Maria Sotiropoulou is Environmental Scientist, BSc (University of the Aegean) and holds a PhD in Radioecology/Radiation Protection of the Environment and the Public, obtained by the Physics Department of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. She conducted her doctoral research at the Environmental Radioactivity Laboratory of NCSR‘D’, having received a four-year fellowship after successful participation in national examinations. Between 2016 and 2018 she conducted postdoctoral research at CERN (CERN/HSE/RP) on the field of Radiation Protection and characterization of radioactive residues and their impact assessment on the environment, in particular. She currently holds a two-year postdoctoral fellowship obtained by the State Scholarship Foundation (SSF, Greece). The field of research is Radioecology, and particularly, she works on the development and implementation of a cytogenetic tool for the detection of the effects of radiological and conventional pollution in the marine environment. She conducts her research in the Environmental Radioactivity Laboratory (NCSR‘D’) under the scientific mentoring of Dr Heleny Florou (Collaborating Director of Research). She has published papers in international scientific journals, such as Environmental Science and Pollution Research, the Journal of Environmental Radioactivity and Radiation and Environmental Biophysics.