[1] After secondary school in the Netherlands and a BSc and MSc in marine biology at the University of Auckland, Slooten completed a 1990 PhD from the University of Canterbury entitled Population biology, social organization and behaviour of Hector's Dolphins.
[2] Moving to the University of Otago for an extended period, she rose to the rank of full professor in 2015.
[1][3] In 2004, Slooten and Stephen Michael Dawson won the Charles Fleming Award for environmental achievement from the Royal Society of New Zealand.
[4][5] In 2017, Slooten was selected as one of the Royal Society Te Apārangi's "150 women in 150 words", celebrating the contributions of women to knowledge in New Zealand.
[6] Slooten has a partner, Steve Michael Dawson, also a professor of marine biology at Otago.