Emeritus Professor Costas Iliopoulos

We were sorry to hear that Emeritus Professor Costas Iliopoulos passed away in July this year.

An esteemed academic with a love of algorithms, Costas was renowned for his world-leading research into informatics, co-writing more than 400 research papers on this topic. 

An international academic career

Originally from Greece, Professor Iliopoulos’s work took him all over the world. His academic adventures began at the University of Athens, where he graduated with a Mathematics degree in 1980.

A year later, Costas moved to the UK to study for a master’s and a PhD in Computer Science at Warwick University. After graduating, he spent time at the New Jersey Institute of Technology and Purdue University, before returning to the UK.

In 1987, Costas took up a post at Royal Holloway University. He joined King’s in 1991, shortly after the Department of Computer Sciences (now known as Informatics) was set up.

Putting King’s on the algorithmic research map

While at King’s, Costas founded the Algorithms Design Group (now called Algorithms and Data Analysis), which he successfully led for three decades. During this time, he supervised 36 PhD candidates – a feat Professor Luc Moreau (previous Head of Department of Informatics) described as ‘just one of Costas’ numerous contributions to the department.’

Costas was particularly interested in the theory of ‘stringology’, which uses algorithms to analyse the structure and patterns of text. Inspired by this interest, he founded London Algorithms Day and London Stringology Day – both of which he organised for 20 years until COVID-19 disruptions.

From France, Italy and Greece, to Australia, Taiwan, Korea, and Bangladesh, Costas collaborated with fellow researchers from all corners of the world. He had particularly close connections with Australia, where he previously worked as Adjunct Professor at Curtin University of Technology and the University of Western Australia.

Life after King’s

Costas retired in January 2024 and became an Emeritus Professor in Algorithm Design and Bioinformatics at King’s. A life-long learner, he had planned to continue his research and build on the many connections he had formed with researchers across the world. He will be remembered for his curiosity, sense of adventure, and his phenomenal contribution to algorithmic research.

Details for this obituary were taken from the King's website. Click here to read the full obituary.