Liesbeth's research concerns dynastic rule in the Early Modern period, particularly in the Spanish Habsburg Monarchy. She has focused on dynastic history in both Europe and West-Asia, particularly in the Spanish-Habsburg Monarchy and Safavid Iran, writing about the role of junior family members in dynastic rule and the conceptualization of dynasties.

Liesbeth got her MA from Leiden University (2002) and PhD from the University of Amsterdam (2008), both in the Netherlands. Since 2008 she has worked as a lecturer at Utrecht University and Leiden University, and she has been a post-doctoral researcher at Leiden, Radboud University Nijmegen and Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen (Germany).