Streams

The spread of the on-demand economy has provoked an outpouring of debate among social scientists, as well as legal and political debate within cities across the world. This stream invites papers that help make sense of the growth of platform work in its many forms, including the work of designing or maintaining them, their consequences for the quality of employment, and possible responses regarding socially beneficial forms of regulation as well. The stream especially invites papers and presentations that address the encoding of values or preferences in computer code, the incorporation of AI within the platform economy, or the efforts to establish governance systems enabling users to exercise control over the platforms they engage. Papers exploring more generally the theme of the conference are welcomed as well.

Digitalisation and platformisation have for some time been two general conceptual handles used, to grasp what we conventionally call “new forms of work”. As different forms of AI have started to shape and change societies with accelerating speed, it may have become necessary to ask, whether “digitalisation” and “platformisation” still have some real analytical and theoretical power. Maybe they are already undynamic and obstruction to much-needed conceptual innovations, especially concerning work and employment, in the impending reign of AI? The stream welcomes papers that broadly address these critical analytical and theoretical questions and hopefully also show fruitful and innovative ways forward.

Scholars have highlighted that nuances of human creativity, contextual awareness, and intuition are not easily replicable by algorithms or computational processes. Less attention is paid to the underlying notion of the human that informs the promises and deployment of AI. ‘Human in the loop’ or ‘human-centricity,’ feature in the hopes of shaping AI developments so that humans would stay on top of them. Yet, such principles can encompass a variety of meanings, depending on how the human is defined and contextualized: human-centricity might position the human alternatively as machinic, as inadequate, or as self-entrepreneurial. This stream welcomes papers that problematize human configurations in AI worldbuilding. The papers should strive to demonstrate how the notion of the human is enmeshed with political and commercially driven ideas and reflect the positioning of the human in relation to state, organizational practices or enterprises.

Precarity as a form of employment refers to poorly paid, often unprotected and insecure work. Precarity is taking new forms which need more detailed analyses of how and in what ways precarity becomes part of the employment patterns. The consequences of precarious employment are many, ranging from individual, such as salary effects to effects on families and communities. The intensification of precarious employment can be seen as a current phenomenon. The most hidden consequences, such as the situation of ‘undocumented’ workers, range from health and safety to civic engagement and citizenship. Papers may examine forms of precarious employment and various impacts of these positions, including family, health, civic engagement, political participation, generational shifts, gender inequality and other areas of social life. The digital divide brings in new aspects to precarious employment. The stream especially welcomes papers that relate to the themes described above. Papers exploring more generally the theme of the conference are welcomed.

Technology is integrated in our everyday life and it is difficult to imagine how to manage without the numerous innovations that shape today’s information society. There are positive effects, such as improved communication, better access to information, flexible work, better possibilities to combine work and everyday life, to mention a few. The negative effects bring overload leaving the individual with the responsibility to evaluate the trustworthiness of information. Increasing challenges with privacy and security issues, and stress and absence of borders between professional and everyday life need further also exploration. The stream welcomes papers addressing the mentioned themes or other topics relevant to the overall theme. Research focusing on the individual perspective, workplace contexts or societal levels, and empirical, methodological or theoretical papers are welcomed. Papers exploring more generally the theme of the conference are welcomed.

Digitalization means changes in the way work is organized. The challenges associated with digitalization are vast, ranging from the social learning of digitalization to new forms of digital services. Research on work and digitalization has long focused on the industrial applications of robotics and digital services. The rapid rise of AI technologies has led to a situation where the physical and software-based service robots and AI solutions that replace humans at work have become increasingly important. The complexity of the relationship between the social world and technology becomes highly visible in working life, where digitalization, especially applications of robotics and AI, become part of the work. Papers that address the topic of digitalization in work and more generally the theme of the conference are welcome.

