How would you describe the collaborative aspect of your student/supervisor relationship?
Federica: Lara is an enthusiastic young scholar that I have had the pleasure to supervise now for two years. From early discussions on designing her DPhil project on climate change litigation to the development of a joint paper on climate litigation effects on markets, Lara has shown remarkable independence paired with an eagerness to engage with critical feedback on the issues she cares most about. I am proud of Lara’s team player skills, which have not gone unnoticed in the Department. I am also proud of how she follows her academic passions, including her leadership in the DPIR Women’s Network, an initiative she helped creating to support female peers.
Lara: I would describe our supervision relationship as both supportive and challenging. Supportive because I know that Federica supports my research ideas and goals - also in joint projects, and challenging because she makes sure I don’t settle for the easy way. I am proud that we have started a joint project (with Susanna, one of Federica‘s post-docs) where I can further explore the impact of courts but can learn from Federica‘s expertise in terms of methods, data and framing.
What impact does your student–supervisor collaboration have on your academic voice as a scholar or researcher?
Federica: Working with Lara reminds me of the value of clarity and precision in framing one’s research contributions in the otherwise old field of comparative politics. More personally, our collaboration constantly prompts me to remember the importance of listening to emerging voices in our field. Our exchanges sharpen my own thinking around climate politics (as I am way less knowledgeable than she is about courts!).
Lara: Having Federica as a supervisor has definitely made her an important role model for me. I value that while she, of course, fulfills all formal requirements of how to be a professional scholar, she still keeps a personal style of how she conducts herself in interactions or when giving presentations. For me these are important lessons, especially as a young woman in the field, of how to be confident and authentic.
In what ways do you co create knowledge, ideas, or innovations?
Federica: Lara and I have recently started working on a project together, and I see this collaboration as a good playing field for me to learn substantively about climate litigation from her, and for her to learn strategically about the profession from me. Lara has the excellent quality of not holding back questions or challenges to our common ideas, and I hope the collaboration will remain this way.
Lara: We are driven by a very similar curiosity regarding the drivers and hurdles towards achieving the green transition and controlling the effects of climate change. Hence, we often agree on ideas which we both find important but Federica helps me with her wide knowledge of the literature to find angles which will fit well into the current stream of comparative politics research.
What have you learned from each other through working together?
Federica: Supervising Lara reminds me that as a mentor I need to be proactive and encouraging, especially towards female DPhil students. I hope my experience supports her in navigating academic and professional spaces with confidence and strategic vision.
Lara: I have learned from Federica that you can be successful (and recognise your own successes) while at the same time always sharing the spotlight with other people. I really appreciate how she never fails to mention the other (junior) scholars who have worked on projects with her and finds genuine compliments about their contributions. While academia sometimes can feel like an elbow race, it’s great to have a mentor who encourages collaboration.
Looking to the future - what are you excited to explore, or achieve next — together or individually?
Federica: I am excited to see Lara continue to strengthen her research agenda on climate litigation and public opinion, developing this work for publication and even non-academic audiences. I’m also excited about the community-building she’s fostering and look forward to supporting her as she explores new research collaborations, presentations, and opportunities in academia and beyond.
Lara: I am really looking forward to the knowledge output from Federica‘s big project on climate vulnerability. Having worked for parts of it as a RA, I can only gauge the data collection effort that went into it. I hope the results will generate attention and potential solutions to the issue of climate change in academia and beyond in times when this topic is often overlooked.
In the everyday, I am looking forward to keep being referred to as „the climate people“ - together with Federica‘s fabulous group of postdocs and her other PhD students - in the department ;)
Find out more about Federica Genovese and Lara Hankeln.