Franziska Lessky

Franziska Lessky is Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Education at the University of Oxford, and Assistant Professor at the University of Innsbruck. She is also a Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies Vienna and an Adjunct Professor at the Australian Centre for Student Equity and Success (ACSES). She serves as co-convenor of the Bourdieu Study Group of the British Sociological Association (BSA) and has been board member of the German-speaking Society for Research in Higher Education (GfHf). Her research focuses on student equity in higher education, educational transitions, graduate employability and careers in academia.

The project

Title: Gender Dimensions of the Academic Job Market – A comparative study of women’s pathways to professorship in the United States, France and Austria

"The research project illuminates gender-related inequalities of the academic profession. It sheds light on women ECR pathways to professorship, hidden inequalities along this journey, and their professional identity development processes, with a particular focus on the comparative contexts of the United States, France and Austria. These three countries present unique and contrasting higher education systems influenced by distinct cultural, economic, and institutional frameworks. The study applies this comparative approach to illuminate how country contexts shape the pathways of women ECR and their perceptions of becoming an academic. Specifically, the following research questions will be explored: (1) How do women ECR in the U.S., France and Austrian experience their pathways to professorship?; (2) How do women ECR develop their professional identities?; (3) How do the national contexts of the U.S., France and Austria shape women ECR pathways to professorship and identity development?; and (4) What factors enable/hinder women ECR along their way of obtaining a professorship? The study is underpinned by a qualitative methodology and examined in close collaboration with Prof Angela Greulich."

Hosting institution: Sciences Po - CRIS

Selective Bibliography

• Lessky, F., & Romito, M. (2025). First-Generation Students in the post-pandemic university: Centring students’ experiences in moving towards a more inclusive higher education. European Educational Research Journal, 24(6), 691–695.
• Lessky, F., & Dollinger, M. (2025). An international comparison of graduate outcome survey instruments: a critical reflection. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 1-22. 
• Lessky, F. (2025). Educational inequality and equitable transformation: Combining Bourdieu’s relational theory and the ‘conduct of everyday life’ concept to illuminate underrepresented students’ experiences and success in higher education. Österreichische Zeitschrift Für Soziologie, 50(1).
• Lessky, F., & Binder, D. (2025). Does Combining Work and Study ‘Pay Off’? Investigating Intersectional Effects of Term‐Time Employment, First‐Generation Status and Gender on Graduate Outcomes. Higher Education Quarterly, 1-13.
• Lessky, F. (2024). First-in-Family students’ roots and routes into higher education: Familial dynamics as drivers for breaking intergenerational cycles of educational attainment. European Educational Research Journal, Article 14749041241310058. Advance online publication.