John Volkman is a Chief Research Scientist and Research Program Leader for Marine Biogeochemistry in CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, based in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. He is a fellow of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute and chaired the Tasmanian Science and Technology Council, reporting to the Tasmanian State Government, from 2006 to 2010. Among other awards, Volkman recently received the 2010 Alfred Treibs medal from the Geochemical Society. He has published more than 190 scientific papers and numerous reports for industry and stakeholders. Volkman edited the book Marine Organic Matter: Biomarkers, Isotopes and DNA published by Springer in 1996. He has been an Associate Editor of the journal Organic Geochemistry since 1989. Volkman's research interests include the production and transport of organic matter in marine ecosystems, environmental pollutants, organic geochemistry of recent and ancient sediments, petroleum geochemistry, environmental genomics and the lipid biochemistry of marine animals, microalgae and bacteria.