S.N. (2019), “ Residential segregation trends in Athens during the 2000s ”, Regional Studies.

EDUCATIONAL WORK

• 2020-2021 Adjunct Lecturer at the Athens University of Economic And Business (P.D. 407)
• 2018-2020 Academic Fellow at the Athens University of Economic And Business (AUEB)
• 2015-2016 Assistant, teaching and research in geography (full time) at the University Paris Est, Marne-la-Vallée (UPE-MLV)
• 2014-2015 Temporary Assistant, teaching and research in geography (full time A.T.E.R.) at the University Paris Ouest, Nanterre la Défense (UPO)
• 2013-2014 Temporary Assistant, teaching and research in geography (full time A.T.E.R.) at the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne (URCA)
• 2012-2013 Substitute professor (vacataire) in Geography at the University Paris Ouest Nanterre la Défense (UPO), Semiotics, Statistics and Cartography