Panagiotis Kampouridis won the 6th edition of the CETAF E-SCoRe Award. This edition has been dedicated to PhD students and received 19 applications, which is still a meaningful number considering the specific requirements we ask for participating.
“My research looks at different groups of vertebrates (animals with backbones)” – explains Panagiotis Kampouridis – “that lived over the past 150 million years. I focus especially on large mammals that lived in Eurasia between about 12 and 5 million years ago. “
“I study what these animals were like, how they lived, and how they evolved over time. To do this, I combine traditional fossil descriptions from museum collections with modern 3D scanning techniques and evolutionary analysis. Right now, I’m mainly working on ancient rhinoceroses and chalicotheres—an unusual, extinct group related to today’s rhinos, horses, and tapirs” – says Kampouridis, who is now working at Senckenberg, in Frankfurt, Germany.
“Chalicotheres had big claws and long front legs, giving them a very unique look, unlike any animal alive today. My PhD research focuses on re-evaluating the classification of Chilotherium, a genus of hornless rhinos that was the last of its kind in Europe” – concludes the Winner of the 2025 edition, who presented five research articles that concern the taxonomy of extinct large herbivorous odd-toed mammals (Perissodactyla) from Eurasia and their astounding diversity in the past in his application.
Panagiotis Kampouridis virtually participated to the CETAF 57th General Assembly, remotely connected with Luxembourg: he explained his research to the audience and received several applause. He will now receive the cash prize and the possibility to go to a CETAF Member Insitutions for a research trip.
The next edition will be dedicated to Early Career Researchers. Watch out! The new deadline is anticipated to be November 2025 – so we will give time enough to the winner to join us physically at CETAF59!
