Anabela Serrão has a degree in Sociology from FCSH-UNL (2003), with a postgraduate degree in Data Analysis for Social Sciences from ISCTE-IUL (2007). She is currently a PhD student at ISCTE-IUL.

Since 2004 she is an assistant researcher at CIES-IUL where she has worked in the field of sociology and education.

Since 2016 she is a member of the Education and Science Studies Team of the General Directorate of Education and Science Statistics at the Ministry of Education.

Anabela Serrão was the national coordinator of international projects such as OECD PISA (2008 - 2011) and ESLC of the European Commission (2009 - 2011). She was also deputy director of the Education Evaluation Office of the Ministry of Education (2009-2011).

To date, Anabela Serrão has participated as team member in several research projects related to the study of the impact of the school level (primary and secondary) on youth employment, the qualifications of the Portuguese working population, the profession of biologist in Portugal and, more recently, the study of electronic student assessment and reading and writing learning of young students.