Bettina Hitzer is a modern historian with a research focus on the history of science, emotions, religion, and migration.

She completed her habilitation in 2017 at the FU Berlin. From 2015 to 2020 she headed the Minerva Research Group Gefühl und Krankheit. Geschichte(n) einer komplizierten Beziehung. Currently, she is working on a new research project on the history of child adoption. She is the author of Krebs fühlen. Eine Emotionsgeschichte des 20. Jahrhunderts (2020), awarded with the Leipzig Book Fair Prize.

Bettina Hitzer was a Visiting Fellow in February 2021 upon invitation from Dr. Niklas Barth (CAS Junior Researcher in Residence 2020/21). On 9 February 2021 she gave a Lunch Talk on "Die Genese der Offenheit und der Wandel der Hoffnung. Sterben im 20. Jahrhundert".