Profile
Franziska Paul
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About Me:
I live in Glasgow, Scotland, with my partner and our black cat. I work as a lecturer at the university, and am a keen beekeeper in my free time (we have two hives of honeybees in the garden). I also enjoy doing yoga 🧘♀️, playing Dungeons and Dragons 🧙, reading crime novels 🔪 and spending time in the forest🌲.
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My pronouns are:
She/her
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How I use Geography in my work:
My work involves (human) geography through the way I think about and make sense of the world. I research socio-spatial relations, which means the relationship between society and space, for example how and why people come together to demand change in particular places (cities, regions or neighbourhoods).
One example is my research into the public banking movement in Los Angeles, California, where people from different background are campaigning for more democratic approaches to banking and finance in order to change the way their city supports affordable housing and climate adaptation – which are important issues for local people.
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My Work:
I am a Lecturer in Political Economy at the University of Glasgow where I do social science research 🧐 and I also teach students 👩🏫.
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Being a social science researcher involves lots of things: 📖 reading about the topics I study, 🗺️ 🔍 choosing case studies and doing fieldwork, 💬 📋 conducting interviews and surveys.
I also write publications about what I have found out during my research 📚, and present this at conferences to other researchers 🎤. Sometimes I am invited to another university or on a podcasts to speak about my research as well.
As a lecturer at university, I also teach courses which includes: holding lectures (which is what lessons at university are called), setting assignments and exams, and marking them. I currently teach a course called ‘Democratising the Economy’ which explores how we could make our economic systems more fair and just ✌️ and better for the people and the planet 🌱.
I also have some other roles in the University, for example, I am the student mobility coordinator for my subject. I work with exchange students who come to the University for a semester or a year, to study abroad here. These students from from all over the world 🌎🌍🌏
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My Typical Day:
I am an evening/ night person so waking up in the morning is often hard for me 🥱 Once I am up, I really enjoy my morning coffee and I have it outside when it is not raining ☕️🌞 I work from home two days a week, and I am in university, or as we say ‘on campus’, three days a week.
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When I work on the university campus, I usually teach before lunch and have meetings in the afternoons. Some of the meetings are with students and others with colleagues to discuss new projects.
When I work at home I usually spend my days reading and writing.
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Education:
I grew up in Germany and went to school there. A few weeks after I turned 19 I moved to Scotland to study, first at the University of Aberdeen, and then at the University of Glasgow, where I now work – so in a way I never really left education!
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Qualifications:
I went to school in Germany, where I gained an ‘Abitur’, which is equivalent to A levels/ Advanced Highers. The German system is a bit different to the UK systems. In Germany, we study between 10 and 12 subjects until we graduate from high school but only have state-wide exams in 5 of these. While I took Geography throughout my time at school, I did not write my final German state exam on Geography. Instead, my exam subjects were: German, English, Maths, Sport Science, and History.
I moved to Scotland for my undergraduate degree, which I did in Geography-Sociology (Joint Honours) at the University of Aberdeen. I really enjoyed Geography, and particularly Human Geography, so I decided to keep studying. Because I had done well in my undergraduate degree I got a scholarship for my Masters degree. I chose to study a Masters of Research in Human Geography at the University of Glasgow. During the Masters degree I decided that I wanted to be a researcher. I applied for funding to do a PhD (a philosophical doctorate), and I got a studentship which covered the university fees as well as a monthly stipend (which is a bit like getting paid to study!). I then studied for a PhD in Geography for four years, also at the University of Glasgow.
I have since also gained a teaching qualification (a postgraduate certificate in Academic Practice) as part of my work as a lecturer.
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Work History:
I had a lot of part-time jobs as a pupil and student: as a nanny, delivering newspapers, waitressing in beer gardens (in the summer), and being a sports trainer for trampolining (which I also did as a sport!).
When I moved to Scotland I was in full time education so I had restrictions on how much I could work. I continued to work in the service industry as a waitress and bartender in my summer breaks. During my Masters and PhD I became a widening participation tutor. For this work I visited high schools across the west of Scotland to teach skills for further and higher education. I really enjoyed this work and it has helped me become a lecturer!
After my PhD I was a postdoctoral researcher (meaning a researcher with a PhD) and I worked on big, international research projects for which I did fieldwork and research in Germany, the UK, and the US.
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Current Job:
Lecturer in Political Economy
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Employer:
University of Glasgow
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My Interview
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What did you want to be after you left school?
I didn't know - which is why I decided to study something I was interested in (Geography and Sociology)
Were you ever in trouble at school?
Not in serious trouble but I had to see the headmaster once because me and a few friends went into the school basement to explore (the door had been left open) and we got accidentally shut in and only found when we did not turn up to the next lesson.
What's your favourite food?
Pizza! I could eat pizza everyday.
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