Dr. Aikaterini Argyrou LL.M

"Ideal teachers are those who use themselves as bridges over which they invite their students to cross, then having facilitated their crossing, joyfully collapse, encouraging them to create bridges of their own."

- Nikos Kazantzakis -

Dr. Aikaterini Argyrou LL.M is an Associate Professor at Nyenrode Business University. She is part of Nyenrode's Faculty Research Center for  Entrepreneurship, Governance & Stewardship. Argyrou undertakes multidisciplinary research in the field of law, sustainability and social entrepreneurship. Her research focuses on the examination of normative frameworks that deliver substance to the concept of sustainability in entrepreneurship and company law from the perspective of social entrepreneurship. Her research interest also expands to research areas related to sustainability and institutional change, sustainable market transformation, business and human rights, CSR and gender in organizations. Since 2020 Argyrou is a Scientific Board Member to the OECD Global Action to promote Social and Solidarity Economy Ecosystems.

She has experience in utilizing several research methodologies which are reflected in her published scholarship: e.g. legal and socio-legal methods, the application of comparative analysis in legal and empirical studies, the development of systemic literature reviews and the application of empirical qualitative research methods using case studies. She has also participated in studies with mixed-method research designs. Her contribution is featured in academic scholarship but also in several reports developed for the OECD, EU Commission, the EU Parliament, the Dutch Parliament but also in practitioner reports and popular publications. In 2018-2019, Argyrou was also part of various research projects and evaluation studies commissioned by several Dutch and EU authorities.

Argyrou is a qualified corporate attorney and a member of the Athens Lawyer’s Bar Association since 2012. Prior to her PhD studies and academic positions, she was involved in many CSR research projects and CSR initiatives implemented by Nyenrode Business University, Utrecht University as well as by international institutes such as the World Legal Forum and the Hague Institute of the Internationalisation of Law (HiiL). In the past she was also a trainee legal counsel of the Greek Embassy in The Hague and a trainee attorney for two Greek-based legal firms.

Her personal mission is to extend the boundaries of existing knowledge and share with co-humans, colleagues, students and future generations her insight and understanding of the world and the lessons that she learns in life.

Secondary Positions

Since 2018, Argyrou is an external researcher affiliated to the Utrecht Centre for Water, Oceans and Sustainability Law of Utrecht University (UCWOSL). She is also an Adjunct Researcher affiliated to the Sustainable Development Unit of the Athena Research Centre in Athens, Greece and she is a member of the Alliance of Excellence for Research and Innovation on Aephoria (AE4RIA). 

International Activities

• Scientific Board Member, OECD Global Action to promote Social and Solidarity Economy Ecosystems (2020-present)
• Visiting scholar & lecturer, University of Malta, Faculty of Economics and Management (2016- present)
• Member of the research network Daughters of Themis: International Network of Female Business Scholars (2014-present)
• Visiting researcher, University of Edinburgh, Faculty of Law (2016)
• Visiting guest lecturer, Comenius University in Bratislava (2017)

Interests

Argyrou playing classical piano, reading books and exercise.