Beatriz Queirós is a PhD researcher at UPorto (Portugal), who graduated from the same institution. She developed her master thesis project in entrepreneurial environment, on the topic of SPH application to reproduce a real rubble-mound breakwater – the Port of Leixões Northern breakwater, Portugal. After graduating, from 2016 to 2018, she was working as a design engineer in a hydraulic company, where she consolidated her knowledge in water supply systems, as well as in wastewater systems. In addition, she had the opportunity to contact and use an extensive set of numerical tools on various projects. She started conducting her doctoral studies in 2018, supported by a PhD scholarship granted by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, and she is currently developing her PhD research work, which involves the study of rubble-mound structures, using advanced physical modelling techniques and also advanced numerical modelling tools, including the application of programs such as DualSPHysics. Her research interests are towards the comprehensive understanding of complex phenomena related to the interaction between incident waves and rubble.mound breakwaters and also the validation and improvement of the SPH DualSPHysics model with regard to the simulation of wave run-up and overtopping.

Benjamín Costas completed a Masters in Aquaculture by the University of Algarve in 2006, and in 2011 achieved a PhD degree in Animal Science by the University of Porto. Benjamín Costas is currently Principal Researcher at CIIMAR and Head of Aquatic Animal Health, a young and strongly motivated team highlighting nutritional immunology as main research line. Dr. Costas is passionate about aquatic animal health and welfare and is actually coordinating several national and international projects in those topics. Main research is targeting novel strategies to improve fish disease resistance and welfare as well as on non-invasive biomarkers of animal health.

Bernardo Pereira graduated in Biology from the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto (FCUP) in 2018 and is currently a master’s degree student in Marine Sciences – Marine Resources at ICBAS, University of Porto. He has a background in ornamental fish handling/welfare and sustainable aquaculture (RAS system). His main interests are sustainable aquaculture, animal health and welfare, ethology, ecology and species conservation.

Bia Pinho graduated in Laboratory Biomedical Sciences at ESS (School of Health Polytechnic of Porto, 2021) and received her MSc in Laboratory Techniques in Biopathology – specialization in Histopathology (2023) from the same university. Since September 2023 she’s been working as a laboratory technician at Instituto Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar at the University of Porto and in charge of the histology analysis in LANUCE at CIIMAR.

My research is focused on the ecology, ecological functions, population dynamics and restoration of temperate reef ecosystems, particularly marine forests. I am also interested in the vulnerability drivers of these environments and how conservation strategies can affect ecosystem dynamics. My research has a strong component of scientific diving, which I use as a tool to study these habitats.

Bruna Nunes holds a BSc in Chemistry and MSc in Food Quality and Health. She is currently working as a research technician at CIIMAR, working from IPMA. Her research interests lie at the intersection of food science, sustainability, and technological innovation. She has expertise in the chemical characterization and bioactivity evaluation of natural products, with a focus on developing strategies to valorise natural by-products.

Graduated in Genetics and Biotechnology, having worked in FairJourney Biologics as a bioinformatian in a paid internship via IEFP. Currently a Master’s student in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology at Faculty of Science of University of Porto (FCUP), working on her thesis in CIIMAR in the Microbiome Ecology and Biogeochemistry department.

Bruno Oliveira is a PhD, former researcher at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP) and researcher at CIIMAR. His PhD thesis is in the subject of stochastic modelling of fluvial morphodynamics. As a design engineer, he has experience in the areas of water supply and drainage systems, river rehabilitation, flood modelling & control, coastal protection structures and project management in general. Throughout his academic career, he has worked on multiple projects pertaining to climate change and its impacts on water resources’ availability and water management (from both a perspective of resource conservancy and of flood management).

I am a graduate in Biochemisty from FCUP (University of Porto), Msc degree holder in Quality control from FFUP (University of Porto) and a Post-doc in Animal Science from ICBAS (University of Porto). Currently, a research fellow at Animal Health and Aquaculture Group, from CIIMAR. My main research interests to date have been, environmental toxicology and fish sustainable nutrition and health. Currently, I have been focusing in fish immunological status and response and how to improve it, through novel and sustainable fish feed additives focusing on microalgae biotechnology.

Bruno Silveira is from Vila Nova de Gaia and completed his bachelor’s degree in Biology at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto. Later, he completed his master’s degree in Aquatic Biological Resources also at the same university where he studied the impact of n-3 Long-Chain Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids to mitigate climate change effects in European seabass. Currently, he intends to start a PhD to continue the research on this thematic.

Dr Camilo Ayra-Pardo is Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society since 2018. From 2017 – 2020, Camilo worked as an overseas expert on insect pathology at the Nanyang Normal University (China). Previously, Camilo managed a research group on insect pest control at the public biotechnology company CIGB (Cuba). He has been a visiting scholar at Cambridge University, Imperial College London, and Lausanne University. Camilo has published > 40 peer-reviewed articles, a book chapter, two international patents, and > 100 technical reports (CIGB know-how). He has supervised 2 PhD, 4 MSc and 16 BSc students. Camilo speaks Spanish and English fluently.

Caner Sirin completed his Ph.D. in Aquaculture and Fish Diseases at the Faculty of Fisheries, Ege University, in 2022. Since 2024, he has been serving as an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Marine Sciences, Ordu University. His research primarily focuses on myxozoan parasites in farmed marine fish and parasitic fish diseases. With a postdoctoral research fellowship awarded by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (TÜBİTAK), he is conducting research at the Animal Parasitology and Pathology Laboratory at CIIMAR.

