Assessment and Management of Environmental Risks

Associate Professor at FCT-NOVA and researcher at MARE. Designated microplastics expert for the National Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, I.P).
Expertise in Marine litter and microplastics (MP) as persistent pollutants in the oceans, with focus on the harmonisation of analytical techniques for detection of MP, the distribution, abundance and fluxes of MP, the effects of MP towards biota and the risk assessment of plastic pollution.
Interested in the scientific and social values of ecology and their application to the management of natural resources.

Researcher at MARE. Expertise on the development of assessment tools for monitoring the ecological quality status of marine and coastal ecosystems; intercalibration of assessment methods; development of green infrastructure solutions to deal with climate change effects on estuaries. Deeply involved in the WFD and MSFD in Portugal and EU, as consultant and collaborator.

Researcher at MARE. Expertise in biomonitoring and ecotoxicology of legacy and emerging contaminants (LEC) in marine systems, focusing on LEC physic-chemical dynamics, biogeochemical cycling, interaction with biota, trophic bioaccumulation, hydrodynamic fate, biomarkers, ecological quality indexes using metagenomics, physiomics and ecological metrics; and novel bioptical techniques coupled with artificial intelligence in ecotoxicology.

Full professor at University of Algarve and researcher at CIMA. Member of the Group of Experts of the Regular Process for the Evaluation of the State of the Marine Environment including the Socio-Economic Aspects of UN. She was Chairwoman of the General Assembly of the Portuguese Association of Women Scientists-AMONET and Portuguese alternate in the European Platform of Women in Science (EPWS).
Expertise in management and risks of marine contamination, with research focused on management and risks of “old” and emerging contaminants (personnel care products, pharmaceuticals, nanomaterials, micro- and nanoplastics).

Principal Investigator at the Regional Agency for the Development of Research Technology and Innovation – ARDITI, Coordinator of the Madeira
Regional Research Unit of MARE – Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre (MARE-ARDITI), Research Associate at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, USA, Principal Scientist and Scientific Coordinator of the Smithsonian MarineGEO NE Atlantic Madeira site.
Expertise in anthropogenic pressures (including marine litter, contaminants, coastal development, invasive species) in marine ecosystems and vast experience in MSFD implementation policies and environmental risk assessments.

Full Professor at the University of Minho, researcher at CBMA. Expertise in biodiversity and freshwater ecosystem functioning; Aquatic pollution from eutrophication, metals, PAHs nanoparticles and microplastics; Eco-physiology of aquatic fungi; Metals and nanoparticles/microbe interactions; Molecular tools to assess microbial diversity and function in freshwater.