Despina studied physics at the University of Thessaloniki, in Greece.  She obtained her PhD from the same University on a baryonium experiment at LEAR, CERN. After a two-year CERN fellowship with OPAL she remained at CERN working on detector development projects (LAA) and the L3 experiment.  Since 2000 she has been working for the ALICE experiment as a member of the Time Of Flight project, a large Multigap Resistive Plate Chamber (MRPC) array developed and constructed by her group. She has a researcher’s position at INFN, the Italian Institute for Nuclear Physics, in Bologna. She is also a member of the Extreme Energy Events (EEE) project, a cosmic ray experiment combining scientific research and outreach and involving Italian high schools. Despina is active in a variety of outreach activities such as CERN open days, visits of schools and the general public to CERN and virtual visits; she also gives talks to schools and public events. Since 2009 she has been the outreach coordinator of ALICE and the ALICE representative to IPPOG.  She has a special interest in the particle physics masterclasses, and is involved with the development of exercises with ALICE data; she organises masterclasses at CERN, in Greece and enjoys introducing new institutes to this flagship activity of IPPOG.