Rafael Ramírez Álvarez de Lara graduated with BSc and MSc degrees in Architecture from the University of Seville (Spain) in 2014. During his studies, he was awarded an Erasmus+ scholarship and an Assistant Research Fellowship. In 2016, he obtained dual MSc degrees in Structural Analysis of Monuments and Historical Constructions (SAHC) from the Czech Technical University of Prague (Czechia) and the University of Minho (Portugal). His SAHC MSc thesis focused on the inspection, diagnosis, and structural assessment of a historical masonry structure. The finite element (FE) model developed for his work was also used as a case study for a DIANA FEA webinar on FE modeling and analysis. After his SAHC MSc, he worked on two consulting projects at UMinho, namely the "Seismic safety evaluation of the presidential buildings in the Palace of Belém" and the "Analysis of collapse mechanisms and design of structural reinforcement for the Palace of Belém". These consulting works involved advanced numerical analyses and the design of the strengthening for a major heritage masonry building, i.e., the Presidential Palace of Belém in Lisbon (Portugal). At UMinho, he was also involved in the preparation and development of an ongoing long-term durability experimental campaign on masonry components strengthened with glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP), aimed at correlating real degradation trends with existing accelerated aging results. He pursued a Doctoral Program in Civil Engineering at UMinho and obtained his PhD in 2023. His PhD thesis focused on the hygro-thermo-mechanical analysis of masonry through both experimental characterization and numerical studies. The main results of this work have been reported in two conference and three journal papers. In addition to his advanced academic education, he has engaged in ongoing scientific courses and technical training to keep up with the latest developments, e.g., certified courses by Elsevier Researcher Academy and IOP Peer Review Excellence Training Course. In collaboration with other members of UMinho, he participated in the blind-prediction and post-diction analysis of a half-scale, two-unit stone masonry aggregate subjected to dynamic excitations. This work was developed within the framework of the SERA - AIMS project (Seismology and Earthquakes Engineering Research Infrastructure Alliance for Europe - Adjacent Research Infrastructure Alliance for Europe) and led to the publication of several articles and a special issue in an international journal. His scientific production includes 10 peer-reviewed articles in international journals, seven of which he was the first author. He currently holds a Scopus h-index of 5 and has received 65 citations. He has presented his research at five international conferences and provided active support (staff member) in the organization and coordination of two of them. In particular, he was involved in organizing the IABSE Symposium held in Guimarães in 2019 and the Congress on Numerical Methods in Engineering (CMN) organized in Guimarães in the same year. He has been co-supervisor of a SAHC Master's thesis on the structural assessment of a historical masonry building and is currently involved in the supervision of a PhD thesis on thermo-mechanical modeling strategies for masonry with lime-based mortars. He is invited lecturer, at the University of Minho, in the master in Structural Analysis of Monuments and Historical Constructions (SAHC), within the unit SA3 'Seismic Behaviour and Structural Dynamics'. He is currently involved in the structural vulnerability analysis of the Wupatki National Monument in Arizona (USA). Finally, he is a member of international scientific organizations and committees, namely EAHN, INTBAU, and ICOMOS (ISCARSAH).