Ass.-Prof. Franziska Lessky, Ph.D.

  • Higher Education Research
Senior Fellow

RESEARCH FIELDS

  • Social Dimension in Higher Education
  • Educational Transitions and Pathways
  • Student Success, Equity and Graduate Employability
  • Student Engagement and Community Engagement in Higher Education
  • Precarity in Academia
Bild Franziska Lessky
  • Franziska Lessky is Assistant Professor at the University of Innsbruck. She is passionate about educational pathways into, through and out of university, as well as careers in the graduate labour market and academia. Her teaching focuses on qualitative and quantitative methodology and professionalization in higher education. Franziska is co-convenor of the Bourdieu Study Group of the British Sociological Association (BSA) and of the German Society for Higher Education Research (GfHf). Furthermore, she is an Early Career Researcher Board Member of Higher Education Quarterly (HEQU).

     

  • Find a complete list of publications here

    Geppert, Corinna, Lessky, Franziska, Keser Aschenberger, Filiz. 2024. Drawing on Student Voices to Enhance (Online) Teaching in Academic Continuing Education. Zeitschrift für Hochschulentwicklung, 19 (2), 41-62. https://doi.org/10.21240/zfhe/19-2/03

    Geppert, Corianna; Paulits, Attila; Campbell, David; Reisky, Florian; Lessky, Franziska (eds.). 2024. Die akademische Profession in Österreich. Eine Analyse der APIKS-Austria-Erhebung. Münster u.a.: Waxmann. http://dx.doi.org/10.31244/9783830996095

    Lessky, Franziska; Freudhofmayer, Sabine; Fellner, Magdalena; Resch, Katharina. 2024. Student civic engagement practices from an equity perspective – Case studies from Austrian universities. Stone, Cathy; O’Shea, Sarah (eds). Research Handbook on Student Engagement in Higher Education. Edward Edgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781035314294 (Open Access)

    Lessky, Franziska. 2024. Qualifikation und Karriere der Wissenschaft. In: Geppert, Corianna; Paulits, Attila; Campbell, David; Reisky, Florian; Lessky, Franziska (eds.): Die akademische Profession in Österreich. Eine Analyse der APIKS-Austria-Erhebung. Waxmann., pp. 133 - 149. https://doi.org/10.31244/9783830996095 (Open Access)

    Geppert, Corinna; Lessky, Franziska. 2023. Innovation and Student Equity in Higher Education. In: Carayannis, E., Grigoroudis, E., Campbell, D. & Katsikas, S. (eds.). The Elgar Companion to Digital Transformation, Artificial Intelligence and Innovation in the Economy, Society and Democracy. Cheltenham (UK): Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 329-347. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781839109362.00024

    Lessky, Franziska. 2023. Studium als Balanceakt. Lebensführung von erwerbstätigen First-in-Family Studierenden. Wiesbaden: Springer. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-658-40359-1

    Lessky, Franziska; Nairz, Erna; Wurzer, Marcus. 2022. Social selectivity and gender-segregation across fields of study: comparative evidence from Austria. International Journal of Comparative Sociology. https://doi.org/10.1177/00207152221099171

    Lessky, Franziska; Unger, Martin. 2022. Working long hours while studying: a higher risk for First-in-Family students and students of particular fields of study?. European Journal of Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/21568235.2022.2047084

    Lessky, Franziska; Geppert, Corinna; Campbell, David F. J.; Pausits, Attila. 2022. Die Situation von (Nachwuchs-)Wissenschafter:innen an österreichischen Hochschulen. Ergebnisse einer Sonderauswertung der APIKS-Austria-Befragung. Studie im Auftrag der Arbeiterkammer. Schriftenreihe Weiterbildung und lebensbegleitendes Lernen, Krems (Edition Donau-Universität Krems). https://doi.org/10.48341/g28b-x777

    Posch, Katharina; Thaler, Bianca; Lessky, Franziska. 2021. Einflussfaktoren auf Studienerfolg: Heterogene Effekte nach Studienfachgruppe? Zeitschrift für Hochschulentwicklung. 16 (4), 143–162. https://doi.org/10.3217/zfhe-16-04/08

    Lessky, Franziska; Nairz-Wirth, Erna; Feldmann, Klaus. 2021. Informational capital and the transition to university: First‐in‐family students' experiences in Austrian higher education. European Journal of Education. 56 (1), 27-40. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejed.12437

    Nairz-Wirth, Erna; O‘Shea, Sarah; Lessky, Franziska. 2021. Higher education access, participation and progression: Inequalities of opportunity. European Journal of Education. 56 (1), 3-8. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejed.12441

    Franziska does research in the following areas: university students’ experiences, graduate outcomes, employability and intersectionality, (gendered) pathways of early career scholars and job satisfaction in academia with colleagues from universities in the US (Texas Tech University), Australia (University of Newcastle, Curtin University, Charles Sturt University), Canada (University of Toronto), Germany (INCHER Kassel, University of Tuebingen) and Austria (University for Continuing Education Krems, Institute for Advanced Studies Vienna).

    2023 – 2024:      Empowering First-in-Family Students Transitioning into Graduate Employment (MpowerFiF) funded by the University of Innsbruck

    2022 – 2023:      Continuing Education and COVID-19 – Experiences of students, graduates and academics funded by the University for Continuing Education Krems

    2022 – 2023:      Job Satisfaction and Precarity in the Academic Profession, Secondary data analysis based on APIKS (project leader) funded by the Chamber of Labour Vienna

    2021 – 2022:      The Academic Profession in the Knowledge-Based Society (APIKS) Austria funded by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research

    2021 – 2022:      Steering Higher Education for Community Engagement (SHEFCE) funded by the EU (ERASMUS+)

    2021 – 2022:      International Examples of innovative Higher Education Concepts (IBIS) funded by the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research

    2017 – 2020:   Learning Hubs: Build Self-Directed Learners in Innovative Learning Environments funded by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research

    2018 – 2019:     Managing study and work – Exploring students’ experiences and analysing factors of study success (project leader), project partner: Higher Education Research at Institute of Advanced Studies (IHS) funded by the Vienna University of Economics and Business

    2016 – 2017:     Developing lifelong learners through Individualized Learning funded by the Chamber of Labour Vienna

    Awards

    • 2022: Stephan-Koren-Prize for excellent dissertations
    • 2020: Award for Outstanding Research Achievements (WU Vienna)
    • 2020: Award for Outstanding Research Achievements (WU Vienna)
    • 2016: Dr. Maria-Schaumayer-Award for Master’s Thesis (Austrian Federal Reserve Bank [OeNB])