Isah Abdulshakur Lawal is a master’s student specializing in environmental toxicology and analytical chemistry, currently conducting his thesis at the Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research (CIIMAR), University of Porto. His research focuses on the toxicokinetics of nano- and microplastics in aquatic invertebrates, with an emphasis on their absorption, distribution, elimination pathways, and ecological impacts.

With a solid academic foundation, Abdulshakur earned his bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from Kaduna State University and further honed his expertise through the Erasmus Mundus MSc in Environmental Contamination and Toxicology (ECT+), collaborating with leading institutions across Europe. His research experience includes the analysis of emerging contaminants in aquatic environments, driven by a commitment to advancing environmental protection.

Passionate about sustainability and community engagement, Abdulshakur is dedicated to addressing global environmental challenges, particularly those related to pollution and ecosystem health.

I obtained the master degree in Surveying Engineering at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto. At the moment, I am enrolled in a Doctorate Degree in the same institution. My project title is “Mixing and transport of material at small ocean scales: a lagrangian approach”. My main interests are high frequency ocean phenomena, as internal waves that occur in the ocean and can have a strong impact in the Earth´s climate (due to vertical mixing). For that, I am using Satellite Remote Sensing tools as Radar Altimetry, Sea Surface Temperature, Ocean Colour, SAR imaging, and recently numerical models.

Adriana Gouveia is a marine biologist with a degree in Biology from the University of Madeira (2020) and a Master’s in Applied Marine Biology from the University of Aveiro (2022). Focused on deep-sea ecology and black corals, she is currently a research fellow at CIIMAR. She works on sampling and taxonomic identification of marine invertebrates, particularly sponges and corals, and maintaining invertebrates in controlled aquarium conditions, with multivariate statistical analysis.

Adriana Oliveira was born in Matosinhos, Porto, in 1998 and graduated in Biology from FCUP, 2019. She started her professional career as an intern at CIIMAR in 2018 and completed her Master’s degree in Aquatic Biological Resources in 2021. She completed her Master’s thesis in NUTRIMU after also doing part of her work at EPPO, from IPMA. In 2022, as a recent graduate, she completed 2 ERASMUS + internships at Universidad de Granada, Spain, and Università Politecnica delle Marche, Italy. She is currently working at LANUCE and was recently awarded a PhD scholarship under the FCT programme.

Adriana Rego graduated in Biology at the University of Porto in 2015 and received his MSc in Molecular Biology (2017) from the same university. Since 2019 she is a FCT PhD student enrolled in the Biomedical Sciences doctoral programme. In her project she combines bioinformatics and microbial ecology to study the distribution and diversity of bacterial biosynthetic genes across multiple ecosystems.

Afonso Mota is a PhD candidate in Astronomy at the University of Porto working in the field of Astrobiology. His research focuses on the connection between Microbiology and Astrophysics to study exoplanet habitability. He holds a master’s graduate in Biology of Extreme Environments from the University of Naples “Federico II”, in Naples, Italy. He also has previous background in Astronomy and Physics, having developed his MSc thesis at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Cologne, Germany. He has participated in several international conferences and actively engages in science communication with the general public.

Ágatha Gil is a biologist working in the field of marine conservation, cetacean studies and environmental education. She has a degree in biology from UFSCar in Brazil and a Masters in Ecology from FCUP. Her PhD is in Marine Science, Technology and Management, under the Do*Mar Programme at UTAD, funded by FCT and in partnership with IIM-CSIC, Vigo, Spain. She has worked on projects with cetaceans and non-formal education in Brazil (Humpback Whale Project, Spinner Dolphin Project, Casa do Zezinho) and, since 2015, has been part of the CIIMAR team, working on the following projects: CETUS Project, Ocean Action, SeaChange, MoBIDIC, MarInfo, Atlantida, among others.

I hold a MSc in Crop Science with a specialization in Applied Plant Physiology and Biotechnology of Microorganisms from  Agricultural University of Athens. I am currently pursuing a degree in marine biotechnology in EU-CONEXUS and doing my dissertation at the CNP. My dissertation is about the pathway deciphering and eco-physiological relevance of new fatty-acid incorporation system in cyanobacteria.

