Franca Leitner's dissertation project deals with the representation of places, spaces and houses in Irish literature since the financial crisis of 2008, exploring the extent to which they process the cultural shock of the crisis in literature and convey a sense of homelessness. The work draws on theories in the field of spatial studies, hauntology and spectrality as well as precarity studies.

In addition to contemporary Irish literature and culture, her research interests include Irish literary traditions such as the Big House novel and cultural memory studies, particularly with regard to the Great Famine.

Franca Marie-Claire Leitner has been a research assistant and doctoral candidate at the Chair of English Literature and Cultural Studies (English Studies II) since October 2023.
She studied Psychology (B. Sc.) at the University of Düsseldorf and English and American Studies at the University of Freiburg im Breisgau with stays abroad at the University of Dundee and the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. In 2022, she completed her studies with a Master of Arts in British and North American Cultural Studies at the University of Freiburg and then worked for a year as a research assistant in the field of Irish Studies at the University of Würzburg (ISWÜ).

Franca Leitner offers seminars on various topics in the field of Irish literature and cultural studies with a focus on Irish literature of the 21st century.