diff --git a/dandiapi/api/services/search/filters.py b/dandiapi/api/services/search/filters.py
index db3c0cf7c..d31a74e17 100644
--- a/dandiapi/api/services/search/filters.py
+++ b/dandiapi/api/services/search/filters.py
@@ -6,14 +6,17 @@
 import re
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING
 
-from django.db.models import OuterRef, Subquery
+from django.contrib.auth.models import User
+from django.db.models import OuterRef, Q, Subquery, Value
+from django.db.models.functions import Concat
 
 from dandiapi.api.models import Version
+from dandiapi.api.models.dandiset import DandisetUserObjectPermission
 from dandiapi.api.services.search.parser import SearchSyntaxError
 from dandiapi.search.models import AssetSearch
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
-    from django.contrib.auth.models import AnonymousUser, User
+    from django.contrib.auth.models import AnonymousUser
     from django.db.models import QuerySet
 
     from dandiapi.api.models import Dandiset
@@ -39,6 +42,7 @@
     }
 )
 _ASSET_OPS = frozenset({'species', 'approach', 'technique', 'standard', 'file_type'})
+_OWNER_OPS = frozenset({'owner'})
 
 
 def _annotate_latest_version_modified(queryset):
@@ -104,6 +108,31 @@ def _apply_asset_filter(queryset, operator: str, value: str):
     raise ValueError(f'unknown asset operator: {operator}')  # pragma: no cover
 
 
+def _apply_owner_filter(queryset: QuerySet[Dandiset], value: str) -> QuerySet[Dandiset]:
+    """Filter dandisets to those owned by the given user identifier.
+
+    `value` is matched case-insensitively against `User.username`, `User.email`,
+    `User.first_name`, `User.last_name`, or `"first_name last_name"` (so the
+    display name shown in the UI works). Multiple users may match; we union
+    dandisets owned by any of them. Unknown user → empty result.
+    """
+    matched_user_pks = (
+        User.objects.annotate(_full_name=Concat('first_name', Value(' '), 'last_name'))
+        .filter(
+            Q(username__iexact=value)
+            | Q(email__iexact=value)
+            | Q(first_name__iexact=value)
+            | Q(last_name__iexact=value)
+            | Q(_full_name__iexact=value)
+        )
+        .values_list('pk', flat=True)
+    )
+    owned_pks = DandisetUserObjectPermission.objects.filter(
+        user__in=matched_user_pks, permission__codename='owner'
+    ).values('content_object')
+    return queryset.filter(pk__in=owned_pks)
+
+
 _MODIFIED_ALIAS = '_search_latest_version_modified'
 _PUBLISHED_ALIAS = '_search_latest_published_created'
 
@@ -157,8 +186,9 @@ def apply_search_filters(
     asset_qs = None
     annotated: set[str] = set()
 
-    for key, raw_value in parsed.operators:
-        value = raw_value.strip()
+    for op in parsed.operators:
+        key = op.key
+        value = op.value.strip()
         if not value:
             raise SearchSyntaxError(f'Operator "{key}" requires a value (e.g. {key}:something).')
 
@@ -174,6 +204,8 @@ def apply_search_filters(
             if asset_qs is None:
                 asset_qs = AssetSearch.objects.visible_to(user)
             asset_qs = _apply_asset_filter(asset_qs, key, value)
+        elif key in _OWNER_OPS:
+            queryset = _apply_owner_filter(queryset, value)
 
     if asset_qs is not None:
         # NOTE perf: jsonb_path_exists with a runtime-built jsonpath cannot
diff --git a/dandiapi/api/services/search/parser.py b/dandiapi/api/services/search/parser.py
index 817642341..c3b688222 100644
--- a/dandiapi/api/services/search/parser.py
+++ b/dandiapi/api/services/search/parser.py
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@
         'technique',
         'standard',
         'file_type',
+        'owner',
     }
 )
 
@@ -60,10 +61,18 @@ class SearchSyntaxError(ValueError):
     """Raised when a search query can't be parsed."""
 
