Principal Investigator
Katerina Dounavi It is one of the most reputable scientists in the study of Autism and Behavior Analysis on an international level.
Born in Athens in 1983, she studied Psychology at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, where she graduated in 2006, studies she completed at the Complutense University of Madrid, where she completed a master's degree in Educational Psychology between 2006 and 2007, earning a doctorate in the year 2013 in Clinical, Forensic and Health Psychology. Since 2012, she joined the School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work at Queen's University (Belfast, United Kingdom), where in 2019 she achieved the degree of Senior Lecturer in Applied Behavior Analysis and Autism, which she practices at the present.
Throughout his long career he has published, directly or in collaboration with other authors, numerous articles in scientific journals and manuals. Thus, in 2022 alone, his collaboration in the chapter dedicated to Special and Inclusive Education in the Handbook of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorder, as well as the various articles written in collaboration with Drs Jenny Ferguson and Emma Craig and published in The Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, on topics such as “The impact of a telehealth platform on ABA-based parent training targeting social communication in children with autism spectrum disorder,” “Effectiveness of a brief training in functional analysis and functional communication conducted at via telehealth” or “The effectiveness of using telehealth to train parents of children with autism spectrum disorder on how to use naturalistic teaching to increase mands, touches, and intraverbals.”
In addition to this academic activity, Dr. Dounavi has developed intense clinical activity internationally, starting in her native country, Greece, where he founded Magiko Sympan in 2010, a consultancy that he ran until 2024. He has also worked in Spain (as coordinator and associate supervisor for ABA Spain from 2011 to the present, as a member of the preventive psychology unit of the UCM between 2006 and 2008 in preventive programs taught in various primary and secondary schools), France (Supervisor for Futuroschool Center from 2012 to 2020), Germany (Clinical Director of Melody Learning Center from 2010 to 2021) and of course United Kingdom, where since his appointment to Queen's in 2012, he has been instrumental, along with Professor Karola Dillenburger, in the design of the ABA Master's Degree and its inauguration in 2014-15. Since then, she has led its continued growth and international success (as Program Director between 2014-20 and as ABAI VCS Coordinator between 2014 and 2023) making it one of the most sought-after programs internationally.
His extensive scientific biography has been worthy of several recognitions, such as the award for the best research work at the 7th Annual Conference on Behavior Analysis organized by the Psychological Society of Ireland (2013), among others. Her prestige meant that in 2019 she was invited by the government of the United Arab Emirates, in her capacity as an expert, in order to validate the national standards of its Special Education and Inclusive Education model.
Its general objective, which governs all its teaching, scientific and clinical activity, as it has declared, is “improve the provision and quality of life for people with special needs and empower their families by creating inclusive environments, highly trained and value-based professionals and evidence-based educational service delivery models” .
This approach and her undeniable professional merits are what have led the Blue Star Project Foundation to ask Dr. Dounavi to assume the scientific direction of the Project by signing a Research Contract between the Foundation and Queen's University in Belfast.
