Julia Derzsi graduated from the Faculty of History and Philosophy of the Babeş-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca with a BA in Philosophy (2001) and and a BA in History (2005). Afterwards, she completed the master's degree "Central European Medieval Studies" at the same faculty (2006). Between 2006 and 2009, she was a doctoral student at the "Lucian Blaga" University of Sibiu and defended her PhD thesis entitled "Crime and punishment. The functioning of criminal jurisdiction in the [Transylvanian] Saxon towns in the sixteenth century" (under the supervision of Prof. Paul Niedermaier) in 2012. In November 2013, she started working at the Institute of Social Sciences and Humanities Sibiu, in the History of Towns working group. She has published several studies and articles in specialized journals and collective volumes and participated in numerous national and international conferences. She is a member of the research team "Pro memoria Transylvaniae", a member of the Commission for the History of Romanian Towns, a member of the Transylvanian Museum Society, the secretary of the Association for Transylvanian Studies and was co-opted as a member of the Arbeitskreis für Siebenbürgische Landeskunde e.V. Heidelberg.