Nuno Ratola

Senior Researcher

Research group: Environmental Sciences and Technologies

Research position: Principal Researcher

Background: PhD in Chemical and Biological Engineering – Faculty of Engineering of Porto, Portugal

Major research topics

• Environmental presence and behaviour of legacy and emerging contaminants.
• Biomonitoring and other field sampling strategies in several environmental compartments.
• Advanced analytical techniques of sample handling, extraction and quantification.
• Impact of extreme events (e.g., wildfires) and climate change scenarios.
• Waste valorisation for energy production and safe recycling (circular economy).
• Exposure assessment and prioritisation of relevant chemicals.

Selected Publications

S. Augusto, Z. Varela, M. Moeenfard, J.A. Silva, S. Ramos, F. Cereceda-Balic, X. Fadic, M. Matache, N. Ratola, “Preliminary vegetation-based evaluation of semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs) using pine species: towards pollution data comparability”, Environmental Pollution, 372: 126011, 2025

F. Sánchez-Soberón, G.F. Pantuzza, M. Fernandes, V. Homem, A. Alves, M. Fontes, M. André, J. Cunha, N. Ratola, “Helping WWTP managers to address the volatile methylsiloxanes issue - Behaviour and complete mass balance in a conventional plant”, Environmental Research, 234: 116564, 2023.

F.O. Gomes, M.R. Rocha, A. Alves, N. Ratola, “A review of potentially harmful chemicals in crumb rubber used in synthetic football pitches”, Journal of Hazardous Materials, 409: 124998, 2021.

N. Ratola, P. Jiménez-Guerrero, “Can biomonitors effectively detect airborne benzo[a]pyrene? An evaluation approach using modelling”, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 16: 4271-4282, 2016.

N. Ratola, V. Homem, J.A. Silva, R. Araújo, J.M. Amigo, L. Santos, A. Alves, “Biomonitoring of pesticides by pine needles – chemical scoring, risk of exposure, levels and trends”, Science of the Total Environment, 476–477: 114–124, 2014.

Selected Projects

As Project Leader or Co-Leader:

Nov 2025 – Nov 2028 - “PlasURE - Impact of airborne microplastics: urban and rural environments and extreme events”

Project: COMPETE2030-FEDER-00790200 (Ref. 16721) (PI; € 249 480.00)

Funding body: Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia/COMPETE2030 (Portugal)

Feb 2024 – Jan 2027 - “SPRINGINESS - Management of rainwater runoff in urban areas for tackling extreme hydroclimatic events”

Project: Water4All/0006/2022 (PI in Portugal, € 99 864.20; Project leader – Adam Sochacki; € 975 540.94)

Funding body: Water4All programme – European Commission/Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portugal)

Partners: Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (Czech Republic), IPR Aqua, Ltd. (Czech Republic), University of Lodz (Poland), Sieker (Germany), ALICE-FEUP (Portugal)

Jul 2018 – Jun 2021 - “LANSILOT - LAunching New SILOxane Treatments: assessing effluent, sludge and air quality and improving biogas production in WWTPs”

Project: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-032084 from 02/SAICT/2017 (PI; € 224 968,43)

Funding body: Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portugal)

Jun 2018 – May 2021 - “SAFEGOAL - Safer synthetic turf pitches with infill of rubber crumb from recycled tires”

Project: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-028101 from 02/SAICT/2017 (Co-PI; Project leader – Arminda Alves; € 222 995,98)

Funding body: Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portugal)

Nov 2017 – Apr 2018 - “ECoMarE - Emerging Contaminants in complex matrices from Marine Environments: A Mediterranean-Atlantic Perspective”

Project: ANR-11-LABX-0061 (€ 7 890, Co-PI with Dr. Javier Castro-Jiménez, Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography (MIO))

Funding body: Labex OT-Med, French Government “Investissements d’Avenir” (ANR) (France)