Scroll down for accessing the material from our past events.
Past events
Precarious Employment and Work SGM success!
Date: 24 September 2023
For three days in September 2023 EAWOPii was part of the EAWOP SGM Precarious Employment and Work: Understanding the underlying psychological and social processes .
Thirty six delegates from across Europe and beyond met at at the University of Glasgow with contributions from USA and South Africa.
The SGM was organised by Lisa Seubert and Christian Seubert, both from University of Innsbruck, Ishbel McWha-Hermann from University of Edinburgh and Rosalind Searle from University of Glasgow.
The event included keynotes from academia with Prof. David L. Blustein (USA) (The Psychology of Precarity), Prof. Eva Selenko (UK) (precarity and identity), Dr. Blake Allan (USA) (A Meta-modern Challenge for Precarious Work Scholars).
It included both a keynote from Dr Joanna Wilde and a panel on policy and practice. The panel included trades unions representatives from Europe and the UK, namely Birte Dedden (UNI Global Union/UNI Europa) and David Avery (Prospect Heritage); public policy makers Chris Adams (City of Edinburgh Council) and David Carew (ex-chief psychologist at a UK Government department) and colleagues from the third sector – social change organisations – Jack Evans (Joseph Rowntree Foundation) and Lynn Anderson (Poverty Alliance).
This event identified important research resources which can be drawn on by the EAWOP impact incubator’s Decent work area led by Dr Ishbel McWha-Hermann.
It builds on our remit to become an important knowledge exchange forum for researchers and policy makers, and other stakeholders and included a call for a special issue on the topic from EJWOP.
Webinar | Human Security Psychology
Date: 27 April 2023
This is the project where EAWOPii worked with University of Glasgow's Adam Smith Business School, in partnership with EPIC in Massey, New Zealand, showing how psychology contributes to policy and marks the significance of work on policy on refugees and migrants.
The webinar included interactive sessions with leading scholars and activists, those with lived experiences and had an international audience of interested stakeholders.
Meanwhile, the new animation provides an initial conceptualisation of human security as a broad security concept that encompasses a range of interrelated dimensions that have been responded to by different sub-disciplinary domains within psychology.
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Read more on the Threats & Securities page.
Subscribe for free to our YouTube channel, where you can watch the webinar and animations – we’ve even split the webinar into chapters to make viewing easier.
See the webinar on the EAWOPii YouTube channel
From decent wages to decent work:
showcasing the SMART work design framework
Date: 29 March 2022
Creating quality work that is healthy and productive. World-leading researcher, ARC Laureate Fellow Sharon Parker, outlines the importance of work design for multiple work outcomes using the SMART model. Plus we launch our serious game drawing on the science concerning living wages and decent work.
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This EAWOPii talk/panel webinar develops our ongoing series on decent work, with two major contributions:
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Prof Sharon Parker (Curtin University, Australia)
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Dr Ishbel McWha-Hermann (University of Edinburgh Business School and EAWOP Impact Incubator Decent work topic lead)
Prof Parker will outline the importance of work design for multiple work outcomes, including job performance, innovation, well-being, mental health, and safety. She will unpack the SMART work design model (S= Stimulating, M = Mastery, A = Agency, R = Relational, T = Tolerable); a model which synthesizes years of research on this topic. She will provide examples of how this model can be applied to remote working during the pandemic, as well as to topics such as digitalization, and examples as to how work can be redesigned to become SMARTer.
Following this we will launch our new ESRC and EAWOP-funded serious game, “Superbmarket”, that draws on the science concerning living wages and decent work. Dr. McWha-Hermann will review the game and how it can be used to develop understanding of the impact of poor quality and low paid work for employees and their leaders.
Those attending this event will gain insight of how to develop and design work to enhance employee productivity, well-being and retention. Future webinars will consider the distinct components of decent work – sign up with the impact incubator if you would like to receive further information about these forthcoming event.
The event is led by Prof Rosalind Searle, (Director of the EAWOP Impact incubator and Prof of HRM and organisational psychology, Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow).
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The event will be recorded, subtitles added and these talks hosted on the EAWOP impact incubator’s YouTube channel.
See the webinar on the EAWOPii YouTube channel
Silence is golden?
Date: 30 November 2021
See the webinar on the EAWOPii YouTube channel
Selective silence and insider threat: the collateral damage of unintended messages for organisational security. Work psychology science explores why silence in organisations can be far from a good thing, why it occurs, how to detect and remedy its unintended consequences.