Carla Domingues has a Degree in Biology (2001), a MSc in Coastal Sciences (2004) and a PhD in Biology (2010) from the University of Aveiro. For more than ten years she has worked as project officer at Fórum Oceano, the Portuguese Maritime Cluster, gathering significant experience in cooperation and networking activities, liaising with academics and senior management in research organisations and the private sector giving support to new projects ideas and new business opportunities and supporting international cooperation, particularly in activities related to blue bioeconomy.

Carla Fernandes is researcher at CIIMAR and assistant professor of Organic and Medicinal Chemistry at FFUP. From September 2018, she is Member of Scientific Committee of Master Degree in Pharmaceutical Chemistry at FFUP. Current interests include synthesis of bioactive marine-derived compounds, including cyclopeptides; synthetic methodologies based on eco-sustainable methods (circular economy approach); enantioselectivity studies; development of chiral columns; analytical and preparative enantioseparation by HPLC; chiral recognition mechanisms. She is (co)author of 1 Portuguese Patent, 2 books, 4 book chapters, 59 papers (h-index 23), and several communications. She supervised/co-supervised 5 PhD (2 completed), 18 master (13 completed), and 31 undergraduate students.

Carla Batista Pinto is an assistant professor at Instituto Universitário de Ciências da Saúde (IUCS, CESPU). She holds a degree in Biochemistry from FCUP since 1992 and a PhD in Biomedical Sciences from ICBAS (University of Porto) since 2008. Her main research interest focusses now on ultrastructural alterations in ovarian cancer cells.

Carla Pires is a Researcher in the Biotechnology Laboratory of the Division of Aquaculture and Valorisation of Portuguese Institute of Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA). She received her degree in Chemistry Engineering in 1994 and her PhD equivalent in 2008 in Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Genetics. Her main scientific area of research is on Upgrading of by‐products and underutilized species. She is also a member of the quality management system and of IPMA scientific council. She participated in several national and international projects and is author of 21 scientific publications in international journals.

Carla Santos graduated in 2013 in Biology by the Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto. Currently, she is finishing her master degree in Legal Medicine at the Institute of Biomedical Sciences Abel Salazar. She has done her master thesis with a BYT+ scholarship in the EGB group, with the title “Genes from the pseudoautosomal region (PAR1) of the mammalian X chromosome: synteny, phylogeny and selection.” which earned the award of Best 2019/2020 BYT+ Internship.

Carla Sousa holds a BSc in Biology and a MSc in Aquatic Biological Resources, both from the University of Porto, Faculty of Sciences. During her career, she acquired industrial and academic experience, gaining solid knowledge in microbiology, pathology and molecular biology, as well as in areas such as toxicology, animal nutrition and zootechny. Currently she is developing her PhD thesis which focuses on understanding the potential impact of parasites on fish nutritional and organoleptic quality, and safety.

I’ve a degree in food engineering and a PhD in pharmacognosy. My research interests focus on phytochemical compounds with nutraceutical and/or pharmacological applications. I´ve vast experience in extraction, identification, and quantitation of bioactive compounds from algae and vascular plants. I’ve also experience with cellular and nom-cellular bioactivity assays, especially for the evaluation of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory potential of the extracted compounds. I’ve been involved in mentoring of undergraduate and graduate students, both national and foreigner, and on paper and report writing. I’ve joined the Coastal Biodiversity group to work on the project AquaVitae to make the most of cultivated algae.

Carlos Afonso is an assistant professor at Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Porto. He received his degree in Pharmacy in 1981, his PhD in 1994 in Pharmacy from Faculty of Pharmacy -University of Porto and his aggregation in 2004 in Medicinal Chemistry from Faculty of Pharmacy -University of Porto. His research interests focus on drug discovery and drug design, organic synthesis, structural elucidation of organic compounds and environmental analysis. He is author of 44 scientific publications in international journals.”

Carlos Antunes graduated in Ciências do Meio Aquático, obtained his PhD degree in 1995 by University of Porto and is the Team Leader of Rivers and Costal Ecology. He is director of Aquamuseu do Rio Minho and his main research interest focus on estuarine and limnological ecology, fisheries biology and management, and science communication.

Carlos Azevedo, Full Professor of Cellular Biology (Retired from ICBAS/UP since September 2004), Researcher at CIIMAR/UP in the field of microparasitology of aquatic fauna, having published more than 100 articles, of which they report the description of about 80 new species of microparasites. He coordinated the editing of Cellular and Molecular Biology books.

Carlos Espírito Santo holds a PhD in Marine Biotechnology and Aquaculture (U. Porto), a Master’s degree in Molecular Genetics, and a Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry (U. Minho). His research focuses on aquaculture, with particular emphasis on the effects of swimming on fish development and health. His work aims to promote more sustainable practices in the aquaculture sector, contributing to innovative solutions that enhance animal welfare and production efficiency.

Carlos Filipe Ferreira Gonçalves, born on June 28, 1994, has a degree in Environmental Education from the Polytechnic Institute of Viseu. He has six years of professional experience in the field of water management and treatment. He is an associative leader and member of the executive of the Parish Council of Gião, municipality of Vila do Conde. He is currently part of the team at the Vila do Conde Environmental Monitoring and Interpretation Center.