Short biography
Patricia Schafer is a Senior Fellow at Avenir Suisse. She studied economics at the University of Fribourg (CH) and the Università del Piemonte Orientale, and from 2019 worked as a research and teaching assistant at the University of Fribourg and UniDistance Suisse. Until 2026, she served as an independent municipal councilor in St. Ursen (FR), in charge of social affairs and finance. Prior to joining Avenir Suisse, she worked at the Parliamentary Services for the specialist committees.
Education
PhD in Political Science at the University of Fribourg with a cumulative thesis on several questions relating to the functioning of democracy (2024); Master’s degree in political economy at the University of Fribourg (2019) with an exchange semester at the Università del Piemonte Orientale (2018); Bachelor’s degree in political economy at the University of Fribourg (2017).
Professional Experience
Politics scholarship for the Parliamentary Services (2023–2024); Research assistant at the Chair of Theory of Financial and Economic Policy at the University of Fribourg (2019–2024); teaching assistant in the field of economic policy at UniDistance Suisse (2022–2024); part-time municipal councilor in St. Ursen/FR (2021–2026).