Dr Franziska Paul
- Lecturer in Political Economy (Management)
email:
Franziska.Paul@glasgow.ac.uk
Room 316, Adam Smith Business School, 2 Discovery Place, Glasgow, G11 6EY
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0206-6153Biography
Dr Franziska Paul is Lecturer in Political Economy. Franziska holds a PhD in Geography along with an MRes in Human Geography, both from the University of Glasgow, and an MA (Hons) in Geography-Sociology from the University of Aberdeen. Franziska’s research explores issues of ownership and transformation (social, economic, and ecological), with a specific interest in processes of de-privatisation and democratisation.
After completing her PhD on trade union movement building towards a new, radical labour environmentalism focussed on energy democracy, Franziska worked as a postdoctoral researcher on the ERC-funded Global Remunicipalisation project. Franziska’s postdoctoral work investigated the public ownership, de-privatisation, and democratisation of key services and infrastructures, including energy, waste, local government, transport, and banking in the US and Germany.
Franziska is involved with the Public Futures Database, a collaborative, knowledge exchange initiative and the first comprehensive collection of de-privatisation cases in the world. She is also an Associate on the Public Banking Project, led by Professor Thomas Marois at McMaster University, Canada, which aims to advance pro-public alternatives to finance green and just transitions.
At College level, Franziska is on the leadership team of the Political Economy Futures Forum (PEFF).
Research interests
Franziska is a member of the School's Entrepreneurship, Development and Political Economy research cluster and on the leadership team of the college-wide Political Economy Futures Forum (PEFF) Interdisciplinary Research Theme.
Areas of expertise:
- Critical political economy
- Public and collective ownership
- Economic democracy
- Local and regional wealth building
- Trade union environmentalism
Grants
- Norges Forskningsråd/ Research Council of Norway (£46,000 for Glasgow team; full award: £883,000): “Phasing in and phasing out: Reworking labour and energy transitions in the North Sea” (PHASE). Co-I (/PI Glasgow team). Project Lead: Dr Camilla Houeland at Fafo, Norway, 2024-2028
- New Interdisciplinary Research Theme, College of Social Sciences (£30,000): “Political Economy Futures Forum” (PEFF), Co-Lead/ IRT Leadership Team, 2024-2027
- International Partnership Development Fund (£4,710): “Establishing a Transnational Research Network on Public Banking”, PI, 2023-2024
- Glasgow Knowledge Exchange Flexible Fund (£12,600): “Building a Global Database on Remunicipalisation”, Co-I with Prof Andrew Cumbers, 2020-2021
Supervision
Franziska is interested in supervising doctoral research that relates to alternative economic approaches as well as research into contemporary labour issues.
Specific areas of interest include:
- Public, collective and/or cooperative ownership
- Economic democracy
- Local or regional wealth building, including community wealth building
- Trade union environmentalism and just transition
- Decent work
Teaching
2024-25
- Economic Crisis and Depressions (MGT4063, UG Hons)
- Entrepreneurship (MGT2014, UG)
Franziska also supervises dissertations at UG Hons (MGT4002P) and PGT level (BUS5045P/ BUS5046P).
Additional information
Guest speaking and lecturing
2024
- Invited speaker at Newcastle University, UK: "Movement building for alternative public financial institutions in the US". Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURDS).
- Guest lecturer at McMaster University, Canada: "Public ownership for sustainable futures: Insights from de-privatisations in Germany and the US". Department of Political Science.
2023
- Invited speaker at the University of Gdansk, Poland: "The political economy of remunicipalisation: Public ownership and the post-neoliberal turn?". RECOURSE seminar series, Department of Socio-Economic Geography.
- Invited speaker at the University of Vienna, Austria: "Wem gehört…? Die Rückkehr der Eigentumsfrage aus globaler Perspektive" (Who owns…? The return of the ownership question from a global perspective). Public lecture series jointly hosted by the University of Vienna and Arbeiterkammer Wien (Chamber of Labour and Employees).
2022
- Invited speaker at University College London and University of Greenwich, UK: "Nation Building and Local Government in Germany". Shifting Narratives conference.
Knowledge exchange (selection)
- Invited panel member at the German Consulate and University of Edinburgh, UK: "Deutschland-Schottland: Neue Partnerschaften für eine bessere Zukunft?" (Germany-Scotland: New partnerships for a better future?).
- Expert speaker for DL 21 (Forum of the Democratic Left 21) and ver.di (United Services Trade Union Germany): "The Alternative? Remunicipalisation! On the importance of the public ownership of critical infrastructure". Public discussion event in Hamburg, Germany (virtual contribution).
- Co-organiser of the "Public Futures – Global Remunicipalisation/ Deprivatisation Database Strategic Workshop", co-hosted with global union federation for public sector workers, Public Services International. Ferney-Voltaire, France.
- Webinar co-host of the global launch of the Public Futures database: "Mapping Remunicipalisation: Global Report and Database Launch"
Podcasts
- Podcast guest expert for Common Weal Scotland: "The People’s Bank: Dr Franziska Paul on Public-Owned Banking". Common Weal Policy Podcast.
- Podcast guest expert on the 'Co-Water Voice' podcast hosted by Dr Prathiwi Putri (University of Kassel): "Franziska Paul on the German trajectory of (neoliberal) governance, the locus of ‘local state’ and community movements".
