A major research report “What Makes For Decent Work? A Study With Low Paid Workers in Scotland”, by Oxfam Scotland in partnership with the University of the West of Scotland and with the support of Sally Wright from IER, will be launched on 7 September. The event will be hosted by Ivan McKee, MSP for Glasgow Provan.
Amid growing concern about in-work poverty research has been undertaken with more than 1,500 low-paid workers in Scotland to understand their views on what makes for decent work. Building on the initial findings What makes for decent work? A Study with low paid workers in Scotland (Initial Findings) published in March, the report will set out detailed findings, assess how Scotland’s labour market is performing against the priorities identified by low paid workers, and make a number of recommendations for policymakers and employers. For more information on the event please click here.
IER at the upcoming WES Conference
Look out for a number of IER researchers who will be presenting at the upcoming Work, Employment & Society (WES) conference 2016, which will be hosted by the University of Leeds from 6-8 September. The thematic focus of the 2016 conference is 'Work in Crisis'. A range of IER work will be presented at the conference on new forms of work, the ageing workforce, gender, employer engagement and graduate career development. There will presentations from:
Beate Baldauf, Prolonging working life through ICT: The role of crowdsourcing
Erika Kispeter, The economic crisis and women’s part-time work: A case study from a Hungarian city
Daria Luchinskaya, It’s not already laid out for you in a small company: Graduates’ experiences of career development in small and large businesses
Michael Orton, Employer engagement with employment and skills initiatives: A path to greater labour market inclusion or deeper inequalities (special session)
Chris Warhurst, Uberisation: the death of employment and the death of work
Chris Warhurst, It’s me (and you) wot dun it: The global financial crisis and developing a more effective nexus between researchers and policy makers
For information on these presentations and the associated research, please get in touch.
From the Brexit confusion, some research clarity emerges
The UK Government announced this week that it will continue to support UK universities’ current and future research for the EU. David Gauke MP, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, stated that ‘universities should continue to bid for competitive EU funds while we remain a member of the EU and we will work with the Commission to ensure payment when funds are awarded … even when specific projects continue beyond the UK’s departure from the EU.’ This announcement is important. Given that the UK Government has also signalled that it may take up to six years for the UK to depart the EU, it creates stability and certainty for IER and its research partners as we work collaboratively on new funding bids to the EU and its agencies.
Upcoming symposium - Anxiety and work in the accelerated academy
Milena Kremakova is organising a symposium on Anxiety and Work in the Accelerated Academy in collaboration with Mark Carrigan, the other founding editor of The Sociological Imagination. The symposium brings together international and UK-based scholars who study science, higher education and academia around a particular aspect of neoliberal academia, namely its anxiety-inducing environment - not as an object in itself, but as a symptom of what Ros Gill called “the hidden injuries of neoliberal academia”. We will discuss what is happening to the work, careers, lives, identities and epistemic communities of scientists, and debate the need for, and potential directions of, meaningful change.
The event will take place on 23 September at the University of Warwick. Registration is free and academics, students and administrators interested in the topic are all welcome to join the symposium and participate in the round table discussions. More information about the event and how to register is available.
Why in-work progression matters when it comes to tackling poverty
Purcell, K. and C. Tzanakou (2016) ‘Life after Higher education: the diversity of opportunities and obstacles in a changing graduate labour market’, in J. Cote and A. Furlong (eds) Handbook of the Sociology of Higher Education. London: Routledge.
New projects
Update on employment projections, Engineering UK
For information on any of IER's publications, research or other activities, please get in touch.
A major research report “What Makes For Decent Work? A Study With Low Paid Workers in Scotland”, by Oxfam Scotland in partnership with the University of the West of Scotland and with the support of 
