Rena Choplarou

Rena Choplarou holds a BA in Pre – Primary School Education, University of Crete; a BEd (Hons) from University of Greenwich; a Master of Arts in Cultural Studies and Media from the Institute of Education, UCL and a post Diploma in Theatre Education, from the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. A researcher, educator, teacher trainer and author of educational material, she has been working in schools (public and private sector) and universities in London, Athens and Nicosia since 1996. One example: She has worked closely with the Professors of the National Kapodistrian University of Athens, Anna Frangoudaki and Thalia Dragonas, in the large-scale, interdisciplinary Project for Reform in the Education of Muslim Children (PEM) in Western Thrace for (1999 – 2003). Her interests are in history education and learning, identity and citizenship, gendered ethnicities and peace education. She has participated in and organized many conferences, workshops, film festivals and other events in relation to the above issues. She was elected as a board member of the Bi – Communal Association for Historical Dialogue and Research (2005 – 2013), and was one of the leading members of the Board which conceived, developed and materialized the idea of a Home for Cooperation in the Buffer Zone in divided Nicosia. One of the highlights of her contribution in AHDR was the 2012 International Conference on “Teaching Sensitive Issues in Post Conflict Societies”. The Conference, attended by more than 300 educators from many parts of the world, history educators from across the divide and was supported by the UNDP-ACT, EUROCLIO, Council of Europe, Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot Teacher Trade Unions. She was the head of the grass root political group “We stand for Europe” during the Cypriot financial crisis of 2012 – 2013 and one of the six candidates of “Democratic Rally” (DISY, centre – right party) running for the European Parliament Elections in 2014. She was the Head of the Bi-Communal Committee of the party (2015 – 2018) and a member of the Technical Committees for Education and Humanitarian Issues (2015 -). She is a regular contributor to “Politis” newspaper.