She has a degree in Anthropology from the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities of Universidade Nova de Lisboa, a master’s degree in Spatial Planning and Environmental Planning and a PhD in Environmental Engineering, a branch of Spatial Planning from the Faculty of Science and Technology of Universidade Nova de Lisboa.

She has been a professor at the Department of Architecture at the Universidade Autónoma de Lisboa since 2001/2002 and a guest professor at the Master's in Spatial Planning and Geographic Information Systems at the Department of Geography and Regional Planning at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at Universidade Nova de Lisboa, in e-learning regime. She is the director of the Center for Architecture, City and Territory Studies at the Universidade Autónoma de Lisboa (CEACT/UAL), where she directs the journal Estudosprevio.net and has developed several research projects.

She is an integrated researcher at the Interdisciplinary Center for Social Sciences at Universidade Nova de Lisboa (CICS.Nova).