Despina Tsakiris is a Professor at the Department of Social and Educational Policy of the University of Peloponnese.

Coming from the French academic field of Sciences of Education, she is involved in the evaluation of persons and actions in the educational institution, which she explores as a social act of critical function in education. Inspired by Castoriadis’ thought, she focuses on the imaginative element of evaluation in order to understand and interpret the institutionalised and institutionalising aspects of everyday intersubjective behaviours in the school institution, the collective actions and the educational propositions. 

She studied and lived in Paris for many years (1982-1998). Her undergraduate and postgraduate studies were at the University of Paris X-Nanterre and she supported her doctoral thesis at the University of Paris VIII-Vincennes à Saint-Denis with Jacques Ardoino as Supervisor and Cornelius Castoriadis as Chair of the Jury. She developed her teaching and research activity at the University of Paris X-Nanterre. Coming to Greece, she worked as a researcher at the Centre for Educational Research from 1998 to 2005, when she was appointed Assistant Professor at the University of Peloponnese.

In the context of her academic career at the University, in addition to her research and teaching duties, she has served in positions of responsibility such as Deputy Chair of the Department of Social and Educational Policy, Member of the Committee of the Special Account for Research Funds (SRA) of the University of Peloponnese, Director of two Postgraduate Studies Programmes: "Education Policy: Planning, Development and Management" and "Education, Human Resources and Employment Policies" etc.

Her writings include individual and collective publications in foreign and Greek scientific editions, such as:

1. Marmoz L., Moumoulidou M., Tsakiris D., Stamelos G., (Editors) (2015) La recherche en éducation dans un monde en crise. En Grèce et ailleurs (Educational research in a world in crisis. In Greece and elsewhere), Paris : Harmattan : 246p

2. Tsakiris D., (2018) The institution of student evaluation and the imaginative element, Athens : Metaixmio : 253p.