Nélia Dias has a Maitrîse en Anthropologie et Sociologie by the Université René- Descartes /Sorbonne and a PhD by the EHESS (Paris) under the supervision of Pierre Nora. 

She is member “Petroculture’s Intersections with The Cultural Heritage sector in the context of green transitions” (PITCH) - december 2023/ november 2027. The project is co-financed by the EU Horizon Europe program and the UK Research & Innovation for a total of 3.283.000 euros. She was part of the CHEurope 'Critical Heritage Studies and the Future of Europe', H2020 Marie Curie, MSCA ITN, Nr - 722416 ( 2017-2021).

She is currently director of the Conselho Cientifico of IN2PAST - Laboratory for Research in Heritage, Art, Sustainability and Territory) and member of the Conseil d'Orientation Stratégique du Musée du quai Branly (2024-2027).

 She has been -invited Professor at the Musée du Quai Branly (2024), Visiting Fellow at the University of Saint-Andrews ( February -April 2018) , Directrice d'études associée at the Maison des Sciences de l'Homme/ Ecole Normale Supérieure ( October/ December 2017), International Visiting Fellow - Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies, University of British Columbia (2016) e Visiting Scholar at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (Berlin) where she conducted, along with F. Vidal, the project 'Endangerment and its consequences', published as Endangerment, Diversity and Culture ( Routledge 2016). 

In 2009, she was Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Tulane University ( New Orleans) fall semester.  

She was between 1998 and 2001 member of the Conseil du Patrimoine Ethnologique, Ministère de la Culture (France) and is, since 2019, member of the Conseil d'Orientation stratégique de l'École Universitaire de Recherche (EUR).   

 She was director of the PhD program in Anthropology Politicas e Imagens da Cultura e Museologia, between ISCTE-IUL and NOVA / FCSH, and three research centers :CRIA, IELT e INET-md between 2013 and 2020.