Oliver Locker-Grütjen (née Grütjen) has been president of Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences since June 2019. His goals at the university, which has campuses in Kleve and Kamp-Lintfort, include strengthening it as a university of applied sciences (Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften, HAW) by combining teaching, research and transfer in line with the Humboldtian ideal of education, increasing its involvement in the region in conjunction with the expansion of national and international collaborations, and expanding the idea of sustainability in the context of transformation needs.

Prior to his position as university president, Locker-Grütjen worked at the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE) for 20 years. As executive director of the Research Center for Microscale Environmental Systems (ZMU), he conceived its establishment and orientation in 2003 together with the development of the Center for Medical Biotechnology (ZMB), today two successful profile focal points of the university that are recognized in the scientific landscape. He was Academic Director of the Sciences Support Center (SSC) until his presidential appointment.

Oliver Locker-Grütjen is involved in science and higher education policy in regional networks as well as national committees and organizations. For example, he was appointed to the Commission for Research Data and Research Information (KFiD) of the Joint Science Conference (GWK) in July 2021. Since 2021, Oliver Locker-Grütjen has been a member of the advisory board "Thuringia 2030+" of the state of Thuringia on the sustainable development of universities. Oliver Locker-Grütjen has been a juror for the Stiftung der Deutschen Wirtschaft (sdw) since 2007, particularly in the area of promoting young talent and doctoral studies.

Oliver Locker-Grütjen holds a degree in environmental science and received his doctorate in 2012 with a thesis on framework conditions for research at German universities. In addition to his research stay in Zambia (Africa), he had, among other things, guest stays at Queens University Belfast, at Radboud Universiteit in Nijmegen, here among other things also co-responsible for the development of the cross-border study program "Transnational Ecosystem-based Water Management".

He has published and continues to publish articles in the fields of biology, environmental sciences, education and educational sciences as well as science management and university development.

He is a native of Duisburg, married and has three children.