She continued as a fourth year undergraduate student, having been granted a scholarship by Lancaster University and the British Council.

In 1993, while following a professional career in chemistry, she passed the entrance examinations for the University of Athens to study Greek literature and attended the relevant courses for two academic years.

Throughout her undergraduate studies she held occasional jobs as a teaching assistant at the Department of Chemistry at Russell Sage College, Troy, New York.

She was then employed for almost a year as a Quality Control Manager at Vitatrace Nutrition, a local firm manufacturing premixes for animal feedstuffs.

She was next employed at the Cyprus Carlsberg Brewery, as a Quality Control Manager, where she had a successful career for almost 23 years (1978–2001).

Under this capacity she was responsible for running the Quality Control Department and carrying out the chemical, microbiological and packaging laboratory control of raw materials, semi-finished and final products of the Brewery, as well as table water, fruit juices and other products manufactured by the company.

She has also served as Vice president of DIKO as well as coordinator of the Party's Political Research Groups (1998–2000).

She was elected as the first female mayor in the city's political history, defeating her opponent Andreas Shittis.

As mayor, she worked very hard on enlightenment campaigns on the Cyprus issue abroad and for the inalienable right of the refugees of Morphou to return to their occupied home-town.

As mayor, Papadopoulou was appointed as representative of the Cyprus Union of Municipalities in the Committee on Youth of the Council of Europe (1996–2001); From June 2001 until June 2009, she was the only female member in the Cyprus Delegation in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

She was elected as Member of the European Parliament in June 2009 and she joined the Political Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats.