Raquel Varela has a degree (2006) in Civil Engineering and a Master’s degree in Civil Engineering Structures (2009) from the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto. In her academic journey she passed through the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées (ENPC) during her “Erasmus” program. She developed her master’s thesis on the topic “Box beam bridges in pre-stressed reinforced concrete with spans of approximately 100m”, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. António Adão da Fonseca.

In 2006, she began her professional activity at Iperforma, where she was responsible for numerous metallic and reinforced concrete structural projects.

In 2016, she started working at NCREP where she dedicated herself to the inspection and diagnosis of structures and to structural rehabilitation projects of existing buildings.

She returned to Iperforma and in recent years has been involved in the design of industrial buildings and logistics bases.

In 2023 she returns to NCREP.