Since it was founded in 2012, the IEEE Student Branch of the University of Western Macedonia, Kastoria has been recognised many times: five times with the IEEE Regional Exemplary Student Branch Award, at congresses, in programming competitions and by the University itself. This page brings them all together.
IEEE Regional Exemplary Student Branch Award
The Regional Exemplary Student Branch Award is the distinction IEEE presents every year to student branches that operate in an exemplary way. The assessment covers everything a branch did during the year: talks and workshops, participation in competitions, meetings and visits, and any activity that serves the scientific, educational and professional purposes of IEEE. The branch submits its own nomination, with evidence of its activities and the endorsement of its Counselor. More on the award page. Our Branch has received it five times, the first three in consecutive years.
2018: IEEE Region 8 SYP Congress 2018, Porto
The first time. The award was accepted by the Branch Vice Chair, Georgia Fasoula, at the IEEE Region 8 Student and Young Professional Congress in Porto, Portugal.
2019: 5th IEEE HSYP Congress, Xanthi
The second year in a row. At the 5th Hellenic Student and Young Professionals Congress in Xanthi, the award was accepted by the Chair, Georgia Fasoula, the Treasurer, Efi Kollia, and the Webmaster, Stylianos Tsaousidis.
2020: IEEE Greece Section event, Lamia
The third year in a row. The award was presented in Lamia, at an IEEE Greece Section event for Student Branch boards. It was accepted by the Chair, Christos Anastasiou, the Vice Chair, Konstantinos Katris, the Secretary, Eleftheria Pierratou, and the Treasurer, Anastasia Magopoulou.
2023: IEEE R8 SYP Congress 2024, Grenoble
The fourth distinction. The 2023 award was accepted by the Branch Vice Chair, Panagiotis Papantonis, at the IEEE Region 8 SYP Congress 2024 in Grenoble, France.
2025: IEEE R8 SYP Congress 2026, Kraków
The fifth distinction, for our 2025 activities. The award was accepted by the Branch Chair, Giannis Kepas, at the IEEE Region 8 SYP Congress 2026, held in Kraków, Poland, from 20 to 24 July 2026. More in the announcement.
Best Student Paper Award in Informatics 2026
At the 11th International Conference SEEDA-CECNSM 2026, members of the Branch together with researchers of the University won the Best Student Paper Award in Informatics with the paper “Evaluating Lightweight Kubernetes Distributions on Heterogeneous ARM64 Edge Clusters”. More in the award announcement.
Hellenic Student and Young Professionals Congress 2017
The 4th IEEE HSYP Congress, the national congress of IEEE students and young professionals in Greece, took place at the National Technical University of Athens from 3 to 5 November 2017. There the Branch was recognised as one of the most active student branches in Greece. The distinction was accepted by the Chair, Christos Hitiris.
Commendation from the University of Western Macedonia
On 29 January 2025, at the University’s celebration of the Three Hierarchs and the Day of Letters, the Rectorate of the University of Western Macedonia awarded the Branch a commendation for its international distinctions in 2024. The commendation was accepted by the Branch Vice Counselor, Dimitrios Vergados, Associate Professor at the Department of Informatics, the Chair, Giannis Kepas, and the Vice Chair, Panagiotis Papantonis.
Student programming competition “Kozani 2030: Climate-Neutral and Smart City”
The Regional Directorate of Education of Western Macedonia, the Municipality of Kozani and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of the University of Western Macedonia organise the school and student programming competition “Kozani 2030: Climate-Neutral and Smart City”. The competition is part of the Municipality of Kozani’s strategy to promote the Smart City model. It is also linked to climate neutrality and to the Municipality’s effort to join the European Mission for 100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030. More information at kozani2030.eu.
3rd competition, 2022
Two entries supported by the Branch received awards in the 3rd competition. Giorgos Matlis won 1st place in the undergraduate students category with Smart Bin Dashboard. Kleopatra Gkola, Eleftheria Pierratou and Anthi Tsiftsian won 3rd place in the PhD candidates category with Citizension of Smart Kozani, a platform that shows schools what a smart city is and how the Internet of Things works. The award ceremony took place on Friday 1 July 2022.
4th competition, 2023
In the 4th competition, Christos Anastasiou, Christos Hitiris and Kleopatra Gkola won the 2nd Prize in the students category with the proposal “SmartHAB: Smart Building Management”, which uses openHAB to manage buildings. The team represented the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Department of Informatics. The results were announced in June 2023 and the award ceremony took place on Friday 1 December 2023, at the amphitheatre of the University’s Administration Building.
Thank you
Each of these distinctions is the result of our members’ volunteer work, year after year. We thank the Branch Counselor, Prof. Angelos Michalas, the Vice Counselor, Assoc. Prof. Dimitrios Vergados, the Department of Informatics and the University of Western Macedonia for supporting us all these years.