Nikolia is a registered architect with particular interest in contemporary architecture within historic settings. She has worked in architectural practices in Greece, France and the UK from 2011 to 2019. Since 2013, she has been delivering teaching in several programmes at the Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. Focusing on historic urban environments, her research and teaching explore methodologies that address and trace correspondences between architecture, heritage, culture and society.

Nikolia’s research investigates how buildings and places endure through generative and transformable processes informed by human and non-human interactions. Nikolia is interested in the making and the un-making of architectural heritage, the latter understood as a process of continuous creation informed by these interactions, a movement. She employs various digital toolkits to understand the past and build spatial narratives, such as digital cartography with the aid of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and LiDAR technology.

Nikolia delivers teaching in several programmes across ESALA. Drawing upon her research and professional experience, she is developing interdisciplinary approaches that promote research-led teaching activities in architectural studios and create links between architecture, archaeology, theory, history and heritage.

Nikolia is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.