Sociologist involved in €3.4 million Future World of Work project

A European partnership involving Professor Heejung Chung has been awarded €3.4 million to pursue multi-level research on the future of work in Europe, and provide policy recommendations for social protection in changing labour markets.

TransEuroWorks is a 48-month interdisciplinary project funded by Horizon Europe, the key funding programme of the EU for research and innovation. The project’s partners and stakeholders, from eight different European countries, aim to understand ongoing structural changes in European labour markets in recent decades, including digitalisation, automation, the internationalisation of the workforce, and the green transition, and to develop policy recommendations for governments aiming to provide adequate social protection in the face of these changes.

Professor Chung’s research will examine hybrid working, worker well-being, career outcomes and inequalities, and the role of the welfare state. Her research includes findings from a cross-national survey of working conditions across 36 European countries and will build on her extensive knowledge of flexible working, hybrid working and work inequality.

Professor Chung said: ‘This is a great opportunity to work with leading institutions across Europe and to collaborate on finding solutions to the main challenges of the welfare state, namely digitalisation, green transition, and the rise in migration.

‘I am especially happy to be given this opportunity to explore the extent to which home and hybrid working is stigmatised, for whom (looking at gender and parental status), how this differs across European countries, to find what policy solutions we can propose both at the national and EU level to start tackling these issues. We will also be exploring how we can ensure that home and hybrid working practices do not lead to blurring of boundaries where workers work all the time and everywhere, but result in good work-life balance and better well-being outcomes. We expect this project to provide solutions for real and urgent policy challenges we face in today and tomorrow’s labour market and welfare states.’