Dr Chrisoula Lionis is a Sydney based researcher and curator. She recently completed her PhD thesis at the NIEA entitled Punchline: The Emergence of Humour in Palestinian Art and Film, locates its focus on the relationship between collective trauma, identity and intercultural humour. 

Examples of Lionis' curatorial work include the Cyprus – Pictures of Peacekeeping exhibition in 2007, and the 2012 Beyond the Last Sky: Contemporary Palestinian Photography and Video exhibition at the Australian Centre for Photography—the first exhibition of contemporary Palestinian art in Australia. Lionis also convened the satellite Beyond the Last Sky Symposium at UNSW, which brought together artists, theatre practitioners, activists and academics to explore the history of the representation of Palestine in Australia.

Lionis won the Australian Postgraduate Award in 2009, and was awared a New Work grant from the Australia Council for the Arts in 2012. In 2013, she won the inaugural COFA Dean's Award for Postgraduate Excellence. She is a member the curatorial team programming the annual Australian Palestinian Film Festival and the Contemporary Culture, Art & Politics research group (CCAP).