I am the Co-Director of the Digit Research Centre, alongside Professor O’Reilly, and the Montague Burton Professor of Human Resource Management and Employment Relations, at Leeds University Business School, University of Leeds.
Background
I have been at Leeds since 1992, studying first for a PhD and taking up a Chair in 2005. I am the Founding Director of the Centre for Employment Relations Innovation and Change, and am currently Pro Dean for Research for the Faculty of Business. Formerly, I was Editor in Chief of Work, Employment and Society (2011-15) and President of the British Universities Industrial Relations Association (2013-16). Currently, I am a sub-panel member (UoA17) for REF 2021 and was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in 2019.
Research interests
- Technology and the future of work
- Work, organisation and social protection in the platform economy
- Training, learning and skills at work
- Trade union change and modernisation
- Organisational restructuring and labour-management relations
Recent Publications
Journal articles
Wage Theft and the Struggle over the Working Day in Hospitality Work: A Typology of Unpaid Labour Time
Matthew Cole, Mark Stuart, Kate Hardy and David Spencer (2022), Work, Employment and Society
Furloughing and COVID-19: assessing regulatory reform of the state
David A. Spencer, Mark Stuart, Chris Forde and Christopher J. McLachlan (2022), Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society
Theorising labour unrest and trade unionism in the platform economy
Joyce, S., Stuart, M. and Forde, C. (2022), New Technology, Work and Employment
Inequalities in the disruption of paid work during the Covid-19 pandemic: A world systems analysis of core, semi-periphery, and periphery states
Valizade, D., Ali, M., Stuart, M. (2022) Industrial Relations
Employer Participation in Active Labour Market Policies in the United Kingdom and Denmark: The Effect of Employer Associations as Social Networks and the Mediating Role of Collective Voice
Valizade, D., Ingold, J., Stuart, M. (2022), Work, Employment and Society
COVID-19 and the uncertain future of HRM: furlough, job retention and reform
Stuart, M., Spencer, David A., McLachlan, C, J., Forde, C. (2021), Human Resource Management Journal
Policy publications
A global analysis of worker protest in digital labour platforms
Bessa, I., Joyce, S., Neumann, D., Stuart, M., Trappmann, V. and Umney, C. (2022) International Labour Organization
Digital automation and the future of work
Spencer, D., Cole, M., Joyce, S., Whittaker, X. and Stuart, M. (2021) Scientific Foresight Unit, Directorate-General for Parliamentary Research Services (EPRS) of the Secretariat of the European Parliament
Global Labour Unrest on Platforms: The case of food delivery workers
Trappmann, V., Bessa, I., Joyce, S., Neumann, D., Stuart, M. and Umney, C. (2020) Friedrich Ebert Stiftung
Book Chapters
Digitalised management, control and resistance in platform work: a labour process analysis
Joyce, S. and Stuart, M. (2021), Chapter 7 in Work and Labour Relations in Global Platform Capitalism, ILERA
Digitalised management, control and resistance in platform work: a labour process analysis
Joyce, S., Stuart, M. (2021). Chapter 7 in Work and Labour Relations in Global Platform Capitalism. Cheltenham, UK
Digit Blogs
Mapping protest in platform work: Introducing the new Leeds Index of Platform Worker Protest
The Leeds Index tracks where protests takes place, against which companies and over what grievances.
Three unanswered questions about the EU Directive on gig work
Will the 'theoretical’ protection for platform workers offered by the new EU Directive translate into effective protection in practice?
