N. Makuc is a historian and Italianist and a researcher at the Milko Kos Historical Institute of ZRC SAZU. Her work focuses on historiography, historical topography, collective identities, cultural history, and the history of emotions, with particular emphasis on early modern history and the Slovenian–Italian borderland. She has specialised in working with primary historical sources written in older forms of Italian. She received her PhD from the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, under the supervision of Acad. Prof. Dr. Peter Štih and Prof. Dr. Darja Mihelič.
N. Makuc researches themes related to historiography, collective identities, and historical topography, and has recently also focused on the history of emotions. She pays particular attention to early modern history and to Friuli and the former multilingual County of Gorizia. In the scholarly monograph Border Identities in the Early Modern Period: Venetian Friuli and the Habsburg County of Gorizia Mirrored in Contemporary Historiography (ed. Martin Pogačar; Berlin: Peter Lang, 2021), she examined early modern provincial consciousness in the Habsburg–Venetian borderland on the basis of numerous and diverse historiographical sources.
She has complemented her basic research with studies and applied work on the preservation and valorisation of Central European cultural heritage. For example, she was the coordinator for ZRC SAZU (as project partner) in the transnational EU project RESTAURA – Revitalizing Cultural Heritage through Public‑Private Partnership Schemes (Central Europe Programme, 1 July 2016–30 June 2019), which brought together ten project partners and various stakeholders from four Central European countries.
- Border Identities in the Early Modern Period : Venetian Friuli and the Habsburg County of Gorizia mirrored in contemporary historiography, Neva Makuc, 2021.
- Historična topografija Primorske (do leta 1500) : na podlagi gradiva Milka Kosa, Neva Makuc, 2022.
- Literature in the Provinces of Gorizia and Udine from the perspective of turbulent historical events = La letteratura slovena delle province di Gorizia e di Udine alla luce dei turbolenti eventi storici, Neva Makuc, 2022.
- Challenges facing research on the history of formerly unified historical territories in the light of Enlightenment historiography : a case from the corner of the Habsburg hereditary territories, Neva Makuc, 2022.
- Goriška deželna zavest in identitetne dinamike na habsburško-beneškem obmejnem prostoru v luči (samo)oznak šolajoče se mladine, Neva Makuc, 2020.
- Dante Alighieri e il suo supposto viaggio nel Friuli e nellʹalta Valle dellʹIsonzo, Neva Makuc, 2017.
- Revitalizacija stavb kulturne dediščine preko javno- zasebnega partnerstva : primer Občine Črnomelj, Neva Makuc, 2018.
- Istruzione scolastica e mobilità sociale nell’Austria Interna = Il contribût des scuelis a la mobilitât sociâl inte Austrie Interiôr, Neva Makuc, 2022.
- Novoveška družbena mobilnost v luči šolstva notranjeavstrijskih dežel, Neva Makuc, 2019.
- A furor de populo : upor v Furlaniji leta 1511 v luči sočasne historiografije. V: JERŠE, Sašo (ur.). Leukhup! : kmečko uporništvo v obdobju predmoderne : zgodovina, vzporednice, (re)prezentacije, Neva Makuc, 2017.
- Basic research of Slovene cultural past 2022-2027 (research programme • January 1, 2022 - December 31, 2027)
- Toponomastična dediščina Primorske (applied research project • July 1, 2018 - June 30, 2021)
- RESTAURA (INTERREG • July 1, 2016 - May 31, 2019)
- Social and identity mobility in the Slovenian territory between the late Middle Ages and the disintegration of the Habsburg Monarchy (fundamental research project • January 1, 2016 - December 31, 2018)
- THETRIS – THEmatic Transnational church Route development with the Involvement of local Society (international project • July 1, 2012 - December 31, 2014)
- The leading humanists in the Slovenian territory between the 16th and mid-19th centuries and their social and cultural environment (fundamental research project • July 1, 2011 - June 30, 2014)
- Rebellious Survival Strategies in Slovenian Territory (16th to 19th Century) (applied research project • July 1, 2011 - June 30, 2014)
- Basic research of Slovene cultural past 2015-2020 (research programme • January 1, 2015 - December 31, 2021)
- Slovenian Place Names in Time and Space (Historical Topography of Slovenia from the Middle Ages to the 19th Century) (fundamental research project • July 1, 2011 - June 30, 2014)
- Ervin Dolenc Award, granted by the Historical Association of Slovenia, for her scientific book debut on the historiography and mentality in the early modern-period Friuli and County of Gorizia, titled Historiografija in mentaliteta v novoveški Furlaniji in Goriški (Ljubljana: Založba ZRC, Milko Kos Historical Institute, 2011) (2012).
- SLORI Award, granted by the Slovenian Research Institute - SLORI (Trieste, Italy), for the PhD dissertation on Friulian historiography and Slovenian history, Furlanska historiografija in slovenska zgodovina (2012).