Karin Lochte

Early life and education

Lochte was born in Hanover. She received her PhD in Marine Biology at the University College of North Wales in 1984. After her PhD, she worked on deep sea microbiology at the Institut für Meereskunde, University of Kiel. Earlier in her career, Lochte was a professor of Biological Oceanography at the Leibniz Institute for Marine Sciences at the Christian-Albrechts University in Kiel where she led a research unit that focused on chemical cycles in the sea. She lectured biological oceanography at the University of Rostock and Kiel from 1995 to 2000 and subsequently the at the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research in Warnemünde until 2007. She was also the project coordinator for the Atlantic Data Base for Exchange Processes at the Deep Sea Floor (ADEPD), a European Union funded marine research project from 1998 to 2000. Her involvement in polar research began in 2007, when she started work at the Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven.

Career and impact

Lochte was appointed as the Director of the Alfred Wegener Institute in 2007. Her research focusses on the interactions between ocean nutrient cycles and climate. She has been the vice-president of Earth and Environment field research for the Helmholtz Association.

Awards and honours

Lochte is a member of several national and international boards, scientific committees and research funding organizations. She was a member of the German Scientific Council, which advises the German Federal and Länder state Government and the on development of universities, science and research and is chair of the Scientific Commission of Lower Saxony. She is also a delegate of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research and chairperson of the Board of Governors of Jacobs University. She is on the advisory board of the Arctic Circle.