6 minute read
Wants to create a better future
Text: Karin Frejrud Photo: Johan Wingborg
Honing research projects, finding the right target group and having as big an impact on society as possible. This is something with which Marcial Franze and his colleagues can help the university’s researchers and students. He is an innovation advisor at the Grants and Innovation Office. – We are good at asking the right questions and at questioning old ways of solving problems, he says.
THE EPITOME OF a citizen of the world may sound like a cliché – but it actually suits Marcial Franze pretty well. Not only did he move 12 times to different places in Germany and Belgium while growing up, but since then he has also lived in the USA, Argentina, Switzerland and Qatar. – I feel like a European citizen, not a German one, he says. My philosophy of life is based on the fact that we all belong together, we are first and foremost human beings – nationality is not that important. And our own well-being depends on the well-being of everyone.
Marcial Franze adheres to this philosophy in his working life as well as in his private life. And that was also one of the reasons why the job as an innovation advisor at the University of Gothenburg appealed to him. – My hope is that the job will be part of contributing to a society that feels better both ecologically and socially, is happier and is based more on love than competition.
He has been at the Grants and Innovation Office for almost two and a half years now, which is located a stone’s throw away from Vasaplatsen. Marcial Franze talks enthusiastically and captivatingly about his job; in almost flawless Swedish. – I like talking to people in their mother tongue, he says. So I really make an effort to learn.
A total of 10 innovation advisors work in the office, where everyone at the University of Gothenburg is welcome, researchers and students alike. – We would like you to bring your research project to us at an early stage. Then we can help identify which path to choose, based on the impact you want to have and the target group you want to reach. It can save both time and money.
HE TALKS ABOUT a current project where he and his colleagues helped a research team launch a tool for estimating greenhouse gas emissions, both for companies and individuals. – We helped the team to direct their attention away from solely engineering considerations, that is, to optimize the product, to also think about finding a market and the right partner. It turned out very well and they have attracted major customers, including a number of municipalities and universities.
A major challenge with the job is that innovation advisors have to deal with a host of subjects from across the entire university. This means that in the space of a single day, Marcial Franze can work with projects from four different disciplines, each with its own language, its own culture and its own way of doing things. He admits that it can be a little overwhelming sometimes. – And very intellectually demanding. Like trying to maximise your knowledge on steroids. – We cannot be experts in everything, but we must have the ability to dive into a new field of research and quickly understand what it is about. I like that aspect of the job very much.
But it was not just the job that attracted him to Gothenburg. – No, my wife and I longed for the humidity, the greenery, the rain and the cold. I’m not joking!
After over five years in Qatar, the couple were starved of the Nordic climate. Although it did not turn out quite as they had hoped. The summer of 2018 was the warmest and driest in living memory. When the couple arrived in Gothenburg in May, the city, together with Oslo, had the highest temperature in all of Europe. – It was like a joke. For five and a half years in Qatar, I had never been sunburned, but after a week here, my face was as red as a beetroot.
However, the humidity, greenery and cold eventually arrived. Now Marcial Franze has really settled in. For some time, he and his wife have been living in a collective in Örgryte. They grow vegetables, keep bees, eat mainly vegan food and live an active life as close to nature as they can. Participating in and contributing to the transition to a more sustainable society is important for Marcial Franze. – I want to actively contribute to a good future, I can’t just sit here and wait. – In many ways, we are locked into unsustainable behaviours and an unsustainable economy and we must all help break out of that.
AS AN EXAMPLE, Marcial Franze raises the issue of German and Swedish arms exports. A topic he thinks there is alarmingly little discussion about in Sweden. – It pains me, the fact that our welfare is largely due to the export of weapons that kill other people. War is also the most unsustainable activity there is for ecosystems and human well-being.
As committed as he is to his work, he is equally committed to living in accordance with his values and to working for change as much as he can. Therefore, the summer months are particularly hectic. In addition to beekeeping, the cultivation of mainly perennial plants and various building projects at the collective, Marcial Franze also manages a number of other allotments in various places in Gothenburg together with other Gothenburgers. – We must deal with the food production chain if we are going to be able to live sustainably. The principal production must come from the local area where we live, and be cultivated in a way that promotes biodiversity, he says.
MARCIAL FRANZE
Marcial Franze
Age: 38 years. Family: Married. Lives in: In a lovely, green, multi-generational, collective in Örgryte. Job title: Innovation Advisor at the University of Gothenburg. Background: Previously worked as a startup coach, consultant and entrepreneur in different sectors in different countries. Is trained in communication design with a focus on information design and perception psychology.
Comes from:
Germany. Hobbies: “Our summers are full of various sustainabilityrelated activities. We are members of Omställningsnätverket, we have an allotment and are beekeepers. In addition, I like climbing, cycling, hiking and doing Acroyoga”.
Where? who? when? • Department of
Languages & Literatures • Linda Flores Ohlson • September 14, 2020
Short description
Should I activate the webcam or not?
A good lecturer does not teach a lesson as if their students were mannequins in a store. A good lecturer does not talk to their students but with them. A good lecturer relies on non-verbal feedback from their students, eye contact and facial expressions. A good lecturer constantly scans the faces of their
Photo: JOHAN WINGBORG
students for signs that they understand, that they are interested and enthusiastic. Lecturing in front of a computer screen full of dark boxes, which represent students who have not activated their cameras, is like lecturing in a cemetery. Good lecturers chose not to become priests because they do not want to bury the dead but educate the living.