New technologies are continuously introduced in the health and social care sector in welfare states. AI-based technologies, robots, tracking- and sensor-technologies, telecare-systems and many other types of technologies are increasingly used and framed as answering to welfare state challenges such as labour shortage and public expenditure, but also to value laden reforms focusing on person-centred care, empowerment and retrenchment through increasing citizen/client involvement in – and responsibility for – their own care and treatment. While nothing points to increased use of care technologies as resulting in a simple movement from ‘warm’ personal care to ‘cold’ technological care, the increasing involvement of technologies in health and care work is expected to affect care practices and the social relations.

We invite for exploration of the ways in which new technologies affect professional health and care work, professional identity, professionalism and working lives. Contributions that seek to study of changes in professional health and care work empirically and theoretically, emphasizing context, complexity, and practice, are welcomed.

Contributions may include but are not limited to:  New divisions of labour and responsibility between citizens/clients, professionals and technologies; Changes in care practices and their relations to professional identity and meaning of work; Transformations of the character of care interactions between professionals and citizens/clients, and reconfigurations of care networks and geographies of care; Professionals’ ethics work related to use of new technologies; Interrelations between welfare state policy and introduction and actual use of technologies in health and care; New forms of data-use, control and surveillance, and implications for work, professionals and client-relations?

Artificially intelligent (AI) technologies are increasingly used in health care organisations worldwide. AI solutions may do things typically requiring human intelligence such as reason, plan, solve problems, make decisions and learn from experience. AI may change the work of professionals and the ethical core of their occupational identities by e.g., replacing tasks, amplifying skills, adding digital responsibilities, or transforming human relations. How does AI influence the meaningfulness and to the ethics of care work? Meaningfulness refers to employees’ experiences of task integrity, skill cultivation, significance of work, ethics, autonomy and belongingness. Empirical and theoretical contributions related to AI use in care work are welcome to the stream. Papers that address more generally the theme of the conference are welcome.

The stream encourages submissions that examine the reciprocal relationships between work and family, broadly defined. Studies of particular occupations, industries, national labor markets, and international comparisons are all welcome. Topics include research on care work, child care, care issues pertaining to older adults and people with disabilities, remote and hybrid work arrangements, and impact of COVID-19 on work and family. Diversity, intersectionality, international and interdisciplinary perspectives are welcome.

Gender, work and family are entangled in several complex ways. Paid and unpaid work are embodied and person-related, with percussions to gendering society that reach beyond work. It is therefore crucial to analyze how gender relates to the reconciliation of paid work and unpaid family responsibilities, and how this is located in structures, meanings, interactions and subjects constituted and reconstituted in everyday life. In this stream, the questions of gendered work and family life are discussed. Contemporary questions in relation to increasing insecurities and inequalities in relation to gendered work and family life are welcomed. Papers exploring more generally the theme of the conference from gender perspective are welcomed.

The stream “Labor Reallocation, Policy, and Welfare” aims to bring together scholars from various disciplines to discuss and explore the dynamic interplay between labor reallocation, policy interventions, and welfare outcomes. We welcome submissions that address, but are not limited to, the following topics: The impact of technological advancements on labor markets; Policy measures for managing labor market transitions; Welfare implications of labor reallocation; Comparative studies on labor policies across different regions; The role of education and training in labor market adjustments; Case studies on successful labor reallocation strategies.

In the evolving landscape of work and organizations, various liminal spaces are forming, shaped by part-time, fixed-term, gig, and freelance work. These spaces challenge existing labor market frameworks, often creating complexities for individuals balancing roles such as employee and entrepreneur or navigating education and employment. This conference stream invites multidisciplinary research exploring how technological advancements, policy shifts, and societal changes impact these liminal workspaces. We seek papers that examine for example the implications on workplace learning, collective labor participation, reconceptualization of work, and labor policy. Join us in advancing the discourse on Nordic working life at WORK2025.