Other publications
Journal articles
‘Work and social protection in the platform economy in Europe’, (with Joyce, S., Forde, C, and Valizade, D.) Advances in Industrial and Labor Relations. Vol 25. 2019
‘Industrial relations of training’, in Unwin, L. and Guile, D. (eds) International Handbook of Vocational Education and Training. Wiley. 2019
Policy publications
Digital automation and the future of work (with David Spencer, Matt Cole, Simon Joyce, Xanthe Whittaker) at the request of the Panel for the Future of Science and Technology (STOA) and managed by the Scientific Foresight Unit, within the Directorate-General for Parliamentary Research Services (EPRS) of the Secretariat of the European Parliament. January 2021
The Social Protection of Workers in the Platform Economy (with Forde, C., Joyce, S., Alberti, G., Hardy, K., Oliver, L., Trappmann, V. and Umney, C.) European Parliament, Directorate General for Internal Policies, Policy Department A: Economic and Scientific Policy, IP/A/EMPL/2016-11. 125pp. November 2017
Employment and social situation in the USA (with Forde, C.), Study for the EMPL Committee, European Parliament, 2017
Human Capital Analytics and Metrics: Assessing the Evidence of the Value and Impact of People Data (with Charlwood, A. and Trusson, C.) CIPD Technical Report. Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development: London. 61pp. 2017
Digit researchers contribute to OECD report on AI in manufacturing and finance
Digit researchers have contributed to a new OECD report examining the impact of AI on workplaces in the finance and manufacturing sectors.
Digit team collaborate on launch of Gigpedia
Digit researchers are collaborating on a new central hub that will collate available information on the gig economy worldwide.
Call for papers: Summer School on digital transformation and its impact on workers
WZB Berlin Social Science Center and the Digital Futures at Work Research Centre are holding a Summer School in Berlin on 18th and 19th May 2023.
Call for papers: Disrupting Technology conference
The Disrupting Technology will be held on 11-13 June 2023, Monash University Prato Centre, Italy, jointly organised by CERIC, University of Leeds Business School, and Monash Business School.
Digit researchers’ findings on labour protests during the pandemic published by ILO
The report documents protests by key workers in healthcare and retail against their working conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Digit Co-Director presents to the Joe Isaac Symposium, Monash University
Digit Co-Director Mark Stuart gave a talk about UK employers’ digital management practices at the annual Joe Isaac Symposium.
Digit researchers at the SASE 2022 conference
Digit researchers discussed their work at the SASE cofnerence, 9-11 July 2022 in Amsterdam.
Researchers present at BUIRA conference 2022
Digit researchers discuss their work at the BUIRA Annual Conference
New ILO paper by Digit researchers on platform labour protest
A new paper by Digit researchers, published by the International Labour Organization, "A global analysis of worker protest in digital labour platforms", aims to develop an understanding of labour unrest among platform workers as a global phenomenon.
Digit researchers present at 40th International Labour Process Conference
There were more than 15 presentations involving members of the Digit community at the 40th ILPC in Padua.
Return to the office? Mark Stuart quoted in BBC article
Digit Co-Director, Professor Mark Stuart, is quoted in an article by the BBC discussing the future for remote working as Covid-19 vaccinations are rolled out.
Digit researchers’ report for the European Parliament argues for a new ‘Digital Social Contract’
Digit researchers have produced a report for the European Parliament’s Panel for the Future of Science and Technology (STOA) that argues for a new ‘Digital Social Contract’ to address the rapid technological progress underway in modern capitalist economies.
Digit researchers deliver plenary talk on global labour unrest on platforms, using the case of food delivery workers
Digit Co-Director Professor Mark Stuart and Dr. Vera Trappman from Leeds University Business School will deliver a plenary talk on global labour unrest on platforms, using the case of food delivery workers, at the ILERA Regional Congress, Philippines, tomorrow, 03 December 2020. You can read the abstract from their session below: Labour unrest by platform workers is an important phenomenon in the new world of work. This study examines patterns of platform labour unrest on a global scale, drawing from a database of over 500 instances of labour unrest in the food delivery sector. Results show that labour unrest […]
From Emergency to Empowerment – special Soldo report featuring Digit researchers
A new Special Report from Soldo discussing the future of hybrid-remote working
In an interview for Soldo magazine, Digit Co-Director Mark Stuart talks about ‘Rewriting the Social Contract’
Mark Stuart discusses Mark discusses how remote working is no longer a nice-to-have.
Technologies in the work place – Leeds University Business School podcast
Podcast on technologies in the workplace.