Karin Lochte, born in Hannover, Germany, studied biology, chemistry and philosophy in Hannover, and marine biology at the University of Wales (UK); PhD in 1985. Her research in marine microbial ecology focused on bacterial turnover of carbon in the ocean. She worked at the Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences, Kiel, Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde. Since 2007, she has been the Director of the Alfred-Wegener-Institute for Polar and Marine Research of the Helmholtz Association. She is a member of the German Science and Humanities Council (Wissenschaftsrat) and chairs the DFG Senate Commission for Oceanography.