BSc in Biology/Ecology from the University of Rennes (France) and Master in Science Communication from the University of Paris VII. Agnès is part of CIIMAR Science and Innovation office and has been involved in the organization and management of a number of projects and events in support of CIIMAR activities.

PhD in Biology. Head of the Evolutionary Genomics and Bioinformatics Research Team from CIIMAR, University of Porto. Was Scientific-Technical Director of the Matosinhos Environmental Center (CMIA) from the Câmara Municipal de Matosinhos.

I am an Environmental Engineer from Argentina, graduated from an Erasmus Mundus International MSc.in Environmental Engineering and Technology. I am passionate about science and sports and I truly believe that cross disciplinary and multicultural collaboration can help to achieve objectives with a higher impact in every field. I am grateful to join the M2-ex H2020 project as a Marie Curie ITN PhD fellow and I am excited to contribute to move towards a circular economy by investigating how to recover heavy metals from anaerobic digestates. I enjoy travelling, dancing and meeting new people around the world.

Aimone Duarte is a Master’s student in Applications in Biotechnology and Synthetic Biology at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto, with a degree in Biotechnology and a particular interest in marine biotechnology. Currently, she is conducting her dissertation at CIIMAR, focusing on the biodiversity and biotechnological potential of cyanobacteria from Cape Verde, with an emphasis on antioxidant compounds. With experience in biotechnology and synthetic biology, she aims to contribute to research in the field of marine biotechnology.

Aires Duarte holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biotechnology from the University of Évora (2013) and a master’s degree in Functional Biology and Biotechnology of Plants from the University of Porto (2017). He is currently a PhD candidate in Marine Biotechnology and Aquaculture at the Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research (CIIMAR) and the Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto (FCUP). His research focuses on integrating seaweeds, particularly Ulva sp., into aquaculture systems to enhance water quality and produce valuable biomass for food, feed, and bioproducts.

PhD in Biology, Universidade do Porto, 1988. Degree in Biology, Universidade do Porto, 1981. Current professional status: Full Professor at Faculty of Sciences, Porto University, since 1998. Head of the Fish Nutrition and Welfare Group – NUTRIMU, CIIMAR
Director of the M.Sc. in Biological Aquatic Resources, Faculty of Sciences, Porto University. Co-director of the PhD program in Biology.
Editor-in-Chief: Aquaculture Journal
Associate Editor of: Aquaculture; Animal Feedstuffs and Technology; Journal of the World Aquaculture Society
Domain of specialization: Fish Nutrition
Research interests: Nutrition of marine fish of interest for aquaculture.
Main research topics: Protein and amino acids requirements and metabolism. Carbohydrate and lipid metabolism. Ingredients alternative to fish meal and fish oil for use in aquafeeds. Nutritional strategies for improving fish health and welfare. Immunology. Gut microbiota. Use of nutraceuticals in fish nutrition.

Ajab Gul MAJIDI is a doctorate (Ph.D.) researcher at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto and a researcher at CIIMAR. Ajab is presently working in the research team of the project "WEC4Ports – A Hybrid Wave Energy Converter for Ports" (OCEANERA/0004/2019), funded by FCT/MCTES through national funds (PIDDAC). He got his MSc degree from Bursa Uludağ University in Turkey and developed his MSc thesis on the topic of Energy Production from Existing and Scaled Wave Energy Converters in the South-western Black Sea between 2018 – 2020. He was also involved in the Determination of Wave Energy Generation (Economic Wave Energy Potential) by Various WECs in the High Potential Regions of the Black Sea (TUBITAK Project) and Wave Spectra Climate of the Black and Azov Seas (RFBR -TUBITAK Bilateral Project). Both R&D projects are related to Coastal Engineering and Marine Renewable Energy. Ajab is author of several scientific peer-reviewed publications and conference papers.