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“Silence is golden” they say, however, work & organisational psychological (WOP) science shows that it can also be dangerous for individuals, organisations and society when people do not feel able to express or actively withhold information and concerns.
Recent examples of the huge consequences of silence range from the #MeToo scandals of the entertainment industry, to young peoples’ abuse in sports, children’s homes and the military, or in fraud such as Serco or Greensill, and ransomware attacks including East coast fuel line and AXA.
In this FoSS event we launch our new short animation that outlines how and why employee silence can arise. Four short science-based talks reveal the science behind why silence arises, how it can be detected and the negative impacts ameliorated.
Following these talks a practitioner panel discussion considering how WOP research informs their practice and leads to the development of safer and more resilient organisations. They will identify key challenges and issues.
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Silence in organizations: What do we know, what do we need to know?
Dr. Michael Knoll (University of Leipzig, Germany)
Understanding why saints become sinners
Dr. Yannick Griep (Radboud University, The Netherlands)
Prosocial vs deviant silence: Perspectives on collateral damage for an organisation -
Dr. Charis Rice (Coventry University)
Developing a moral voice: How to prevent silence:
Dr. Roberta Fida (University of East Anglia)
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Panel on silence from securities and employers – chaired by Prof Rosalind Searle​
-- HR (CIPD’s CEO Peter Cheese);
-- Regulation (Professional Standards Authority for Health & Social Care’s (PSA) Assistant Director of Standards and Policy - Douglas Bilton);
-- threats and securities (member of the UK’s Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure, working in its Personnel Security and People Risk area); and
-- Aviation (ENAC - Italian Civil Aviation Authority’s Director of HR – Fabiola Cardea).
This event is part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science 2021 and was made possible thanks to funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), which is part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
Making Chocolate Teapots:
Striving for 'Good' Youth Work Policy Briefs Launch
Date: 26 November 2021
See the webinar on the EAWOPii YouTube channel
Translating psychological science findings to everyday knowledge relevant for addressing youth employment challenges, including why it is important to tackle the crisis and making recommendations.
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The event is an output of the ESRC/EAWOP Small Group Meeting (June 2020) we organised on Young People’s Work, Employment and Careers.
The webinar launched the policy briefs based on participants’ research findings relevant for striving for good youth work.
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Policy briefs were presented by researchers followed by discussion by Prof Anneleen Forrier (KU Leuven) and Dr Anthony Mann (OECD).
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What is ‘good’ youth employment, why it is important? & The Impact of Covid-19 on youth employment
Prof Dora Scholarios (University of Strathclyde), Maja Gustaffson (the Resolution Foundation), Dr Belgin Okay-Somerville (University of Glasgow),
Inclusive youth employment
Eva Selenko (Loughborough University) and Beth Suttill (University of Lancaster)
Career skills
Ilke Grosemans (KU Leuven) & Michelle Trottier (University of Glasgow)
Recommendations for ‘good’ youth work
Jose Ramos (University of Valencia), Magdalena Gilek (Edinburgh Napier University), & Andra Tofan (European Youth Parliament)
Implications for research and practice of ‘striving for good youth work’
Professor Anneleen Forrier (KU Leuven) & Dr Anthony Mann (OECD)
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This event is part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science 2021 and was made possible thanks to funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), which is part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
The Living Wage: Showcasing the latest cutting edge research
Date: 18 November 2021
See the webinar on the EAWOPii YouTube channel
This webinar launches the European Journal of Work and Organisational Psychology’s special issue on living wages, and the EAWOP & ESRC Impact Accelerator Living Wage game.
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Workers from marginalized and vulnerable groups have been struck hardest by the Covid-19 pandemic, precarious contracts and working conditions increasing their exposure to the virus.
This webinar reveals how WOP research can contribute to societal grand challenges such as poverty and inequality. The topic of living wages is pertinent for all workers especially those involved in informal and precarious work, regardless of contexts and country.
Through five short talks the latest WOP conceptual, methodological and empirical work in this area was showcased, to raise practical questions and help inform new research agenda.
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Living wages – Where we have been & why WOP science matters
Prof. Rosalind Searle (EAWOP Impact Incubator director and University of Glasgow, UK)
Why do managers of SMEs seek voluntary living wage accreditation?
