Rita Nogueira holds a PhD in Civil Engineering, completed in 2016 at Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), University of Lisbon, where she focused on lime-based mortars for historic render preservation. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor in IST’s Department of Civil Engineering, teaching courses on Construction Materials and Technology to Civil Engineering and Architecture students. As a member of CERIS Research and Development Unit, her work centers on construction materials, specifically the design and performance of mortars and concrete, compatible materials for historical masonry, and built heritage conservation. Since 2018, she has expanded her research to include CO₂ capture in cement-based materials, supported by a CERIS exploratory project grant. In 2019, she conducted a sabbatical research term at KU Leuven, advancing her study on early-age carbonation and hardening mechanisms, gaining expertise in specialized testing methods.

Her collaborative work spans three R&D projects—two national and one international (BIOCO2)—focused on sustainable construction solutions, such as low-CO₂ binders and CO₂ sequestration. Presently, she is involved in three industry-partnered projects on modular concrete construction and carbonation, co-leading one. She supervises two PhD projects on carbonation processes in cement and concrete blocks, has published 22 peer-reviewed papers, delivered 23 presentations, and overseen 14 MSc dissertations.