Aggeliki Barberopoulou's research is broadly centered on natural hazards and risk, with the goal of understanding the response of the environment to natural disasters in order to better prepare for, respond to and recover from them. She has provided technical assistance and support to experts’ panels, emergency management (for planning/preparedness) and has participated in community preparedness, training, exercises, evaluations/assessments, and post-disaster field surveys.
For more than ten years she worked extensively with emergency management officials and represented California as the numerical modeler of the Golden State at the National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program and the Tsunami Steering Committee of California. In New Zealand she also served in the Tsunami Experts Panel (TEP) that provides support and advice to the Ministry of Civil Defense and Emergency Management (MCDEM) during a tsunami.
Barberopoulou holds a Master of Science in Applied Mathematics from the University of Washington in Seattle, W.A., and a PhD  in Geophysics also from the University of Washington.
Prior to joining Hellenic Center for Marine Researchshe taught GIS and Remote Sensing at the department of Urban, Environmental Policy and Planning at Tufts University in Boston. She has also held positions at the Viterbi School of Engineering at the University of Southern California (USC) as a postdoctoral research associate and later as a Research Assistant Professor prior to accepting a position as permanent tsunami scientist across the Pacific at GNS Science, New Zealand. She has held positions around the Globe as a research scientist at the National Observatory in Athens, Greece and as a senior scientist at AIR in Boston, United States.
As of 2024 she is the President of Tsunami Society International a non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing global awareness and effective mitigation of tsunami hazards. She is a big advocate on making science accessible to all through teaching science beyond the walls of a classroom.