Dr Franziska Lessky is Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Education at Oxford and Assistant Professor at the University of Innsbruck.
She is also Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies Vienna (IHS), Adjunct Professor and Visiting Scholar at the Australian Centre for Student Equity and Success (ACSES), Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Research on Social Inequalities (CRIS) at Sciences Po, and Co-Convenor of the Bourdieu Study Group of the British Sociological Association (BSA).
Research interests
Student politics and higher education
I am currently working on an ESRC-funded project entitled ‘Does Higher Education Politicise Today’s Students?’. The research, led by Rachel Brooks, and conducted in collaboration with Rille Raaper and Tom Fryer, is tracking undergraduates at four UK universities over the course of their studies to examine the impact, if any, of higher education on their political knowledge, views and behaviour.
Equity and higher education
Over the last decated, I have been interested in access to, progression through and completion of higher education, with a particular focus on the experiences of university students from historically underrepresented groups. I have explored the everyday lives of First-in-Family students, examining how they combine work, study and other life domains. My current research in this area currently focuses on the intersection of students’ socio-economic and rural backgrounds.
Graduate outcomes and labour market transitions
Other recent work investigates intersectional effects of term-time employment, first-generation status and gender on graduate outcomes. As part of my ACSES Fellowship, I am investigating how graduate outcomes are measured in survey instruments across Australia, the UK and the EU. In addition, I critically investigate the multifaceted role of employment in students’ lives.
Careers in academia
Finally, I have conducted research on career pathways of early career researchers in academia. Together with colleagues from Austria, Germany, France and the US, I am exploring processes of identity crafting and becoming a researcher in the field of higher education studies. Furthermore, we are shedding light on women’s experiences in the neoliberal academy.
Photo credit: © Andreas Friedle