Dr. phil. Barbara Lippert studied Political Science, Contemporary and Eastern European History and Slavonic Studies at the University of Bonn and the Free University Berlin between the years 1981-1987. She then acquired her Doctorate (Dr. phil) at the University of Bonn. In 1990–1992, she worked as a Senior Associate at the Institute for European Politics (IEP) in Bonn and Berlin and between 1992–2009 as a Deputy Director of the Institute for European Politics (IEP) in Berlin.

Since April 2009, she has worked as a Director of Research and Member of Executive Board of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs of the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP) in Berlin.

Her areas of expertise are EU enlargement policy, development of the political system of the EU, Germany and European integration and the European Neighbourhood Policy.