Michalis Lazaridis studied Informatics at the RWTH Aachen University and works since October 2006 as a research associate in the Information Technologies Institute (ITI) of the Centre for Research & Technology Hellas (CERTH). His research interests cover big data processing architectures, distributed systems and multimedia search applications. In the past, he worked in the IT service management department of the consulting company ComConsult Kommunikationstechnik GmbH in Aachen for the banking and insurance sector, as well as in the R&D department of the informatics, automation & robotic applications company Inos Hellas S.A. in Athens for the automotive industry.