Ecological transformations in energy, water and food supply, environmental and climate protection, resource reduction and the circular economy affect all areas of the labor market and initiate changes in processes, structures and in employment. Technology is also changing rapidly and is both the cause of the problems and part of the solution. Employees are exposed to changes that affect their skills, the demands placed on them, and their spatial and temporal availability. The stream welcomes presentations dealing with the interrelations between ecological and technological changes that alter labor market structures and processes, work arrangements, and skills. Papers focusing more generally on the issue of ecological and technological transformations from the perspective of social impacts and consequences are also welcomed.

Due to climate change, all critical functions of our society must undergo profound changes. Workplaces play a crucial role in implementing climate actions, and more broadly, sustainable transformation. This stream will address the complex questions between climate change and work.

We welcome both theoretical and empirical papers that will contribute to build a systemic understanding of the various effects of climate change on working life and work itself, and how different actors (e.g., management, HR, OHS, employees) and structures could speed up mitigation measures and/or support adaptation to the climate change.

Many countries are striving for gender equality, institutionalizing both various organizational measures and legal frameworks to achieve this goal. The representation of women in leadership is seen as a key indicator of progress toward gender equality in both the workplace and in society. However, the openness to and promotion of gender equality has come with heightened expectations for female leaders, often with negative percussions. This stream explores the tensions between the legal and organizational frameworks in society and the working life experiences that promote gender equality on the one hand, and hinder the recognition of women as leaders and their achievements on the other.

We welcome papers with theoretical, methodological, and empirical focuses that explore the relationships between gender and power, especially the intersectional relationships between femininity and power, and women in leadership positions in diverse organizational and social contexts.

Hybrid work is a technology-enabled workplace innovation spread rapidly following the COVID-19 pandemic. In many organizations, it has helped employees to experience a kind of ‘autonomy leap’ in their work. At the same time, in many organizations, hybrid work has been a source of tension as employees’ work practices have become increasingly diverse. What new type of new practices have evolved in different organizational contexts? Will they improve quality of work and employees’ agency and work/life balance, or will they rather accelerate the fragmentation of work, social isolation and exclusion, and work/life conflict for a growing number of employees? These are the possible topics to be explored within the stream. The stream also welcomes other topics in relation to hybrid work.

The evolving landscape of work has significantly impacted learning requirements and preparedness. Learning at work now includes new manifestations alongside virtual and mobile facilities. Are learning organizations still comprehensible social units, or are we now gathering pieces of knowledge from everywhere as learning individuals? What is the role of organizational structures and leadership in building the frames and spaces for learning? The integration of AI in the workplace introduces new learning requirements, necessitating adaptability and continuous skill development. This stream invites papers on the topic of work and learning from different disciplines and perspectives. Papers discussing innovative and encouraging ways of learning or critical examinations of the topic are welcomed.

Work, professional competence and learning are intertwined in several ways. This stream focuses on the interplay between learning and working life and invites papers on various aspects of learning-work relations. The array of continuing and informal learning and professional competence development in work organizations, education, and training as means to enhance well-being at work, job quality, and meaningful working careers are examples of such relations. In addition, class, gender, cultural, generational, among other social differences offer insights into working life and learning. Flexible working and learning arrangements, virtual learning environments and online professional learning are particularly topical issues. Even though the contexts and opportunities for professional competence development have broadened, many working life changes have also challenged the active participation and agency, continuing education and sustainable learning in work communities. The stream welcomes papers relating to topics described above and seeks to address work-related learning in the era of changing working life. Papers exploring more generally the theme of the conference are also welcomed.

If you have a paper proposal in line with the conference theme but that cannot be accommodated by any of the stream topics and descriptions given above, you are welcome to submit it to the Open Stream. Also, you wish to contribute a Poster you are welcome to submit your proposal to the Open Stream. The organizers will group the Open Stream papers and poster proposals according to their topics, and will try to ensure that all accepted papers and posters in the Open Stream find their place in the conference programme.