Raquel Medina Plana's research lies at the intersection of legal anthropology and the history of law, with a particular emphasis on the critical analysis of legal phenomena from culturally and historically informed perspectives. Her primary focus is family law, where she examines foundational concepts such as kinship, filiation, and the socio-legal constructions of belonging embedded within family institutions. In recent years, she has led an interdisciplinary research group investigating the legal and normative implications of emerging family configurations, including single-parent households and families formed through assisted reproductive technologies.

In addition to these areas of inquiry, her specialization as a legal historian has guided her toward historical research. She is currently conducting archival work on a profoundly significant historical phenomenon in Spain: the case of children taken from their families during the Franco regime. This topic extends her earlier studies on fostering and adoption practices involving abandoned children in institutional care during the Ancien Régime, as well as on the displacement of children during the Spanish Civil War.