L-R: Paul Sparrow, Melanie Simms, Rachel Cohen

A group of researchers from the Sussex Department of Business and Management have launched the Future of Work Research Hub, a new centre for interdisciplinary research on work and employment drawing from its' members expertise in areas such as human resources, employment relations, the sociology of work and more.

An official launch event took place in April 2016 on the Sussex campus with three guest speakers:

• Melanie Simms, Professor of Work & Employment at the University of Leicester School of Management and Editor of the journal Work, Employment & Society
• Rachel Cohen, Senior Lecturer of Sociology at City University London
• Paul Sparrow, Professor of International Human Resource Management and Director of The Centre for Performance-Led HR at Lancaster University Management School.  

Melanie, Rachel and Paul shared their thoughts on what the Future of Work will look like, and which big research questions demand our attention. They each offered a compelling vision of the future of work in extremely engrossing presentations.

Guests at the launch included academics from across the University of Sussex, students from the MSc Human Resource Management and representatives from the Institute of Employment Studies, Roffey Park and the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). 

The Hub's Research Group Leader Dr Ödül Bozkurt commented:

"Our aim is for it to provide a platform for all of us interested in studies of work, employment and labour, as well as HRM, to get together, exchange ideas and develop collaborations.

"In the future  we will be meeting monthly in an open, informal fashion, to read and discuss our work-in-progress, as well as others' work we feel worthy of debate. The Hub is open to whatever else we feel like bringing to the table. With so much research expertise in Sussex we really feel such a forum is much needed."

The slides of the three presentations from the launch are now available on the Hub website.

Contact

• Follow the Future of Work Hub on Twitter
• To join the Future of Work mailing list, email Dr Ödül Bozkurt: O.Bozkurt@sussex.ac.uk

Forthcoming Future of Work Hub meetings

• 18 May 2016 Exploring Affective Responses in the Changing Context of Dirty Work w/ Natasha Slutskaya (Sussex Department of Business and Management)
• 22 June 2016 The psychologisation of employment relations? w/ Katie Bailey (Sussex Department of Business and Management)