Knowledge is useless if its not used for the benefit of society
Varvara Athanasiou-Ioannou
Founder and Chair - Food For Thought Network Inc - An Inclusive Greek Australian Women's Network
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/varvara-ioannou-8461b315/?originalSubdomain=au
- https://www.fftn.org.au
- info@fftn.org.au
- 0403034527
Specialty Areas
Community Service and Engagement, Cultural Diversity, Education, Gender, Leadership, Mentoring, Voluntary Work, Women’s Safety
About Me
Varvara is a mother, grandmother, wife, sister, mentor, friend, educator, human resources professional, academic and community leader. She is the Founder and Chair of the Food For Thought Network Inc, and a Sessional Lecturer at Swinburne University, Australia, specialising in Learning and Teaching, Diversity and Inclusion and Women’s Leadership. She has been a sessional lecturer for approximately 20 years and she currently teaches on line the 60005 Developing Inclusive Learning and Teaching Practice a unit in the Graduate Certificate of Learning and Teaching Practice, which she developed in 2014. Her students are all academics.
In 2018 she and her team received the Vice-Chancellor’s Teaching Excellence Award (Higher Education) Team. Her passion in life is to raise awareness about diversity and inclusion and develop people and organisations to leverage on diversity and become more inclusive.
Varvara is a strong advocate for migrant and refugee women’s talents and strengths and human rights. She is currently writing an oral history book profiling diverse women who have been part of FFTN, to mark the 20-year cycle in May 2021. Varvara is a recipient of a number of other awards for her on-going commitment and contributions to Education, Women and Community. These include: Oral History Makers – Manningham Libraries, (2017), the Victorian Honour Roll for Women (2003), the Hellenic Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry HACCI award for Philanthropy and Community Service (2003), the International Teaching Fellowship (1993).
