Rainer Kiko

Professor Rainer Kiko is a Heisenberg Professor and Make Our Planet Great Again Laureate at GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, where he leads research in Marine Biogeochemistry. His work focuses on understanding how global change impacts marine life distribution and activity, with significant implications for oceanic oxygen dynamics, nutrient cycles, and carbon dioxide transfer from the atmosphere to the deep sea.

Kiko's research integrates augmented image observations that combine autonomous camera and environmental sensor systems with state-of-the-art artificial intelligence solutions and ecophysiological approaches to study zooplankton and detrital particle dynamics in a changing ocean. His primary research areas include marine carbon cycling, oxygen minimum zones, zooplankton dynamics, and the development of imaging technologies for marine observations. He leads several major projects including Imaging Marine life in an Ocean of Change (IOChange) funded by the Heisenberg Program of the German Research Foundation, and the Tropical Atlantic Deoxygenation project as part of the Make Our Planet Great Again initiative.

His recent publications reveal a strong focus on marine particle dynamics, carbon export mechanisms, and the role of zooplankton in biogeochemical cycles, with particular attention to oxygen minimum zones and the impacts of climate change on marine ecosystems. Kiko employs advanced imaging technologies and machine learning approaches to address fundamental questions about the biological pump and ocean carbon sequestration.

Among his notable recognitions are the prestigious Heisenberg Professorship from the German Research Foundation and the Make Our Planet Great Again Laureate award. His work has been published in high-impact journals including Nature Geoscience, Nature Communications, and Global Biogeochemical Cycles.

Kiko mentors several researchers including Dr. Joelle Habib (Postdoc at Laboratoire d'Océanographie de Villefranche), Dr. Xiangyu Weng (Machine Vision specialist), Simon-Martin Schröder (computer scientist), and Claudeilton "Claus" Santana (PhD student). His research group develops innovative approaches combining deep learning, in situ imaging, and citizen science to resolve marine ecological questions across multiple scales.