Ronja Contzen studied cultural studies at Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg and Leipzig University. Since 2023, Ronja has been pursuing a doctorate at the History Department of Leipzig University under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Udo Grashoff on the topic of ‘Communication between squatters and the state in 1989/90’ with a focus on political and social upheavals. The dissertation is situated in comparative German-German contemporary and cultural history and combines perspectives from protest and movement research.

Ronja's subcultural engagement is evident in, among other things, the publication ‘Ronny macht rüber’ (Ronny Crosses Over), published in 2022 as a history of punk socialisation and experience report in the volume Punk as Fck – Die Szene aus FLINTA-Perspektive* (Punk as Fck – The Scene from a FLINTA Perspective) (Ventil Verlag). Parallel to the doctoral programme, a documentary film project on the German punk scene and digitalisation in the early 2000s (Generation Y Punk – Update einer Subkultur) is being developed, which will also be presented at the Punk Scholars Network 2025 conference in Leeds.

The academic work is also supported by membership in the German-French doctoral programme ‘Kulturtransfers’ and a doctoral scholarship from the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation.