• Arabic linguistics with a special focus on Arabic dialectology
• Popular culture and religion in the Middle East and North Africa
• History of Oriental Studies in Austria

• Born 20 September 1962 in Dornbirn (Austria)
• 1969 - 1981: school in Innsbruck
• 1981 - 1990: Enrolled in the programmes for Linguistics, Arabic and Turkish Studies at Innsbruck, Vienna, Tunis and Istanbul.
• November 1990: graduated as “Doctor der Philosophie” (PhD), University of Vienna
• 1991 – 2000: University assistant at the Institute of Oriental Studies, University of Vienna
• 2000: awarded venia docendi (“Habilitation”) for Arabic and Islamic Studies.
• 2000-2003: guest lecturer at the University of Innsbruck, teaching Arabic at the Institute for Languages and Cultures of the Middle East as well as Ancient Ethiopic and Koranic Sciences at the Faculty of Catholic Theology.
• 2003 – 2004: fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Jerusalem; collaboration in the project “Study of Palestinian Arabic Dialects”.
• 2004 and 2011: guest lecturer at the University of Cádiz, Spain.
• 2006: guest lecturer at the University of Uppsala, Sweden
• 2006: appointed full professor of Arabic Studies, University of Vienna, and working in that capacity ever since.
• 2004 - 2015: President of the  Association Internationale de Dialectologie Arabe (Paris)
• 2017: Elected as a corresponding Fellow of the Austrian Academy of Sciences
• April 2021: ERC Advanced Grant "What is Bedouin-type Arabic?" (2021-2026)

2016 - 2018: Deputy Director of Studies

2018 - 2022: Director of Studies (SPL 14)

• Co-editor of the journal Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes.
• Member of the editorial Board of  the Journal of Arabic Linguistics  (Wiesbaden)
• Member of the editorial Board of  the journal Folia Orientalia (Cracovia)
• Member of the editioral Board of the journal Romano - Arabica (Bucharest)
• Former member of the editorial Board of  the journal Estudios de Dialectología Norteafricana y Andalusí (Zaragoza)