Dr Caroline Montes joined the Water Quality Group in February 2026 as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow. Her current research focuses on the TOXCHIP project, which aims to evaluate the risk of nanoplastics in aquatic organisms using miniaturised devices (Lab-on-a-Chip technology).

An Environmental Ecotoxicologist by training, Caroline holds a PhD in Aquatic Ecology. Her expertise lies in using multi-level biomarkers, ranging from molecular and cellular to physiological, to assess the impact of contaminants. Before joining INL, she conducted research on environmental monitoring and nanotoxicology across diverse ecosystems, including the Amazon basin, Chilean fjords, and research centres in Spain.