Prof. Dr. Alena Witzlack-Makarevich received her doctorate from the University of Leipzig in 2011 and subsequently carried out research at the University of Zurich, the University of Kiel, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem before joining the University of Bremen in October 2025. In her research, she records, describes, and explains linguistic diversity and is interested in variation in the languages of the world and approaches to explaining it.

In addition, she investigates various phenomena in the field of morphosyntax, i.e., the connection between word structure and sentence structure. Her research focuses on the combination of large-scale typological studies of hundreds of languages with investigations of phenomena within individual language families (microtypology) and detailed studies of individual languages. For over 20 years, Witzlack-Makarevich has also been involved in documenting endangered languages and language description. She has worked on six languages from three language families in Africa and conducted numerous field studies to collect primary data on the Khoisan languages Khoekhoe (Khoe-Kwadi, Namibia), N?ng (Tuu, South Africa), and Ruuli (Bantu, Uganda).

Witzlack-Makarevich and her cooperating partners at Makerere University (Uganda) are currently working on documenting and describing two previously unexplored and highly endangered languages spoken on the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. They are investigating language contact, language shift, and patterns of multilingualism among speakers of these languages. Beyond her academic publications, Professor Witzlack-Makarevich contributes to the development of electronic and educational resources for these resource-poor languages.