Bettina graduated in chemical engineering in 1989 from the Technical University of Karlsruhe (Germany) and completed a doctorate in Technical Sciences in the Food Process Engineering group at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, graduating in 1995.

Before joining ETH, Bettina worked as theologist at the German Institute for Food Technology (DIL), Quakenbrück. She left ETH in 1997 to join the Product Microstructure unit and then Corporate Research at Unilever Research Colworth, UK, as a research scientist.

In 2002—2003, Bettina completed a six month secondment at the Savoury Global Technology Centre of Unilever Bestfoods in Heilbronn (Germany).

Bettina works as a Professor in Microstructure Engineering in the School of Chemical Engineering, University of Birmingham.