 
+@dataclass
+class Operator:
+    """One parsed `key:value` operator."""
+
+    key: str
+    value: str
+
+
 @dataclass
 class ParsedSearch:
     free_text: list[str] = field(default_factory=list)
-    operators: list[tuple[str, str]] = field(default_factory=list)
+    operators: list[Operator] = field(default_factory=list)
 
 
 def _check_balanced_quotes(query: str) -> None:
@@ -99,7 +108,7 @@ def parse_search(query: str) -> ParsedSearch:
     for match in _TOKEN_RE.finditer(query):
         if (key := match.group('op_key')) is not None:
             _validate_operator_key(key)
-            parsed.operators.append((key, match.group('op_qval')))
+            parsed.operators.append(Operator(key, match.group('op_qval')))
         elif (free := match.group('free_quoted')) is not None:
             parsed.free_text.append(free)
         else:
@@ -107,7 +116,7 @@ def parse_search(query: str) -> ParsedSearch:
             if op_match := _BARE_OP_RE.match(bare):
                 key = op_match.group(1)
                 _validate_operator_key(key)
-                parsed.operators.append((key, op_match.group(2)))
+                parsed.operators.append(Operator(key, op_match.group(2)))
             else:
                 parsed.free_text.append(bare)
     return parsed
diff --git a/dandiapi/api/tests/test_dandiset.py b/dandiapi/api/tests/test_dandiset.py
index 712399fc3..871c1b062 100644
--- a/dandiapi/api/tests/test_dandiset.py
+++ b/dandiapi/api/tests/test_dandiset.py
@@ -2086,3 +2086,83 @@ def test_advanced_search_species_respects_embargo_visibility(api_client):
 
     # Anonymous request: embargoed must be filtered out.
     assert _search_ids(api_client, 'species:mouse') == {open_ds.identifier}
+
+
+# --- owner: operator -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+@pytest.mark.ai_generated
+@pytest.mark.django_db
+def test_advanced_search_owner_lookup_paths_and_combinations(api_client):
+    """One setup, many assertions for the owner: operator.
+
+    Resolves users by every documented lookup path, unions across multiple
+    matched users, returns 0 for unknown values, is case-insensitive, and
+    combines correctly with other operators (cross-key AND on the same
+    dandiset).
+    """
+    # Three users with overlapping last names so we can exercise every lookup
+    # path AND the multi-user union in a single setup.
+    alice = UserFactory.create(
+        username='Alice', email='Alice@Example.com', first_name='Alice', last_name='Smith'
+    )
+    bob = UserFactory.create(
+        username='bob', email='bob@example.com', first_name='Bob', last_name='Smith'
+    )
+    carol = UserFactory.create(
+        username='carol', email='carol@example.com', first_name='Carol', last_name='Jones'
+    )
+    alice_old = DandisetFactory.create(owners=[alice])
+    alice_new = DandisetFactory.create(owners=[alice])
+    bob_ds = DandisetFactory.create(owners=[bob])
+    carol_ds = DandisetFactory.create(owners=[carol])
+    for ds in (alice_old, alice_new, bob_ds, carol_ds):
+        DraftVersionFactory.create(dandiset=ds)
+
+    # Backdate alice_old so we can intersect with a date operator below.
+    cutoff = timezone.now() - datetime.timedelta(days=1)
+    Dandiset.objects.filter(pk=alice_old.pk).update(created=cutoff - datetime.timedelta(days=30))
+    after_str = (cutoff + datetime.timedelta(seconds=1)).date().isoformat()
+
+    alice_dsets = {alice_old.identifier, alice_new.identifier}
+
+    # username (case-insensitive)
+    assert _search_ids(api_client, 'owner:alice') == alice_dsets
+    assert _search_ids(api_client, 'owner:ALICE') == alice_dsets
+
+    # email (case-insensitive)
+    assert _search_ids(api_client, 'owner:alice@example.com') == alice_dsets
+    assert _search_ids(api_client, 'owner:ALICE@Example.com') == alice_dsets
+
+    # first / last / full name
+    assert _search_ids(api_client, 'owner:Bob') == {bob_ds.identifier}
+    assert _search_ids(api_client, 'owner:Jones') == {carol_ds.identifier}
+    assert _search_ids(api_client, 'owner:"Carol Jones"') == {carol_ds.identifier}
+
+    # union: shared last name returns dandisets from both users
+    assert _search_ids(api_client, 'owner:Smith') == alice_dsets | {bob_ds.identifier}
+
+    # unknown user → 0 results, not 400 (a valid 0-hit query)
+    assert _search_ids(api_client, 'owner:no_such_user_anywhere') == set()
+
+    # combines with other operators: cross-key AND on the same dandiset.
+    # Only alice_new satisfies BOTH owner:alice AND created_after.
+    assert _search_ids(api_client, f'owner:alice created_after:{after_str}') == {
+        alice_new.identifier
+    }
+
+
+@pytest.mark.ai_generated
+@pytest.mark.django_db
+def test_advanced_search_owner_does_not_inflate_to_superuser_archive(api_client):
+    # Guardian's get_objects_for_user(with_superuser=True) returns ALL objects
+    # for superusers — wrong semantics for owner: searches. We pass
+    # with_superuser=False so `owner:admin` returns only what admin
+    # explicitly owns, not the entire archive.
+    admin = UserFactory.create(username='admin', is_superuser=True)
+    other = UserFactory.create()
+    DraftVersionFactory.create(dandiset=DandisetFactory.create(owners=[other]))
+    admin_owned = DandisetFactory.create(owners=[admin])
+    DraftVersionFactory.create(dandiset=admin_owned)
+
+    assert _search_ids(api_client, 'owner:admin') == {admin_owned.identifier}
diff --git a/dandiapi/api/tests/test_search_parser.py b/dandiapi/api/tests/test_search_parser.py
index 2ab5b42f8..2498a0b20 100644
--- a/dandiapi/api/tests/test_search_parser.py
+++ b/dandiapi/api/tests/test_search_parser.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 import pytest
 
