Dr. Vanessa Farsadaki is a leader in expanding the field of space medicine. Dr. V, as she is called informally, is a proud American citizen of Greek origin who works as a medical doctor and is on track to become Greece’s first-ever astronaut in history. She serves as a keynote speaker at multiple fora, including the prestigious Kings College in London, England, and many other universities across the world.

The Greek professor and her team are developing new techniques for elastic imaging but also for therapeutic intervention in a multitude of diseases, from cancer to Parkinson's disease. The US National Academy of Medicine (National Academy of Medicine) has elected a distinguished Greek diaspora scientist, Eliza Konofagou, professor of Biomedical Engineering at Columbia University in New York, as its new member. This is one of the highest distinctions awarded in the field of Medicine.

In addition to this great success, K. Maliaris is a member of the national Robotics team "FIRST Global Challenge Team Greece", which began its course in May 2018 with the coordination of the non-profit - Educational Organization Eduact - Action for Education and was distinguished at the FIRST Global Challenge 2021 International Olympiad, winning three medals among 169 countries. He has in his curriculum participations and distinctions in national competitions and Olympiads in Robotics, Astronomy - and not only. In the 1st High School class he managed to qualify and represent Greece in the Astronomy Olympiad which was held from a distance and a year later he secured the 4th place all over Greece and a place in the national team of Astronomy and Astrophysics, through which, representing Greece, he claimed the bronze medal.

The Festival will start with the screening of the film "My Beloved Smyrna" by Grigoris Karantinakis, while the closing with "Agia Emy" by Araseli Laimos.

The international Shaw Prize in Astronomy for 2021 was equally shared by the Greek astrophysicist of Greek Diaspora Dr Chryssa Kouveliotou, Professor and Chair in the Department of Physics at George Washington University, USA and corresponding member of the Academy of Athens since 2016, and by Victoria M. Kaspi, a Professor of Physics and Director of McGill Space Institute at McGill University in Canada, for their contribution to the study and understanding of magnetars.