Dr. Nickolas Zouros, Director at the Natural History Museum of the Lesvos Petrified Forest since it’s foundation in 1995, is Professor of the Department of Geography and Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of the Aegean. He is responsible for the presentation of the Museum’s permanent exhibitions and he organized many temporary and travelling exhibitions and educational programmes. He is dealing with the climate change crisis and especially with its consequences on the monuments and the role of Museums in awareness raising through exhibitions and educational activities.  He worked for the management of the Lesvos Petrified Forest protected area, and the development of geo-conservation, geo-tourism and sustainable local development as well as geo-education with special emphasis on geohazard awareness raising and sustainable local development.

He was the Coordinator of the Lesvos island UNESCO Global Geopark. Since 2004 Nickolas Zouros has worked closely with UNESCO to promote and develop the Geopark concept in Europe but, increasingly, in other parts of the world He is elected President of the Global Geoparks Network (2014-2021). He is the author of more than 100 scientific articles in international journals and conferences proceedings. He is author of 25 books on natural heritage management, geoconservation and Geoparks.