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As part of the ESRC Festival of Social Sciences, a panel of experts, including IER’s Prof Gill Dix, Dr Emily Erickson, Prof Trine Pernille Larsen and Dr Katharina Sarter, discussed the future of work. The panel shared thoughts on the present and potential futures of work in the face of digital technologies and AI, which have the potential to create and reinforce inequalities or reduce them. Creating and maintaining good, secure, and healthy work will remain a priority, given the rapidly changing context and the inevitable uncertainty that the future holds.

Image Credit: Social Sciences Connect Programme

Join us for a Question Time-style in-person event on 5 November to explore the future of work. Our experts from the Faculty of Social Sciences, including the IER, will answer your questions on all things work: What will be the impact of AI and digitalisation on the future of work? Will that future be one of good and healthy jobs for everyone? And will the future of work deliver greater productivity? The event is part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science 2025.

Please register here for the-in person event at the University of ÌÇÐÄTV.

Professor Peter Elias, CBE, of IER has been conferred as a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. This Fellowship is a huge accolade. Fellows are drawn from academics, practitioners and policymakers, marking the impact of their work through the use of social science for public benefit.

Professor Chris Warhurst, Director of IER said:

‘It is another indication of the very high esteem with which Peter is held for his work on, amongst other things over the past thirty years, occupational classification schemes in the UK and internationally and, more recently, developing protocols for the use of Big data for the OECD countries.’

IER and FIER at the University of Jyväskylä have been working on a project commissioned by the EC DG EMPL researching lifelong guidance policy and practice in the EU. The team, led by Sally-Anne Barnes, organised a successful workshop in Brussels at the beginning of October to discuss the findings of the study. This event was attended by 32 experts in guidance and lifelong learning from across Europe.

Following this, the research findings were presented at the European Vocational Skills Week 2019 held in Helsinki. The interactive session on 'guidance for lifelong learning' was streamed live and debated what support was needed to promote lifelong guidance.

The research report is due to be published in 2020.

IER staff, led by Peter Elias, are currently engaged in a project funded by the , to add more detail into the next revision of the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC).

Having just completed work on the revision of SOC2010 to SOC2020, the new project will provide for a six-digit structure to the classification. The work involves a series of face-to-face meetings with interested parties, such as the NHS, Royal Society, Careers Wales, Skills Development Scotland and a wide range of government departments and agencies.

As part of this work, ONS and IER have teamed up to create an online survey available to anyone with an interest in this work. Details can be found .