Rita Ruivo Marques graduated in 2003 in Chemical Engineering at the Faculty of Sciences and Technology of the University of Coimbra, Portugal. In 2006, she integrated the research team of the European project REMOVALS (FP6-018525), performing degradation of organic pollutants in aqueous phase by Catalytic Wet Air Oxidation, using Sludge Based Activated Carbons as catalysts in Trickle-Bed reactors. The work was developed at the Faculty of Sciences and Technology (Coimbra, Portugal) and at the Department of Chemical Engineering of the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Tarragona, Spain). Her master degree was completed in 2009 at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP), Portugal. At that time, she was part of the research team of the European project CLEAN WATER (FP7-227017), working on the modification of Carbon Nanotubes to prepare titanium dioxide based composites for the photocatalytic oxidative degradation of organic pollutants in aqueous phase. In 2010 she was granted with a doctoral fellowship from Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) and presented at FEUP in 2014 her PhD thesis - Photocatalytic activity of nanostructured TiO₂-carbon nanotube composites for near‑UV to visible water treatment.

Currently, she is a postdoctoral researcher with a FCT grant in Education Sciences working on the Dissemination of scientific knowledge as a prevention strategy in the domain of water preservation: from university research to secondary school students. She is part of the research team of the Laboratory of Separation and Reaction Engineering - Laboratory of Catalysis and Materials (LSRE-LCM) unit at FEUP and of the Centre for Research and Intervention in Education (CIIE) at the Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences of the University of Porto (FPCEUP).