The beginning of 2026 is a great time for New Year’s resolutions (how are yours holding up so far?) but it’s also an opportunity to reflect on everything the Center of Excellence in Food, Tourism & Leisure (CoEFTL) and, in extension, The American College of Greece Research Center (ACG-RC) accomplished during the past year. 2025 was filled with EU-funded research projects, conferences, and research collaborations. Let’s take a closer look.

EU-Funded Research Projects Advancing Food Systems and Tourism

The CoEFTL participated in various projects funded or co-funded by the European Union, advancing research on food system transformation, protein diversification, climate change adaptation, promoting fairness in tourism and hospitality, and fostering healthy sports environments.

Alternative Proteins: LIKE-A-PRO and EPIC-SHIFT Drive Sustainable Food Innovation

Representing the “Food” part of CoEFTL, the LIKE-A-PRO and EPIC-SHIFT projects worked towards the advancement of alternative proteins, albeit in different ways. For LIKE-A-PRO, its two final Living Labs were wrapped up last year, one exploring how different food environment designs can affect consumer purchasing patterns, the other looking into how strategic communication, cognitive biases, and different food literacy pathways shape food choices beyond the point of purchase. Insights from almost 400 consumers offer valuable direction for bringing alternative proteins to the forefront of consumer choice. Utilizing these insights, along with the insights from our first two Living Labs iterations, we successfully launched Choice Editing 2.0; a refined version of our “Meat or Dare!” campaign from the first iteration. LIKE-A-PRO has found itself in the last year of its lifespan in 2026, when we will produce, among others, insights from Choice Editing 2.0 before wrapping up the project.

While one food-related project approaches its conclusion, the other just recently picked up its pace. EPIC-SHIFT had its in-person kick off last spring at Lund, where 20 partners from 14 countries connected under the aim of creating a knowledge base on the sustainability of novel foods based on alternative protein sources (NAPF) to help integrate them in future European diets.

Climate-Resilient Tourism: COOL NOONS and FUTOURWORK Transform the Industry

On the “Tourism” part of CoEFTL, 2025 saw the acceleration of the COOL NOONS project and the birth of the FUTOURWORK project. Our COOL NOONS team participated in various project actions that worked towards transforming the future of Mediterranean destinations, where selected cities become cooler through nature-based solutions that help adapt to climate change. FUTOURWORK had its kick-off meeting in Cluj-Napoca, where partners from 6 countries came together to foster fairness and resilience across the tourism and hospitality workforce. Within 2025, the project partners finished designing and refining the research that will facilitate the development of the industry Code of Conduct, Wellbeing Index, and the documentary featuring workers’ stories. In November, everyone gathered at The American College of Greece in Athens to finalize research instruments before data collection from workers and industry stakeholders.

Preventing Sexual Violence in Sports: The RISE Project

Finally, representing the “Leisure” part of CoEFTL, the project ‘RISE: Rise Empowered Above Sexual Violence in Sports’ has been progressing its actions towards preventing sexual violence in sports throughout the previous year. Among these was a 3-day workshop hosted by the ACG-RC, which equipped European sports experts with tools to address sexual violence in athletics.

International Conferences and Knowledge-Sharing Events

CoEFTL Hosts International Food Marketing Research Symposium in Athens

One of the highlights last year for CoEFTL was hosting the International Food Marketing Research Symposium (IFMRS). Co-organized in partnership with the MAPP Centre at Aarhus University, this premier global forum served as the point of convergence for researchers from 20 different countries with a passion for food marketing. IFMRS 2025 became a catalyst for meaningful knowledge exchange on food marketing, consumer behavior, and sustainable food systems.

Building Research Capacity Through Workshops and Summer Schools

On a smaller scale but still focused on spreading knowledge, CoEFTL welcomed the 14th International Summer School for Sustainable Development (ISSD) and organized and hosted the “I Love Research Day” workshop on Valentine’s Day. The former is the result of a 7-year sustained academic partnership between CoEFTL and the International Summer School, which annually allows international students to explore complex issues around the tourism industry alongside local experts. The latter is one of the workshops geared towards the CoEFTL community that provided them with the tools for effective research proposal writing.

Representing CoEFTL at Leading European Food and Business Conferences

Our research community also participated in flagship conferences. CoEFTL was present at EIT Food’s Next Bite 2025, with active participation in the session on reusable packaging, as well as presenting a digital banner introducing EPIC-SHIFT — one of CoEFTL’s funded projects — and its mission. CoEFTL also attended the 16th Panhellenic Sales Conference, that gathered business leaders, academics, and researchers to examine how human psychology intersects with market dynamics. Our Executive Director and Director of the ACG-RC, Athanasios Krystallis, also presented insights into how Greek consumers are adapting to economic pressure.

Industry-Focused Research Collaborations and Reports

Greece’s ESG Landscape: The 2nd Hellenic ESG Barometer

In accordance to our mission, 2025 was a year of significant scientific output that offer valuable insights to stakeholders of the food, tourism, and leisure industries and beyond.

The 2nd Hellenic ESG Barometer — a collaborative initiative of ACG entities — examined how sustainability is perceived and implemented in Greek businesses in 2025. This second biennial report highlights an overarching skepticism of the Greek public toward ESG business practices and reveals the emergence of a citizen type that is supportive and willing to assume part of the cost for more sustainable development.

Children’s Rights in Business: Groundbreaking Assessment with UNICEF Greece

Moreover, CoEFTL teamed up with UNICEF Greece to create Greece’s first comprehensive assessment of how businesses integrate children’s rights into their operations, titled “Greek Business Sector and Children’s Rights: An Assessment“. The research results (available here) were presented at the “Children’s Rights & Business: Benchmarking the Future” conference, hosted by UNICEF Greece and CSR HELLAS, and serve as a tool for any organization ready to honestly assess where they stand.

Greek Gastronomy Tourism: Partnership with GRtraveller Magazine

On the tourism front, CoEFTL partnered with GRtraveller Magazine to explore what makes Greek gastronomy stand out to international travelers. Specifically, this collaborative study zoomed in on how PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) and PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) products shape travelers’ perceptions of Greece as a tourism destination. The results featured in GRtraveller’s exhibition issue at World Travel Market (WTM) London 2025, reaching 45,000+ travel professionals who shape the future of global tourism.

Looking Forward: CoEFTL’s Vision for 2026

Under the leadership of Executive Director Athanasios Krystallis, who also serves as Director of the ACG Research Center, and Assistant Director Maria Vrasida, CoEFTL has been building bridges between academic research and real-world applications since its establishment as part of The American College of Greece’s Institute for Hellenic Growth and Prosperity (IHGP). During 2025, the CoEFTL community leveraged its research to inform strategic decision-making and provide practical solutions to industry challenges. We want to express our heartfelt gratitude to everyone who made this possible and, as we move further into 2026, we remain committed to creating meaningful change in Greece and beyond.