Events
The Work and Equalities Institute runs a wide variety of different events and activities, and collaborates with a range of stakeholders.
Fairness reimagined: Multidisciplinary perspectives about work
Date: 21 - 22 January 2025
Speakers: Professor Karen Niven, Professor Richard Hyman and Dr Rebecca Gumbrell-McCormick, Professor Gary Younge
Venue: Alliance Manchester Business School, The University of Manchester
Overview
The conference aimed to bring together academics and practitioners to discuss how questions of fairness and equality are being reimagined to humanise and improve work in what remains a socially, politically and economically challenging landscape.
Fairness and equality are urgent matters in the changing context of work and are central to achieving growth, development and social justice. Against this backdrop, multidisciplinary dialogue between diverse actors and projects is essential to identify sustainable directions and discuss the challenges of articulating an inclusive and transformational language of fairness that is sustained by concrete initiatives, commitments and accountabilities to create a credible roadmap for positive, transformational change.
The conference looked to contribute to our understanding of these challenges, exploring and showcasing how workers, organisations, unions, regulatory actors and others are engaging with contested ideas about fairness and using windows of opportunity to mobilise views, approaches and action.
Programme and session updates
Day 1: Tuesday, 21 January 2025
- 9.45am: Keynote Address
“Tolerating Evil: The Role of Bystanders in Workplace Bullying”
By: Professor Karen Niven (Sheffield University Management School)
Explore the 'darker' side of workplace relationships, focusing on bullying and aggression. - 4pm: Launch of Work-Net International
A global network of 31 research centres on work and employment will officially launch with:- Panel Discussions: The importance of interdisciplinary and comparative research.
- 5.30pm: Formal launch by Professor Jill Rubery, Professor Duncan Ivison, and a senior ILO officer.
- 6pm: Drinks reception and combined conference dinner.
Day 2: Wednesday, 22 January 2025
- 10.45am: Plenary on Social and Political Change in Work and Regulation
Part 1:- Professor Richard Hyman (LSE) & Dr Rebecca Gumbrell-McCormick (Birkbeck)
Topic: The evolving agendas of the European Trade Union Confederation. - Professor Damian Grimshaw (King’s College London) & Andrea Marinucci (ILO)
Topic: Insights from the latest ILO Flagship Report on collective bargaining. - Watch the video
- Professor Richard Hyman (LSE) & Dr Rebecca Gumbrell-McCormick (Birkbeck)
- 4pm: Closing Keynote Address
“Equal Opportunities, Not Photo Opportunities”
By: Professor Gary Younge (University of Manchester)
Dive into the role of diversity and representation as routes toward institutional change and equality.
For full sessions, rooms and timings, please read the conference schedule.
Please also read the Book of Abstracts.
If you have any questions, please contact fairwrc@manchester.ac.uk.
Researching equality at work and in society in a hostile political context
On Wednesday, 16 July, we held a workshop on ‘Researching equality at work and in society in a hostile political context’. This workshop discussed and reflected on the challenges faced by academics and researchers working on equality, inclusion and social justice in “hostile” contexts, namely those increasingly characterised by a systematic attack to freedom of research and expression. This specific event was based on a roundtable discussion after short presentations considering the implications of current US politics and policies on the individual experiences of scholars, as well as for academic research more generally. It also reflected on the emerging outcomes in terms of social inclusion and social justice.
This event was organised by the Work and Equality Institute (WEI) in collaboration with the Centre on the Dynamics of Ethnicity (CoDE). Stefania Marino organised this event in which we were pleased to host Shamus Rahman Khan, Willard Thorp Professor of Sociology and American Studies, Department of Sociology, Princeton University and Nelarine Cornelius, Professor of Organisation Studies and Associate Dean for Academic Staff Development in the School of Business and Management, to present at this workshop.
How to Create a Good Food Revolution
On Wednesday, 25 June, WEI along with MIOIR and SCI hosted the event ‘How to Create a Good Food Revolution’, a talk and panel discussion exploring how public food policies can promote social justice, public health and ecological integrity. We were pleased to welcome Professor Kevin Morgan (Cardiff University), a leading voice on sustainable food systems, who drew on insights from his latest book Serving the Public: The Good Food Revolution in Schools, Hospitals and Prisons (Manchester University Press).
Following his lecture, Professor Morgan was joined by a panel of experts for an interactive discussion and Q&A:
- Professor Julie Froud, Alliance Manchester Business School (moderator)
- Adrian Morley, Manchester Metropolitan University
- Jemma Hynes, Strategic Director, Fork
- Lisa Dale-Clough, Greater Manchester Combined Authority
De-Mystifying Impact: What is it, who’s doing it, and how do we capture it?
Speakers: Hannah Clarke, Callum Wood, Joanne Summers, Julie Froud, Kiefer Lambert
Date: Wednesday, 2 April 2025
Abstract
Alongside publications and grant capture, researchers are increasingly expected to demonstrate the real-world applications and ‘impact’ of their findings within organisations, policy making processes and wider society. In REF 2021, impact case studies contributed 25% to the overall assessment (up from 20% in 2014), and a strong performance on impact can improve an institution’s overall ranking. However, defining and measuring impact remains challenging, and many researchers who are not involved in REF impact case studies may be unsure about how to build their impact activities and profile.
About the presentations
This was an internal event for WEI staff and students. The video recording of the event is available below for internal WEI staff and students only.
