From 1988 he studied archive science and history at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and the Sapienza University of Rome.
In 1995, he received his doctorate in Berlin with a dissertation suggested by Eckhard Müller-Mertens [de] and supervised by Michael Borgolte on the integration of the Reich and the practice of rule under Kaiser, Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor.
In his dissertation, Alvermann used the methods of itinerary analysis of Müller-Mertens' "Reichtsstruktur und Herrschaftspraxis Otto II".
The two southern German duchies Bavaria and Swabia remained also under Otto II's far zones of the royal rule.
Otto II visited the "political central areas" in the north, especially during the high church festivals.