Esther Kluwer obtained her PhD from the University of Groningen in 1998 on a dissertation entitled "Marital conflict over the division of labor: When partners become parents". After her PhD, she worked as an assistant professor at the Department of Social Psychology at the Free University of Amsterdam. As of 2000, she works as an associate professor at the department of Social, Health & Organisational Psychology at Utrecht University. In 2016, she was appointed as a Professor by special appointment on Relationships and wellbeing at Radboud University. 

Esther Kluwer studies close relationships, in particular the determinants and effects of relationship quality. The central research question is how and why partners (and ex-partners) maintain their relationship, sometimes under stressful circumstances, and how this affects their own and their children's wellbeing. Her work covers a variety of topics, including (COVID-19) stress, autonomy and relatedness, transition to parenthood, work-family balance, (high-conflict) divorce, forgiveness, and relationship interventions.