The Fairwork Project is hiring for the following two positions:
- Postdoctoral Researcher I (Grade 8: £41,526 – £49,553 p.a; fixed term contract until 30 June 2022 in the first instance, with the possibility of renewal thereafter; deadline: 12.00 midday on 27 August 2020)
- Postdoctoral Researcher II (Grade 8: £41,526 – £49,553 p.a; fixed-term until 31 December 2021 in the first instance, with the possibility of renewal thereafter; deadline: 12.00 midday on 10 September 2020)
About Fairwork
Fairwork is an action-research project based at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford. We research working conditions in the gig economy, in order to develop ‘fairness ratings’ for digital labour platforms like Uber, Helpling and Deliveroo (see examples here). We use these ratings as a lever to improve pay and conditions for platform workers, through media and consumer pressure.
Fairwork’s programme of action research intends not just to understand the world, but to change it. By bringing workers, platforms, scholars, labour researchers and policymakers to the table, we work to collaboratively develop and embed principles of fair work into the script of the gig economy. Fundamental to the project is a commitment to being participatory and non-hierarchical within our communities: we are all—workers, unions, platforms, regulators, academics—the experts, and we all have co-developed this project. Our ultimate aim is to understand, and counter, some of the forces that disempower gig workers across the world.
Over the past three years, we have mobilized a unique and growing transnational network of social justice minded scholars from over ten countries in pursuit of this planetary goal. In order to effectively advocate for gig workers everywhere, we believe it necessary for our team too to reflect a diversity of backgrounds, cultures, perspectives and more. In growing our team, we value and welcome the unique contributions that applicants can bring in terms of their education, opinions, cultural and linguistic backgrounds, ethnicity, race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, national origin, age, religion, disability, and beliefs. We actively strive to build and nurture a culture of empathy, inclusiveness, and respect.
About the Postdoctoral Researchers
The ideal candidates will have:
- A postgraduate degree in sociology, geography, economics, law, development, or related fields;
- Academic or professional experience and specialist knowledge relating to the gig economy, platform work, the digital economy, decent work, or precarious/temporary work;
- Excellent project management skills, including the ability to develop and execute granular work schedules and coordinate diverse stakeholders; and,
- Excellent communication abilities, including the ability to write for diverse audiences, present research proposals and results, and represent the research group at meetings.
See details of essential and desirable applicant criteria in the full job descriptions (Postdoctoral Researcher I and Postdoctoral Researcher II).
The team welcomes applications that reflect diverse modes of knowledge production and traditions of scholarship.
Structure and Primary Responsibilities
As the successful candidate for one of the positions of Postdoctoral Researcher, you will be based at Fairwork Foundation within the Oxford Internet Institute. You will be a core part of a team led by Professor Mark Graham, and will play a key role in conducting research and guiding the Fairwork partners in the research that they conduct. You will be based at the University of Oxford, and will work with partners in Brazil, Bangladesh, Chile, Ecuador, Egypt, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Pakistan, South Africa, and the UK. The primary aims of this position will be to:
- Conduct research with platform workers and platform managers about job quality on digital labour platforms;
- Use that research as part of action research strategies to leverage change in the gig economy;
- Play a coordination role with some of the project’s international partners; and,
- Collaborate on publications and research outputs to disseminate the evaluations of platforms against principles of fair work.
Duration and Deadline
These posts are available immediately.
The post of Postdoctoral Researcher I is fixed-term until 30 June 2022 in the first instance with the possibility of renewal thereafter. Only online applications received before 12.00 midday on 27 August 2020 will be considered for this position.
The post of Postdoctoral Researcher II is fixed-term until 31 December 2021 in the first instance, with the possibility of renewal thereafter. Only online applications received before 12.00 midday on 10 September 2020 will be considered for this position.
To be considered for both positions, please submit applications for both calls.
Learn more about and apply for the positions of Postdoctoral Researcher I and Postdoctoral Researcher II.
Contact
If you have any questions about these roles, please email info@fair.work.
The Fairwork project endorses the wider call from the Oxford Internet Institute community to advance anti-racist initiatives in higher education. We commit to upholding the values it espouses in our recruitment processes, to the best of our capacities.
CREW RESEARCH SEMINAR SERIES 2020/21 (University of Greenwich)
Sustainability in the Fast Fashion Value Chains? The Role of Worker Opposition and Local Activism
Date: Wednesday 30th September 2020
Time: 2 - 4 pm
Online meeting link in Zoom: https://eu01web.zoom.us/j/64199103411
he demand for cheap and fast fashion and the associated tragic human disasters have driven into public debate the issue of the human and environmental cost of the garment industry. The low and decreasing prices we pay in stores are indicative of an industry that exploits workers, including paying unfair wages. Global brands lack transparency about working conditions in their global production networks, so labour costs remain hidden in the global garment industry. While it is suggested that global brands should take more responsibility to stop worker rights violations in their supply chains and improve workers’ situations, including monitoring their lower-tier garment factories, of growing importance is the need to understand the position and value of labour in different countries. Understanding labour as workers having active agency (Rainnie et al., 2011) opens up research and debates about the relationship between the labour process and supply chains (Hammer and Plugor, 2019), the role of workers’ actions and activism in reshaping global production networks (Newsome et al. 2015; Coe and Hess, 2013; Anner, 2015; Bain and Palpacuer, 2012) and the ethical positioning of key players in the industry.
This seminar brings together researchers working in the area with expertise in several countries, to open a discussion about the possibilities of a sustainable industry and the role and cost of labour, in a critical context.
Speakers:
Dr Jean Jenkins, Professor in Employment Relations, Cardiff University: ‘Meaningful access to remedy denied
Dr Nikolaus Hammer, Associate Professor in Work and Employment, University of Leicester: ‘Restructuring and resilience in UK apparel'
Dr Safak Tartanoglu Bennett, CREW, University of Greenwich: ‘Formulating local activism in the supplier countries in global garment value chains’
About the Speakers:
Professor Jean Jenkins is a Professor in Employment Relations at Cardiff University. Her teaching, research and writing is concerned with employment relations in the global economy. She focuses mainly on labour rights, collective representation and conditions of work and working time in low paid employment, with a specialism in the international garment sector. A commitment to social justice in work and employment informs her teaching and research.
Dr Nikolaus Hammer is an Associate Professor in Work and Employment at University of Leicester. His research investigates the impact of globalisation, notably the restructuring of global value chains and production networks, on work and employment. This includes aspects such as the labour process in fast fashion production in the UK as well as the role of social standards in the governance of global value chains (e.g. International Framework Agreements and social standards more broadly).
Dr Safak Tartanoglu Bennett is a Research Fellow at CREW, University of Greenwich. Her research focuses on aspects of work and employment relations, control and resistance mechanisms in organisations and informal ways of worker representation. Her current research interests include worker opposition, collective actions and resistance mechanisms in global garment production networks. She is contributing to the debate with a supplier country (Turkey) perspective and investigating the issue with an understanding of collective actions in their political and social context.
This is a free seminar, open to the public and all are invited, but please can you inform us if you are planning to attend as numbers are currently limited to 100 by the online platform. Please email: Dr Safak Tartanoglu Bennett, s.tartanoglubennett@greenwich.ac.uk
14th September 2020