Athanassios Tsikliras teaches undergraduate zoology and fish biology courses and, since 2014, co-ordinates the postgraduate course on Fisheries Biology and Management. He has worked for Fisheries Research Institute of Kavala (1999-2004), Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (2005-2008), University of Thessaly (2009-2012) and since 2013 serves as a full-time faculty member at the School of Biology.

His research focuses on fish biology and fisheries, stock assessment and management of Mediterranean fisheries, the effect of climate on marine populations, and ecosystem modelling/management.

He has participated in 45 research projects and coordinated 15 of them, including the H2020 Project EcoScope. He served as a national expert in the Marine Strategy Coordination Group (2012-2015), as a reserve board member of Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (2010-2013) and, co-chaired the ICES Working Group on Small Pelagic Fishes, their Ecosystems and Climate Impact (2016-2019).  Today, he chairs the FishBase Consortium (2023-2024) and vice-chairs Sea Around Us (2022-2025).

He serves as an associate editor in 3 journals and member of the editorial board in other 6. He has (co)authored over 110 peer-reviewed journal articles, 2 books, 18 book chapters and over 200 other items.  His work has received over 5000 citations (h-index=35, Google Scholar).

Coordinator of the MarinOmics Group and Head of Marine Ecosystems and Fisheries Lab