Dr. Miriam Weber is a marine biologist and Co-Director of HYDRA Marine Sciences GmbH, Germany. She studied in the USA, Australia and Germany and graduated from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen. She has taken part in dozens of research expeditions in lakes, rivers and the sea, from high-alpine lakes to the Dead Sea and from the polar regions to the tropics of the Indo-Pacific and the Atlantic.

Her work focuses on developing solutions to pressing environmental problems. For the last 15 years, she has led research on the biodegradation of plastic in the open environment, with a focus on the marine ecosystem and now also covering freshwater and soil. Together with partners across the EU, public administrations, academia, private institutions, NGOs and industry, her team develops and conducts tests in the field, in mesocosms and in the laboratory. Dr. Weber and her team have also contributed to several ISO standards on the topic, the SAPEA evidence review report on the biodegradability of plastics in the open environment, meta-studies, peer-reviewed scientific articles and media activities.