Dr Karin Kvale is an Earth System modeller working on the interactions between plastic pollution and climate science. She has a background in Environmental Science (BSc. from Indiana University, USA), Atmospheric Science (MSc. from University of Victoria, Canada), and Climate Science (PhD. from University of New South Wales, Australia). Prior to moving to New Zealand she was a researcher at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research in Kiel, Germany, where she worked on biogeochemical model parameter optimisation, climate dynamics and microplastics modelling. In 2021 she moved to New Zealand and currently runs her own consultancy for basic and applied climate research