Marlen Wendland studied Spanish and Educational Science in Osnabrück and Mexico City, as well as Educational Science with a focus on Intercultural Communication and Education and Education in Early Childhood at the University of Cologne. During her studies, she gained practical experience in a bilingual day care centre for children, and organized training sessions on multilingualism and language diagnostics. As part of her master's thesis, she conducted research in the field of the formation of friendships, in studies at two Colombian universities.
At the Mercator Institute, Marlen Wendland has been working as a research assistant in the joint state and federal initiative Education through Language and Writing (BiSS) since 2017. Since 2020, she has been working in the initiative Transfer of Language Education, Reading and Writing Support (BiSS-Transfer) in the field of conception, development, revision, and implementation of blended learning training.