On Thursday, 28 August 2025, the program “Take Your Time” began with a live link to Prespes, where we spoke with Sofia Zouzelis, Head of Communications of the municipality, who shared details about the TRIETHNES arts festival – the first festival to bring together artists from the three countries bordering Great Prespa.
After the day’s headlines, we connected with the center of Athens during a protest organized by ADEDY (the Civil Servants’ Confederation). Giorgos Petropoulos, member of ADEDY’s Executive Secretariat, spoke to us about the 24-hour strike prompted by the provisions of the new labor bill regarding the disciplinary code for civil servants. The first hour closed with Ivana Djordjevic delivering the international news.
In the second hour of the program, our studio guest was, for the first time, the Greek virologist at University College London, Eleni Nastouli—the scientist known during the pandemic for her calm and scientifically substantiated views on the course and management of COVID-19. She spoke about her decision to settle in London, where she specialized after graduating from the Medical School of the University of Athens.
She reflected on the difficult period of the pandemic, the efforts made by the scientific community to contain it, the mistakes that were made, and the benefits brought by the development of vaccines. More broadly, she discussed ongoing research for vaccine development and for tackling other diseases.
She also spoke about the need for a wider debate on how human behavior toward flora and fauna affects public health, and, more generally, on the consequences of environmental degradation. She expressed concerns about the difficulty of delivering essential medicines to Third World countries and conflict zones—especially for children. Finally, she referred to research in both the UK and Greece, and to the conditions that must be met for a Greek researcher abroad to consider returning home.
Before the sports news with Vicky Spyrou, we connected to Melbourne, where the President of the Greek Community, Vassilis Papastergiadis, informed us about new initiatives in collaboration with the Association of Greek-Australian Students—efforts that could bring third- and fourth-generation Greek youth even closer to Greece.