Nélia Mestre is assistant researcher at the Centre for Marine and Environmental Research at the University of Algarve, Portugal. She obtained her PhD in Ocean and Earth Science in 2009 from the University of Southampton, UK. She is a deep-sea ecologist developing work related to marine ecotoxicology, with special emphasis on the environmental threats to fauna by deep-sea mining, and other human activities in the deep sea, and with interests in the environmental impact of emergent contaminants (microplastics, technology critical elements, nanoparticles, pharmaceuticals). She is currently leading the project BiDIRisk - Biomarker discovery for risk assessment in the deep sea (2022-2025) and has participated in several international projects. https://www.cienciavitae.pt/portal/en/D71D-759D-F6FC