Bárbara's research focuses on a variety of topics that analyse Chilean literature, such as intersections between articulations of the female psyche, the criticism of neoliberal principles within a post-dictatorship context, biblical references in poetry and narrative, and memory/post-memory constructions in Chilean writing, among others. Her current research project entitled "The Fall of Neoliberalism in the Chilean Post-Dictatorship Novel (2000-2020) was awarded the Early Career Scheme by the Hong Kong University Grants Committee and will be developed between 2023 and 2025.

Lately, Bárbara has been exploring the cultural relationship between China and Latin America, more specifically with Chile through poets Pablo Neruda and Pablo de Rokha. She has received a grant to conduct research to find out details of the great friendship between Pablo Neruda and Ai Qing, and how the latter depicts Chilean landscape in his poetry written during his visit to Chile in 1954.

As a Latinamericanist, Bárbara’s teaching portfolio is broad. She has lectured on Chilean culture, canonical authors from the Latin American Boom and Nobel Prize winners, XIX century foundational and abolitionist novels from Cuba, Perú and Argentina, Latin American visual culture and fine arts, and Latin American cultural theory.

Bárbara's work has been published in renowned journals such as Cultural Dynamics and Literature Compass. Her monograph, Chilean Women's Poetry under Neoliberalism, 1980-2020 is currently being prepared for publication. She has delivered keynote lectures and plenary talks in Hong Kong, Chile and Germany. Her current postgraduate students' work delve into Brazilian memory studies, literature and film analysis, the intricate relationship between Buddhism and neoliberalism in Latin American novels, and the role of Virtual Reality film in questions of the body experience.