Dimitra Simeonidou

Simeonidou studied engineering at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, where she earned a bachelor's degree in 1987 and master's degree in 1989.[3] She moved to the University of Essex for her doctoral studies, and earned a PhD in 1994.[4]

After graduating she spent four years at Alcatel Submarine Networks, where she worked as Chief Engineer and introduced wavelength-division multiplexing networks.[3] She returned to Essex in 1998, where she established the High Performance Network group.[3][5]

In 2012 Simeonidou was appointed a Professor at the University of Bristol, where she Directs the Smart Internet Lab and High-Performance Networks group. She studies high performance networks and wireless-optical convergence.[6] In 2017 it was announced that Simeonidou would lead the University of Bristol efforts to become a testbed for 5G technologies.[7] Her group designed a small 5G emitting box which can ensure connectivity on the move.[7] She is responsible for the city of Bristol's 5G urban pilots and leads experiments on the UK's 5G test network.[6]

Simeonidou is the chief technology officer (CTO) of the "Bristol is Open" project, which is a joint project between the Bristol City Council and University of Bristol.[8][9] Bristol is Open provides a test bed for research in future communication technologies. She was awarded a Royal Society Wolfson Fellowship to develop these technologies.[10] Simeonidou founded two University spin-off companies, Ilotron, which was acquired by Altamar in 2001, and Zeetta Networks. Zeetta delivers software-defined networking (SDN) platforms for enterprise networks. She has investigated the use of quantum cryptography to protect 5G networks.[11] In 2018 Simeonidou worked with the Government of the United Kingdom on their Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review, which outlined the strategy to make the United Kingdom a world leader in 5G.[12]

She is interested in ways that 5G can transform skills development and cultural experiences.[13] Working with Zeetta, the BBC and Cambridge Communication Systems, Simeonidou demonstrated a 5G-enabled tourism catalyst project at the 2019 Digital Transformation World conference in Nice.[14] The catalyst allowed visitors to immerse themselves in history of the sites they were visiting using virtual reality.[15] The demonstrations included an animation to bring to life the Roman Baths.[15] The application used 5G network slicing, low latency and Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) to provide a resilient service.[16] She has also worked with Jamie Cullum and the charity Music for All to deliver the world's first music lessons across 5G networks.[13] She was announced as the head of the University of Bristol Digital Futures Institute in 2019.[17]

Alongside her research, Simeonidou is committed to increasing the representation of women in engineering.[18]