Athanasia Kazantzi holds a degree in Civil Engineering (Democritus University of Thrace, Greece, 2002), an M.Sc with distinction in Structural Engineering (The University of Sheffield, UK, 2004), and a Ph.D. (University of Surrey, UK, 2008). Following the completion of her PhD studies, she worked as a graduate design engineer in a renowned engineering consulting firm in UK, joining the special projects and geotechnical groups. Upon her return to Greece, Athanasia was associated with the Institute of Steel Structures (The Lambda Lad group) as a fellow researcher. Her research interests mainly include earthquake engineering, performance-based design and assessment methodologies, reliability and loss estimation under multiple hazards, building class vulnerability, decision support systems and seismic performance/protection of nonstructural elements. She is an active researcher, having participated so far in various national and international research projects funded by the Applied Technology Council (ATC), the Global Earthquake Model (GEM) Foundation, the EU Researsch Executive Agency and the Hellenic General Secretariat for Research and Technology whereas she has published several papers in peer-reviewed journals and conferences. She is active as a freelance structural engineer (member of the Technical Chamber of Greece since 2003), while she has taught several undergraduate modules as an adjunct lecturer at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the University of Thessaly and the Technological Educational Institute of Central Macedonia (now International Hellenic University).