Christiane Löwe studied chemistry at the University of Constance and received her doctorate in the same discipline in 1988. A postdoc stay at the University of Zurich followed.

In 1992, Christiane Löwe joined Empa, the reseach institute of the ETH domain for Materials Science and Technology, where she served as group leader in the area of polymers and composites.

Dr. Löwe’s research interests included the development of functional polymers with specific optical, electrical, or mechanical properties as well as the exploration of long-term aging behavior of plastics. She was involved into the evaluation process of polymeric water sealing systems for the New Swiss Alpine Railway Tunnels.

In 2011  she became Delegate for Equal Opportunities at Empa , which received the Prix Balance ZH in 2014 for its activities in work-life integration.

Christiane Löwe was appointed head of the Office for Gender Equality at the University of Zurich in 2015.