Where do you live?
I live in Nicosia with my family. I am married and have three children.

What did you have for breakfast?
For breakfast, I usually eat oats with milk, raisins, nuts and honey.

Describe your perfect day.
A beautiful day for me would be to rise in the morning, walk or jog in nature, relaxed reading of a favourite book, lunch with my loved ones and an afternoon stroll.

Best book ever read?
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. It is truly remarkable how a girl, who grew up alone in a marsh, without going to school, managed to study nature, research it and understand it, and write tomes describing the cycle of life.

Best childhood memory?
My favourite childhood memory is family time with my parents and sisters and our car trips in nature.

What is always in your fridge?
No matter how much I try to avoid it, my fridge always contains chocolate.

What music are you listening to in the car at the moment?
I always listen to art music in the car.

What’s your spirit animal?
Although through work and many times in my spare time I deal with wild fauna, mainly snakes and bats, I would say I mostly identify with the dog. It is obedient, loves its master and the family caring for it and feels a strong connection with them. It is loyal to them and would always be with them if possible. That is how I feel about my family too.

What are you most proud of?
I have worked hard all my life to get ahead and I would say I am proud of myself for managing through determination and resilience to complete my doctorate. Of course, I would never have managed if I didn’t have the support of my family and friends.

What movie scene has really stayed with you?
Generally speaking, I remember movie scenes that reveal what is fair and right and fight injustice, hunger and poverty. But this often only happens in movies.

If you could pick anyone at all (alive or dead) to go out for the evening with, who would it be?
I would like to be able to meet Charles Darwin, the person who explained the origin of species on the planet, their evolution and survival, the relationship between one another and with the environment, life itself.

If you could time travel when/where would you go?
More or less, we know life in the past and we continuously discover it through books and documentaries. So, if I had the potential to travel in time, I would like to be transported 200 years into the future to see how people live, if the environment is still being preserved and how it is, to see the new technology and new jobs.

What is your greatest fear?
That something might happen to my loved ones.

What would you say to your 18-year-old self?
Never give up and always strive with courage and determination to make her dreams come true.

Name the one thing that would stop you dating someone.
If I saw that this person was not showing the required respect to the people around him, if he was making fun of others, if he was speaking badly and offensively, then I would not continue the date with him.

If the world is ending in 24 hours, what would you do?
This is a tough question, but I think the only thing I would choose was to pass my last 24 hours with my loved ones.

Elena Erotokritou researches the island’s wildlife. She has written two children’s books: The Angry Mouflon in which young and old explore the unknown world of Cyprus’ wildlife, and The Animal Protest with scientific information about the magical world of the wild animals of the island. To purchase the books, call 99 770841