 from dandiapi.api.services.search.parser import (
+    Operator,
     SearchSyntaxError,
     parse_search,
 )
@@ -22,29 +23,32 @@
         (
             'species:mouse created_after:2024-01-01',
             [],
-            [('species', 'mouse'), ('created_after', '2024-01-01')],
+            [Operator('species', 'mouse'), Operator('created_after', '2024-01-01')],
         ),
         # Mixed
         (
             'place cells species:mouse created_after:2024-01-01 ca1',
             ['place', 'cells', 'ca1'],
-            [('species', 'mouse'), ('created_after', '2024-01-01')],
+            [Operator('species', 'mouse'), Operator('created_after', '2024-01-01')],
         ),
         # Quoted phrase as free text
         ('"place cells" hippocampus', ['place cells', 'hippocampus'], []),
         # Quoted operator value (multi-word)
-        ('technique:"patch clamp"', [], [('technique', 'patch clamp')]),
+        ('technique:"patch clamp"', [], [Operator('technique', 'patch clamp')]),
         # Repeated operator keeps every entry (AND'd downstream)
         (
             'species:mouse species:rat',
             [],
-            [('species', 'mouse'), ('species', 'rat')],
+            [Operator('species', 'mouse'), Operator('species', 'rat')],
         ),
         # Special characters preserved inside quoted operator value
-        ('species:"C57BL/6"', [], [('species', 'C57BL/6')]),
+        ('species:"C57BL/6"', [], [Operator('species', 'C57BL/6')]),
         # Quoted token that *looks* like an operator is treated as free text —
-        # this is the documented escape hatch for searching for a literal colon.
+        # documented escape hatch for searching for a literal colon.
         ('"foo:bar" hippocampus', ['foo:bar', 'hippocampus'], []),
+        # Owner operator
+        ('owner:jdoe', [], [Operator('owner', 'jdoe')]),
+        ('owner:user@example.com', [], [Operator('owner', 'user@example.com')]),
     ],
     ids=[
         'empty',
@@ -57,6 +61,8 @@
         'repeated-operator-key',
         'special-chars-in-quoted-value',
         'quoted-operator-like-token-is-free-text',
+        'owner-username',
+        'owner-email',
     ],
 )
 def test_parse_search(query, expected_free_text, expected_operators):
diff --git a/dandiapi/api/views/serializers.py b/dandiapi/api/views/serializers.py
index 0d64477c8..fb032a157 100644
--- a/dandiapi/api/views/serializers.py
+++ b/dandiapi/api/views/serializers.py
@@ -311,7 +311,9 @@ class DandisetQueryParameterSerializer(serializers.Serializer):
             'published_before, published_after (all take YYYY-MM-DD); '
             'species, approach, technique, standard (case-insensitive '
             'substring against the corresponding asset_metadata array); '
-            'file_type (nwb, image, text, video — or any MIME prefix). '
+            'file_type (nwb, image, text, video — or any MIME prefix); '
+            'owner (case-insensitive match against username, email, first '
+            'name, last name, or "first last"). '
             'Invalid syntax returns HTTP 400 with the offending token; '
             'unknown operators get a "Did you mean?" suggestion.'
         ),
diff --git a/web/src/components/DandisetSearchField.vue b/web/src/components/DandisetSearchField.vue
index 5b3b5a6db..30f6738dc 100644
--- a/web/src/components/DandisetSearchField.vue
+++ b/web/src/components/DandisetSearchField.vue
@@ -95,6 +95,7 @@ const operatorHelp = [
   { example: 'technique:"patch clamp"', description: 'Has assets using a measurement technique' },
   { example: 'standard:nwb', description: 'Has assets in a data standard' },
   { example: 'file_type:nwb', description: 'Has assets of a file type (nwb, image, text, video)' },
+  { example: 'owner:"Jane Doe"', description: 'Owned by a user (name, username, or email)' },
 ];
 
 function updateSearch(search: string) {