Prof. Antje Boetius is a polar and deep-sea researcher and director of the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research. As Professor of Geomicrobiology and Head of the Joint Research Group for Deep-Sea Ecology and Technology at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, she is involved in the MARUM Cluster of Excellence at the University of Bremen.
Boetius has participated in 50 expeditions on international research vessels. Her recent research focuses on the effects of climate change on the Arctic Ocean and the biodiversity of the deep sea. She is the recipient of the DFG’s Gottfried-Wilhelm-Leibniz and Communicator Prizes, the German Environmental Award 2018 and the Federal Cross of Merit in 2019, among many other merits. She is a member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and other national and international academies and an active science communicator collaborating with the arts, theater, film, and music, focusing on the relationship between humanity and nature.