Violeta Alarcão holds a degree (Pre-Bolonha) (FCSH-UNL 2000) and a Ph.D. in Sociology (ISCTE-IUL 2016) and has extensive experience as a medical sociologist and in clinical and epidemiological research. She was a researcher at the Institute of Preventive Medicine and Public Health (IMP&SP), Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon (FMUL) from 2004 to 2019, having participated in and coordinated several research projects. Currently, she is a Researcher at the Centre for Research and Studies in Sociology (CIES-IUL) of the University Institute of Lisbon and collaborates as a researcher at the Institute of Environmental Health (ISAMB-FMUL). Her research interests are multiple and interdisciplinary, having come increasingly to include topics such as sexuality, gender, and ethnicity, in a transdisciplinary perspective. She has published on these topics at the national and international levels. Other areas of interest include behavioral and socio-economic determinants of health; life-course and well-being; active and healthy aging; and nutrition and food insecurity.

She was Principal Investigator of the research project funded by FCT Fertility, Migration and Acculturation: Intersectional approach to the sexual and reproductive experiences and expectations among Cape Verdean and Portuguese Families and also of the research project Promoting citizenship and sexual rights in Immigrant Populations in Portugal: co-production of recommendations and best practices for the reduction of sexual and reproductive inequalities, with funding from the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (FAMI).

Her most recent project is entitled EQUALS4COVID19 – Equity in health in times of pandemic: assessment of the impact on mental health and well-being of the Brazilian and Cape Verdean population in Portugal (PT/2021/FAMI/697).