Dr. Alexandros Giannelis

Social Sciences

Dr. Alexandros Giannelis is a Teaching and Research Faculty Member at UNIC Athens.

Dr. Alexandros Giannelis holds a Ph.D. in differential psychology from the University of Minnesota and a MSc in behavioural genetics from King’s College London. His research explores human psychological variation, analyzing how genetic backgrounds interact with social environments to shape behaviours, political beliefs, and economic choices. He has been involved in multiple research projects funded by both European and national institutions. He has collaborated with researchers from around the globe, taking part in large international efforts to discover the genetic architecture and biological mechanisms of complex psychological traits. While a graduate student, he conducted the first genome-wide association study of a specific cognitive ability (quantitative reasoning). His doctoral and postdoctoral work focused on the origins of social inequality. Using various study designs (twin, adoption, mendelian randomization) to isolate cultural familial effects from genetic background, he examined how social status is transmitted across generations and affected by behavioural traits. His interests span the entire spectrum of social sciences, from applied philosophy to statistical genetics. He has studied psychopathology, family dynamics, social attitudes, economic inequality, and the biological mechanisms of personality and intelligence. As an educator, he has taught large courses across different settings (countries, educational levels, modes of instruction) and supervised dozens of student theses.