WEI-IMISCOE Online Collaborative Workshop
On Friday, 28 March, we hosted an online collaborative workshop with IMISCOE which was well attended with over 30 participants. The title of the workshop was “The silence around “race” in the discourse of equality and inclusion in the labour market”.
This workshop was organised and hosted by Stefania Marino (WEI and IILME-IMISCOE) and included presentations from: Patrick Simon, French Institute for Demographic Studies (INED); Tamara Lee, Rutgers University; Paula Mulinari, Malmö University; Heather Connolly, Grenoble Ecole de Management, Stefania Marino, Miguel Martinez Lucio and Holly Smith, WEI; and Emmanuel Ogbonna, Cardiff Business School. The final discussants were Marcel Maussen, University of Amsterdam and Jenny Rodriguez, WEI.
Workshop: The Politics of Unpaid Labour
Speaker: Valeria Pulignano, Principal Investigator of the ResPecTM
Discussants: Sarah Murphy (Greater Manchester Law Centre), Jonathan Davies (University of Manchester), Stephen Craig (UNITE the Union), and Ceri Hughes (AMBS)
Abstract
On Thursday 21st November, we held a workshop with Valeria Pulignano which began with a presentation by Valeria on her book The Politics of Unpaid Labour: How the Study of Unpaid Labour Can Help Address Inequality in Precarious Work. This was followed by a discussion on the implications of unpaid labour in Greater Manchester, including a short presentation from the Decent Work and the City project and a practitioner roundtable discussion. The event concluded with Valeria sharing her final reflections on potential policy responses to unpaid labour, followed by an open Q&A exploring the discussion's implications for Greater Manchester, and insights from Valeria's book.
Workshop: Value of the Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC)
On 30 October, the Decent Work and the City project hosted a practitioner workshop on the value of the Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) sector, in collaboration with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority's School Readiness project.
The event began with a panel of experts: Professor Julie Froud discussed the importance of reframing value arguments at a local level, focusing on liveability instead of productivity; Dr. Jerome De Henau presented an economic model highlighting the benefits of universal childcare in Greater Manchester; and Dr. Rusty Weaver shared insights from the Buffalo Co Lab’s efforts to increase funding for the ECEC sector. Following the presentations, practitioners from across Greater Manchester, including trade union members, policy experts, researchers, school readiness leads, educators, employers, and representatives from campaigning and voluntary sectors, collaborated in workshops to develop value propositions. These will inform the future work of both the Decent Work and the City project and Greater Manchester’s strategic initiatives. Special thanks were given to Ceri Hughes, Mat Johnson, Angel Martin Caballero, and Eva Herman for facilitating the discussions.
The value of human labour
This session presented an interdisciplinary discussion of critical issues confronting human labour under Covid-19.
The Covid-19 pandemic is having a profound impact on work and working lives. This has ignited an important debate on the value of human labour, which has increased awareness of the criticality of a wide range of jobs, many of which have been traditionally undervalued, both politically and socially.
The UK government’s definition of ‘key workers’ amount to 7.1 million adults, many of which are underpaid, working in insecure jobs and operating in public-facing roles. Among key workers, Black, Asian, and working-class groups make up a disproportionately large share, leaving them far more exposed to infection. Additionally, sectors dominated by female workers, such as retail and hospitality, have been hit hard by variations of lockdown, placing them at increased risk of both job loss and furlough. Uncertainty surrounding schooling and childcare provision adds an extra burden.
Speakers included:
Francesca Gains: Professor of Public Policy, Academic Co-Director of Policy@Manchester and member of the Greater Manchester Women and Girls’ Equality Panel.
Martí López-Andreu: Senior Lecturer in HRM and Employment Relations, Newcastle University, and an associate member of the Work and Equalities Institute.
Cristina Inversi: Research Fellow in Labour Law at Università Statale di Milano and a member of the Work and Equalities Institute Institute.
Tony Dundon: Professor of HRM and Employment Relations at Kemmy Business School, University of Limerick, and Visiting Professor at the Work and Equalities Institute.
Sheena Johnson: Professor of Work Psychology and Wellbeing at the University of Manchester. She heads up the Fair Treatment at Work theme in the Work and Equalities Institute, and the Social Change and Ageing theme in the Thomas Ashton Institute, University of Manchester.
View presentation slides
- Gender, growth and devolution: Francesca Gains.
- Bogus self-employment and Covid-19: Martí López-Andreu.
- #HereToDeliver: Tony Dundon and Cristina Inversi.
The value of human labour 2
The second session continued the interdisciplinary discussion of critical issues confronting human labour under Covid-19.
Abbie Winton: final year doctoral researcher at the Work and Equalities Institute. Her research explores retail work and sociotechnical change, with a current focus on the crisis and the shaping impact this could have on the future of work within the sector.
Debra Howcroft: Professor of Technology and Organisation at the Work and Equalities Institute and Editor of New Technology, Work and Employment.
Jill Rubery: Professor of Comparative Employment Systems and Director of the Work and Equalities Institute.
Jo McBride: Professor at the University of Durham.
Miguel Martinez Lucio: Professor at the Work & Equalities Institute and Editor of New Technology, Work and Employment.
Anthony Rafferty: Professor of Employment Studies at the University of Manchester and a Deputy Director of the Work and Equalities Institute (WEI).
Stefania Marino: Senior Lecturer in Employment Studies at the University of Manchester.
View presentation slides
- Conflicting Covid narratives: Abbie Winton and Debra Howcroft
- COVID-19 and the importance of migrant labour in the UK: Stefania Marino, Anthony Rafferty and Miguel Martinez Lucio