She specializes in the history of ideas within the Byzantine and post-Byzantine world, particularly focusing on theological questions.

Kontouma then pursued studies in philosophy and oriental languages, eventually completing a thesis on the theology of John of Damascus under the supervision of Pierre Magnard.

[3] She has been teaching at the École pratique des hautes études (EPHE) since 1998, became a lecturer in 2012, and later became the dean of the section of religious sciences within the institution.

[7][8][9] In 2017, in collaboration with the French School at Athens, Xavier Bisaro, and Flora Kritikou, she organized a research project on the Byzantine chants of Candia (Venetian Crete),[10] an art form that is relatively unknown but characterized by a close connection between Latin and Greek traditions.

[11] Thus, alongside other scholars, she revisited the commonly accepted biography of John of Damascus, offering new interpretations of his life.