Dr Panayiotis Hadjipavlis is Defence Director at the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Cyprus. He is an aviation and defence professional with more than 25 years of experience. His work focuses on strategic planning, geopolitical analysis and European defence cooperation. In his current role, he helps shape defence policy and strengthen Cyprus’s engagement with European and international security frameworks.
Dr Hadjipavlis has previously held several positions related to European security and defence policy. For more than five years, he served as Deputy Head of the European Defence Agency Affairs’ Office at the Cypriot Ministry of Defence, where he was responsible for research and technology cooperation. Earlier in his career, he worked as a strategic analyst for the European Union Mission in Chad and the Central African Republic, operating in a demanding multinational environment requiring extensive coordination, negotiation and analytical expertise.
Alongside his professional responsibilities, Dr Hadjipavlis is actively engaged in academic research and policy debate. He is a Research Fellow at the GEOLAB Institute of the Ionian University in Corfu and an Associate Researcher at the University of Nicosia in the Department of International Relations. He has also served as Associate Editor of the Eastern Mediterranean Geopolitical Review, a peer-reviewed journal specialising in geopolitics, and regularly contributes to policy papers, conferences and debates on geopolitical and security issues.
Dr Hadjipavlis holds an MBA, an MSc in Aviation Safety Management, a Master in Research in Geopolitics and Strategy and a Professional Master in Superior Military Studies. He is currently a doctoral candidate at Newcastle University in the United Kingdom, where his research focuses on airspace geopolitics.
