Ingela Marklinder has a research background in applied microbiology. Her thesis (defended 1996) was dealing with lactic acid bacteria and fermented oats and barley. The PhD project focused on fermented food applications such as a probiotic oat soup and the microflora in sourdoughs. Lately, her research has been directed toward food safety related to consumers and health communication.

Since 1996 Ingela Marklinder works as a senior lecturer at Uppsala University. She is  teaching dietitian- and food science students in food microbiology, food science and health communication.

Over the past 25 years, Ingela has actively participated in the few studies conducted on food safety related to consumers and individual households in Sweden. The focus has included, among other things, cold food storage and consumers' sources of food safety knowledge. The current project Food safety communication in the domestic setting: older adults and health care professionals focuses on how to identify the need for information about food safety among older adults and how to predict factors behind food safety behavior and the need for food safety communication.

The Health Action Process Approach (HAPA) model is applied with the aim of being able to investigate which mechanisms that are behind individuals' behavior. The model is based on factors that can predict a food safety behavior such as risk perception, self-efficacy and outcome expectancy.  Since spring 2025 she is a member of ILSI Europe Board of Directors. International Life Science Institute Europe.