I have finished my degree in Civil Engineering in 2006, specialising in Structures, in Instituto Superior Técnico (Lisbon, Portugal), with a grade of 15. Even though I had a strong background in Structures, I felt the need to improve my knowledge in Geotechnics and applied for a postgraduation degree in Geothecnics for Civil Engineering, in Faculdade de Ciências of Nova University (Lisbon, Portugal), which I finished with a grade of 14. Later on, I had the opportunity to follow my studies and developed a master thesis in Geotechnics in the field of generation and propagation of ground vibrations induced by rail traffic, at Instituto Superior Técnico, where I received a classification of 17. This work consisted of developing a three-dimensional model of a railway track and its surroundings. The train moving loads and track irregularities were considered, which allowed me to analyse the generated vibrations in the near field and their propagation in the far field. When comparing the in situ results with the numerical results moving average filters were applied to reduce random noise from the signal. My work in Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil (LNEC) has given me the opportunity to apply and improve my knowledge by performing measurement campaigns (that included several Portuguese trains - passenger and freight), developing numerical models of train tracks and embankment dams, performing and analysing experimental tests applied in different materials, from soils to rockfill, and monitoring geotechnical structures (including seepage and settlement monitoring). In 2017, I have finished my PhD in Geotechnics with the title "Predicting the behaviour of rockfill embankments" and a classification of "Passed with distinction". The work consisted in the performance of several experimental tests with suction control, complemented with the development of discrete and continuous numerical models, used to study the effect of suction in the mechanical behaviour of rockfill. These results were later compared with results obtained from the structural monitoring of Montesinho CFRD, during the construction and exploration periods, and reasonable consistency was found between them. Particularly, the discrete simulation highlighted the influence of suction and the particle breakage on the mechanical behaviour of the assembly. The capabilities of the discrete element method were also explored to study the microscopic interactions that occur during the oedometer and triaxial tests. My PhD returned 7 articles for publication in ISI journals, three of which have already been published.