Dr Belén Ballesteros earned her degree in Chemistry with Honours at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) in 2001, before going on to obtain her PhD in 2006 at the Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC).

During her doctoral studies, she undertook research stays at various European universities, including Universiteit Twente (Netherlands), Universitetet i Oslo (Norway), University of St Andrews (UK) and Universidad de la Laguna (Spain). In July 2006 she began postdoctoral work at the University of Oxford, where she worked in electron microscopy imaging and the nanoanalysis of carbon nanotubes, inorganic nanotubes and related materials. She has led the ICN2 Electron Microscopy Unit since April 2009.

Dr Ballesteros has authored 90 peer-reviewed articles with over 2100 citations.