Alexander Koller studied History and Classic and French Philology at the Ludwig-Maximilian-University of Munich. After obtaining his Master's degree in Latin Philology in 1989 he earned his doctorate in Early Modern History in 1993 with a dissertation on the mediation of the Peace of Vossem (1673).
In 1993 he entered the German Historical Institute of Rome as a scientific member in charge of Early Modern History. Between 1993 and 2018 he was the editor of the scientific journal of the Institute Quellen und Forschungen aus italienischen Archiven und Bibliotheken. Since 2018 he is responsible for the editing of the Online Publications of the DHI Rome (New Series). In 1999 he became Deputy Director of the institution. After finishing his habilitation treatise about the relations between the emperors and the popes between the Reformation and the Peace of Westphalia, he was awarded the Venia legendi in 2010 at the University of Vienna, and has regularly been teaching there since. In 2016 he was appointed Honorary Professor for Early Modern History of the University of Leipzig. In 2019 he was awarded the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art 1st Class (Österreichisches Ehrenkreuz für Wissenschaft und Kunst 1. Klasse).

Current Research Project
Imperial imitation of the papacy in the early modern period

Academic Teaching
University of Leipzig (since 2015)
University of Vienna (since 2010)
University of L'Aquila (2007/08 academic year)

Membership in academic commissions
- University of Madrid, Paris-Sorbonne, Pavia, Roma 3, Vienna (doctoral examinations)
- University of Innsbruck (Habilitation thesis)

Membership in advisory boards
- Centro per lo Studio di Roma
- La corte de Felipe IV – (Project of the Universidad Autónoma, Madrid)
- Bibliotheca Academiae Hungariae (Rome)
- Esperienza e formazione nell'ambasciatore europeo, secc. XIV–XIX (Project of the Università Roma Tre and the Université Paris IV Sorbonne)
- Studi di storia delle istituzioni ecclesiastiche (Viterbo, Edizioni Settecittà)

Supervision
Alexander Koller has supervised numerous publications and projects on behalf of the following institutions:
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
- École Française de Rome (Mélanges de l'École Française de Rome, Italie et Méditerranée)
- Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung (Austria)
- GAČR (Czech Science Foundation)
- Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften
- Österreichisches Historisches Institut Rom (Römische Historische Mitteilungen)
- Swiss National Science Foundation

Main research interests
International relations in the early modern period; The German Empire and the Italian territories from the 16th to the 18th centuries; The Papacy, the Roman Curia and their diplomatic system; Confessional conflicts