Alberto Teodorico Correia is Assistant Professor at Faculty of Health Sciences of the University Pessoa and Head Leader of the Ecophysiology team in CIIMAR. He is a biologist with a PhD degree in Aquatic Sciences from the University of Porto. He is vice-president of the European Society of Ichthyology and Invited Special Researcher at Federal University of Paraná in Brazil. He is author of around 50 scientific publications in international journals, made several communications in congresses and supervises several graduate and post-graduate students. He is considered a world expert in the use of the structural, morphological and chemical signatures of otoliths to study population structure, migration pattern and habitats connectivity in fishes. Her research interests also includes, more recently, the use of a biomarker approach to assess the effects of pharmaceuticals on fish and other aquatic organisms.

Albina Dolores Resende is an assistant professor at Instituto Universitário de Ciências da Saúde (IUCS) – CESPU. She received her degree in Ciências do Meio Aquático in 1996, her Master degree in 1999 in Marine Biology and her PhD in 2008 in Biomedical Sciences from ICBAS-University of Porto. Her research interests focus on histomorphology, physiopathology and toxicology of aquatic organisms. Recently, she started as a collaborator at Instituto de Investigação e Formação Avançada em Ciências e Tecnologias Saúde (IINFACTS) doing research in the same areas but applied to mammals. 

Aldo Barreiro Felpeto is a researcher in the field of plankton ecology. He studied biology (1997-2001) and obtained his PhD at the University of Vigo (Spain) (2001-2007). The PhD focused on ecophysiological interactions between zooplankton and toxic phytoplankton. From 2008-2010, he worked as a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Cornell University (Ithaca, USA) on plankton population dynamics. In 2011, he joined CIIMAR, working on community-scale chemical interactions of cyanobacteria. He developed skills in statistics and dynamic modeling using R software, organized more than 20 editions of courses, and conducted collaborations in other research fields.

With a masters degree in Biology, from the University of Coimbra, I started my journey in ecological modelling with the completion of my masters project (2008-2010), where I developed skills in the development, calibration, and validation of models of population dynamics of estuarine amphipods. Modelling represents for me the opportunity to merge the two areas that fascinate me, Biology and Mathematics, to develop tools for scientific research and specially to support the definition of environmental management strategies.

Alexandra Marques, graduated in Zootechnical Engineering (2014) and in 2020 he specialized in Quality Control by the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Porto.
Since 2014, she has been a Ciimar collaborator at the Nutrition, Growth and Quality of Fish (LANUCE), where she is currently senior technician responsible for the group’s chemical analyses and lab management.

Alexandre Campos graduated in Biology (1996) by the University of Aveiro and has a Master’s Degree in Plant Breeding (1999) by the University of Évora. He completed his PhD in Biological Sciences in 2005 at the Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica (ITQB) from University Nova de Lisboa. He is currently Assistant Researcher at CIIMAR (Blue Biotechnology, Environment and Health Laboratory) and his main research interests cover the toxicology and risk assessment of harmful algal blooms. He is particularly interested in the metabolism of biotoxins in bivalve molluscs, water quality assessment and water reuse in agriculture.

Alexandre Lobo da Cunha is a Full Professor of Aquatic Biology in the Institute of Biomedical Sciences Abel Salazar (ICBAS) of the University of Porto. He holds a degree in Biology (University of Lisbon) and a PhD in Biomedical Sciences (University of Porto). His main research interests are the ultrastructural, histological and histochemical studies on marine gastropods and other aquatic organisms. He authored 68 publications in international journals.

Alexandre Moreira completed a bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from the Faculty of Sciences of Porto (FCUP) and the Abel Salazar Institute of Medical Sciences (ICBAS) in 2021. They also have master’s degree in Environmental Contamination and Toxicology from ICBAS and FCUP, obtained in 2023, which deepened their understanding of environmental matters and risk assessment. Alexandre presents a background in soil and aquatic ecology and toxicology, with a growing interest in numerical work and statistics. They are currently a research fellow in the MEMO group in the scope of the EMINENT (Emergent interactive effects of climate change and contaminants) project, tasked to developed Dynamic Energy Budget (DEB) models for selected bivalve species.

Alexandre Pacheco obtained a Masters degree in Bioengineering, specializing in Molecular Biotechnology, from the Faculty of Engineering of University of Porto, in 2016. He is currently a post-graduate researcher at CIIMAR. His work focuses on the study of the role of emerging contaminants on freshwater ecosystems.