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This time last week saw hundreds gather from across the UK for our Making the Future Work conference, marking the close of the three-year Pissarides Review, funded by the Nuffield Foundation.
From the hub venue at Warwick Business School’s space at The Shard, we enjoyed two-way links with packed satellites in Cornwall, Manchester, Cardiff and Edinburgh, convening a plurality of voices across academia, government and industry to discuss the pioneering research findings from the Final Report, and the implications for building a fairer future of better work. We were particularly delighted to welcome Lord Patrick Vallance – Minister of State for Science, Innovation and Technology – to deliver the opening keynote address, which you can watch back here.
Read the Executive Summary or full Final Report, and read more about the event in our Deep Dive below. Through a new social and economic paradigm of good work, this work proposes a new model of human-centred automation, providing a rich seam for us at IFOW as we work on how this can be put into practice. We look forward to sharing more on this in the coming weeks.
Anna and IFOW Team
The Pissarides Review into the Future of Work and Wellbeing - our three-year, multi-disciplinary research project funded by the Nuffield Foundation and delivered in partnership with Imperial College London and Warwick Business School - has published a Final Report and Executive Summary.
These workstreams were reflected in three panels we ran as part of the closing conference, where voices from each field engaged in discussion with research leads from the Review, and with expert groups convened at satellite venues across the UK.
'Getting the Country Working'
Through the pioneering Disruption Index, significant inequalities have been surfaced, and new analyses of skills changes and interactions revealed, offering new detail on how investment, R&D and technological transformation are progressing across the country.
Watch the virtual plenary discussion, with Professor Sir Christopher Pissarides discussing the implications of this work with our satellite gatherings across the UK.
'Getting Firms Working'
The firm-level survey and case studies show how this transformation is impacting UK firms. Importantly, this work has shown how responsible AI governance and high-involvement HR practices are seeing better outcomes from tech adoption. These findings have led to detailed policy recommendations around workforce engagement, collective representation and governance – all focused on building a fairer future of better work via a new model of human-centred automation.
Watch the virtual plenary discussion with Dr. Abigail Gilbert and Prof. James Hayton discussing the implications of this work with our satellite gatherings across the UK.
'Getting Work Working'
Finally, our third workstream focused on how workers are experiencing this technological transformation, and how health and wellbeing can be sustained through transition. This has highlighted how a capabilities approach helps us address the skills challenges being faced in a new way, one that centres a human approach, and human agency.
Overarching all of this is the presentation of a new approach to policymaking, a comprehensive socio-technical approach that understands technological transformation as highly interconnected, and interdependent with socio-economic change
Watch the virtual plenary discussion with Dr. Jonathan Clarke, Professor Jolene Skordis - who designed this workstream - and Dr Magdalena Soffia, discussing the implications of this work with our satellite gatherings across the UK.
The Digital Dialogues report presents key findings from the Digital Futures at Work Research Centre (Digit), summarising five years of research (2020–2024) on the evolving landscape of work in the digital age. This report explores how digital transformation is reshaping employment, workplace practices, and the broader labour market. It highlights the challenges and opportunities presented by emerging technologies, automation, and platform-based work, offering insights for policymakers, businesses, and workers navigating this shift.
The Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D) is a groundbreaking EU regulation requiring large companies—including major tech firms—to assess and address human rights and environmental risks across their global supply chains. The article highlights how CS3D builds on existing EU laws like the Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act, but with a stronger focus on corporate accountability.
For the workplace, this means companies must ensure fair labour practices, ethical sourcing, and compliance with sustainability standards, affecting working conditions, employee rights, and supply chain management.
The QS World Future Skills Index evaluates how well countries are equipped to meet the evolving demands of the international job market. It aims to empower governments to align education and skills with future demand, fostering innovation, sustainable global competition, and talent development.
The accompanying briefing paper explores higher education's relationship to a country's economy and provides in-depth analysis of the Index results. It discusses how industrial innovation is impacting the future workforce, the introduction of AI, digital, and green skills into the workforce, and the risk of not upskilling the workforce.
The UK government has developed ‘Succession Select’ an AI-driven tool designed to streamline the identification of internal candidates for senior digital positions. Created by the Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO), this system employs a large language model to generate idealised career profiles for specific vacancies. It then matches these profiles against anonymised career data of current senior civil servants to suggest potential candidates.
The tool aims to automate and expedite the recruitment process, reducing manual search times from hours to minutes. While Succession Select assists in generating candidate lists, final selection decisions remain human-led. Currently in its pilot phase, the tool is utilised by authorised personnel within the CDDO's talent team.
AI Fringe is a summit exploring the intersection of AI, society, and policy. Taking place alongside the AI Safety Summit in Paris, AI Fringe brings together global experts, thought leaders, and innovators to discuss how AI can be shaped for the benefit of people, businesses, and communities.
AI Fringe is a summit exploring the intersection of AI, society, and policy. Taking place alongside the AI Safety Summit in Paris, AI Fringe brings together global experts, thought leaders, and innovators to discuss how AI can be shaped for the benefit of people, businesses, and communities.
As part of this dynamic program, IFOW will be hosting two key events: at 2:00 PM in the Eliot Room (British Library), we will present Supporting Creative Futures in Arts, Culture and AI, a session under the CREAATIF project, exploring how AI is transforming creative industries and shaping the future of work in arts and culture.
Later, at 4:00 PM in the Main Auditorium, Making the Future Work: Getting Workplace AI Right will reflect on the implications of the Pissarides Review research, focusing on how firms can deploy AI responsibly to support good work, job quality, and workforce wellbeing.
In-person spaces are fully booked, but both sessions will be live-streamed.
Register here.
Cities Outlook is Centre for Cities’ annual health check of the UK’s largest cities and towns, covering a range of indicators including productivity, housing affordability and air quality as well as an in-depth look at a different theme each year.
Each deep dive session will focus on the different areas in the UK including Wales, Scotland, North West, North East and Yorkshire and the Humber.
Register here.
Join DSIT and AI Fringe to learn more about the summit and provide industry input on key messages to take to Paris.
Register here.
This event brings together industry leaders to explore the latest trends, strategies and insights into the future of digital transformation.
Register here.
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Anna Thomas MBE
