Catarina holds a BSc in Forensic Science from the University Of Bedfordshire and a MSc in Forensic Medical Sciences from Queen Mary University Of London. 

 As her final project of the MSc program, Catarina studied the dissolution process of various MDMA tablets collected over a period of 20 years at TICTAC Communications Ltd. based at St. George's University Of London. The main objective of the project was to find out if the severe side-effects and overdoses are due to a higher concentration of active ingredients and/or due to their faster release into the system. 

 Catarina joined the Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science in September 2018 to pursue a PhD in Forensic Chemistry. Her research project focus not only on the transfer and persistence of gunshot residue (GSR) but also on the characterisation of GSR particles and how its recovery affects the elemental and chemical composition, and the morphology of the materials. The study is also to investigate how GSR can affect and be affected by the donor substrates (for example fabrics), looking closely at the interaction of the particles during primary transfer and the damages caused by the particles and the traces left on the textiles.