Clinical Director


Dr Katerina Dounavi (BCBA-D) is a Senior Lecturer in Applied Behaviour Analysis and Autism at Queen’s University Belfast and the Deputy Director of the Centre for Behaviour Analysis at the same University. She is a Doctor in Psychology (PhD) from the Complutense University of Madrid and the first Board Certified Behavior Analyst in Greece (Board Certified Behavior Analyst-Doctoral level, BCBA-D). She is the Clinical Director and Founder of Magiko Sympan Centre in Greece and the Coordinator of Supervised Practicum at Distance of ABA Spain. She has served as the Clinical Director and Senior Supervisor of the Melody Learning Center in Germany for 11 years (2010-2021). Between 2012 and 2020, she served as the Senior Supervisor of Futuroschool Centre in Paris, France.

Katerina graduated with Honours from the Faculty of Psychology of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and obtained a Master’s in Educational Psychology with Honours and a special distinction (Mención de Excelencia) at the Complutense University of Madrid. Afterwards, she completed the Master’s in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) with an emphasis on Pervasive Developmental Disorders, being the first student of ABA Spain to pass the exam of the BACB, the organism that sets a number of international criteria for Behavior Analysts worldwide (Behaviour Analyst Certification Board, BACB). Following that, she completed cum laude her Doctorate in Psychology at the Complutense University of Madrid.

Katerina is an active researcher in the fields of behaviour analysis, evidence-based education, developmental disabilities including autism, language and values-driven professional training. She has published her research in key scientific journals, has served as an invited speaker in international conferences and has presented her studies in numerous occasions in scientific events across the world. Katerina uses this up-to-date knowledge to inform the design of individualized educational programmes for children, adolescents and their families to achieve best outcomes.

In the last 20 years, Katerina has worked with numerous children, adolescents and their families, designing and implementing their intervention programmes and overseeing their inclusion in different settings, such as schools, day centres, outdoor activities and home-based programmes. She has also worked at the Down Syndrome Foundation of Madrid (FSDM), has supervised family groups and has trained other professionals (e.g., Psychologists, Speech and Language Therapists, Occupational Therapists, Special Education Teachers, Teachers, Professors in Primary and Secondary Schools, etc.) in several schools in Madrid, as a member of the Preventive Psychology Unit of the Complutense University of Madrid. While working in programmes funded by the Local Authorities in the United Kingdom, she has conducted assessments and designed educational programmes for children with special needs and has trained other professionals on how to effectively implement them. Currently, she is the Director of the Master’s in Applied Behaviour Analysis, while she also teaches in the Master’s in Autism Spectrum Disorders at Queen’s University Belfast. She is also actively involved in the training of professionals and the provision of quality services to families in several countries across the globe (e.g., Greece, Spain, France, Germany, UK, Holland, Puerto Rico) and she is a supervisor of ABA Spain, overviewing the practicum at distance of students doing the Master’s Degree in ABA and Autism.