Kyriakos Koursaris
MIE Expert, Minecraft Global Mentor, and Technology Director in Lisbon, Portugal
Kyriakos Koursaris holds a Music Education & Didactics degree with a Masters in Choir Conducting from Charles University in Prague, as well as a Port-Graduate Specialization Course on Technologies and Robotics in Primary Education from the University of Lisbon.
In 2008 he discovered his real passion, which is educational technology. He works as Technology Director at United Lisbon International School in Lisbon, Portugal, where he administers and facilitates technology-rich teaching and learning, guides collaborative curricular innovation as well as faculty and staff training/support, and ensures system service, reliability, and consistency. Kyriakos also supervises United Lisbon's Microsoft Showcase School Program, where he facilitates a unique approach to technology integration through the strategic implementation of the Education Transformation Framework. Kyriakos previously designed, supervised and maintained the country's largest iPad 1 to 1 edtech initiative (1000+ devices), taught the IGCSE Computer Science course in Y9-10 and has worked as a music teacher for a decade in grades K-7. He has been honored to participate as a speaker in national and international forums such as the Microsoft European Showcase Schools’ Virtual Summit 2022, Learning Innovation Summit 2021, EU Code Week Teach Day, SIE 2021, BTF21 EDU Day, BBF EDU Day '20, LGW 2019 International Gamification Seminar, Code Week 2019, TEDxLarnaca 2019, the parliamentary conference "Tecnologia e Pedagogia: O que ensinar? Como ensinar?" at the Assembly of the Republic, EDU Day '18, the #MakeWhatsNext: Changing the Face of STEM regional event, BETT 2018, the Annual EUDojo17 Event held in the European Parliament in Brussels, as well as the ECIS Annual Educators Conference 2016.
Throughout his career, Kyriakos has advocated for the importance of having more girls participating in coding, tech and STEM initiatives. Moreover, he successfully implemented the use of Minecraft in school curriculums across the country and has pioneered the platform's educational utilization at a national and international level. For his contribution to connected and game-based learning, he was recognized as a SingularityU Portugal Faculty, an advisory board member for Lisboa Games Week (Educational Services), an MIE (Microsoft Innovative Educator) Expert and Fellow, a Microsoft Certified Educator, a Minecraft Global Mentor, an EU Code Week Leading Teacher, as well as a Google Certified Educator.