Manuela Piccardo received her MSc degree cum laude in Environmental Sciences in 2016 and her PhD in Environmental and Life Sciences in 2021 from the Università di Trieste. Since then, she has been a research fellow investigating the effects of environmental pollutants, with a particular focus on microplastics. Her research is focused on the presence of microplastics in different environmental matrices and their potential impact on biota, as well as on the environmental risk assessment in marine ecosystems.