Annalisa conducted her PhD at MARE-Madeira in association with the University of Madeira. Her main research interests are marine ecology and ecotoxicology, focusing on cetaceans, pelagic ecosystems and plastic pollution. For her PhD, she investigated the contamination by microplastics in cetacean food webs, using visual identification techniques and analysing plastic additives in biological samples. Annalisa also has a MSc in Biological Monitoring and a BSc in Biological Science from the University of Genova, Italy.