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 for 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
- 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
- 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
- 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:
- local or community wealth building
- cooperative, public and/or collective ownership
- the social economy
- questions of wealth
- trade union environmentalism
- just transition
- and decent work.
Teaching
Current teaching:
- Management Issues and Controversies (MGT5264, PGT)
- 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
Knowledge exchange and public speaking engagements:
2024
- Expert speaker in a public discussion event on the planned privatisation of Hamburg’s port, on invitation from DL 21 (Forum Demokratische Linke 21, Forum of the Democratic Left 21) and ver.di (Vereinte Dienstleistungsgewerkschaft, United Services Trade Union Germany): “Alternative: Remunicipalisation. On the return and importance of public ownership of critical infrastructure”. Hamburg, Germany (virtual).
- Guest on ‘The Common Weal Policy Podcast’ hosted by Common Weal Scotland: “The People’s Bank: Dr Franziska Paul on Public-Owned Banking”
- Workshop organiser: “Public banks, sustainable finance, and just transition: Scotland and the world”, University of Glasgow, UK.
- Guest lecturer, Department of Political Science, McMaster University: “Public ownership for sustainable futures: Insights from de-privatisations in Germany and the US”, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
2023
- Invited seminar speaker, RECOURSE seminar series, University of Gdansk: "The political economy of remunicipalisation: Public ownership and the post-neoliberal turn?.Gdansk, Poland.
- Guest on ‘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”.
- Invited speaker on a public lecture series jointly hosted by the University of Vienna and the Chamber of Labour and Employees Vienna: “Wem gehört…? Die Rückkehr der Eigentumsfrage aus globaler Perspektive” (Who owns…? The return of the ownership question from a global perspective). Vienna, Austria.
2022
- 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.
- Invited speaker at the Shifting Narratives conference hosted by University College London and University of Greenwich: “Nation Building and Local Government in Germany”.
2021
- Webinar co-host for the launch of the Public Futures database: “Mapping Remunicipalisation: Global Report and Database Launch”
