Bessy Geka

Vassiliki (Bessy) holds a B.A (summa cum laude) in English Language and Literature and an M.A. (summa cum laude) in Applied Linguistics from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA). She also holds a PhD (Hons with distinction) from the same university. Her PhD research was awarded with scholarships (Tokyo Sylff Foundation Scholarship) and prizes in conferences (Bangor UK-CLA).

Further to these, during her undergraduate studies, Bessy has also been awarded both scholarships and prizes of Record Achievement by the State Foundation of Scholarships (ΙΚΥ) and the Department of Bequests of the University of Athens. Bessy has been a member of the Executive Board of TESOL Greece, serving as the vice-chair of the organization twice. She has also been a research associate of the RCeL of the NKUA, an examiner for all CEFR levels and an EFL teacher since 2008.

She started teaching at HAU in 2010 and was promoted to the position of the Academic Coordinator of the English Language Programme in 2014. In September 2020, she was further promoted to the position of the Deputy Director of the Centre of Applied Linguistics and Language Studies of HAU. Finally, Bessy has also been a professor of English at the Hellenic Police Academy (2015 - onwards) and the Hellenic Air Force NCO Academy (2021-onwards). Her academic interests are quite diverse, ranging from teacher training, EFL Didactics and Applied Linguistics to more theoretical aspects of language. The main focus of her research endeavours, however, appears to be Cognitive Linguistics and the influence of Construction Grammar on other aspects of language and language pedagogy.