Dr. Andrea Werner (Middlesex University, UK)
The psychological consequences of economic vulnerability
Dr. Katharina Klug (University of Breman, Germany) and Dr. Eva Selenko (Loughborough University, UK)
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Living Wages, Decent Work, and Need Satisfaction
Dr. Lisa Hopfgartner & Dr. Christian Seubert (Leopold-Franzens-University, Austria)
Cultural skills as drivers of decency in decent work
Dr. Mahima Saxena, (University of Nebraska Omaha, United States)
Serious game – New way of knowledge exchange
Prof. Rosalind Searle University of Glasgow, UK) & Dr. McWha-Hermann (University of Edinburgh, UK)
This event is part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science 2021 and was made possible thanks to funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), which is part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
Edinburgh and the Living Wage
Date: 16 November 2021
Today, we publish the webinar from the ESRC FoSS on “Edinburgh and the Living Wage”, held on 16 November 2021, as part of a series of events during Living Wage Week.
This event launched Edinburgh City Council’s Living Wage City initiative and brought together Living Wage Scotland, the EAWOP impact incubator, Edinburgh City Council, the Adam Smith Business School of the University of Glasgow and University of Edinburgh Business School.
In the video you will meet the policy makers, employers and employees, trade unions and NGOs, working together — and informed by work psychological science — to make the active evidence-based decisions to include living wages as part of the city’s strategy. It recognises this critical part of work and how it is structured and remunerated, not just for businesses, but for wider society.
If you would like to find out more, please look under our Decent Work heading for free access to the science and policy briefs on this topic, or Living Wage Scotland which will be able to support you and your business to making this change.
See the webinar on the EAWOPii YouTube channel
Threats and Securities Animation Launch Webinar
Date: 8 June 2021
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See the webinar on the EAWOPii YouTube channel
Bad apples, stressed apples or learning apples? Translating work psychological science on how employee-based threats arise.
An animation, four short talks and a practitioners panel unpacking the WOP science behind this product.
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Prof Deanne Den Hartog – University of Amsterdam – outlined some of her recent work that considers how to identify “bad apples” employees and their impacts for organisations.
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Prof Rosalind Searle – University of Glasgow – explored the science behind social learning, drawing from studies of how corrupting influences can spread between employees in organisations.
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Dr Roberta Fida – University of East Anglia – discussed their research on stress and the ways that this can expose service users and organisations to heightened organisational risks.
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Dr Michael Knoll – University of Leipzig – focussed on the role of those who notice threats and wrongdoings at work and elaborate on reasons why employees withhold their views, namely, organizational silence.
A practitioner panel then considered how work and organisational psychological science has informed their perspectives with inputs from human resources, regulation, security and fraud detection, and study of organised crime.
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Ben Willmott, Head of Policy, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) – UK
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Douglas Bilton, Assistant Director of Standards and Policy, Professional Standards Authority – Regulator
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Iain MacMillan, Counterfraud Unit (NHS National Services Scotland)
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Chris Warburton, Health and safety research officer for the trade union Prospect
Living Wage Animation launch event “great success”
Date: 11 May 2021
See the webinar and the animation, in many languages on the EAWOPii YouTube channel
EAWOPii's first event on 11 May attracted an enthusiastic reception, with 45 attendees from 13 countries enjoying the first presentation of our eagerly anticipated Living Wage animation.
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With a welcome from EAWOPii’s Director Prof Rosalind Searle, the president of EAWOP, Prof Frederik Anseel, outlined why EAWOP had decided to form their impact incubator.
Dr Ishbel McWha-Hermann, who leads the EAWOPii’s Decent Work strand, then outlined the work of the Small Group Meeting in 2019 on living wages, which produced two special issues and briefing documents.
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An animation, developed by Prof Searle and Dr McWha-Hermann, offered an effective summary of current research — 115 papers — from across the field, identifying the critical shift in perspective Work and Organisational Psychology provides on living wages and why they matter to individuals, their employers and wider society.
The response to the animation was overwhelmingly positive. Attendees remarked that the clear and digestible nature of the animation will make it a great resource for teaching, training and raising awareness within organisations about the importance of living wages.
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After the animation was premiered, Prof Stuart Carr, co-founder of Project Glow (Global Living Organizational Wage) and renowned for his research concerning living wages, provided an overview of the impactful recent work he had done along with other projects elsewhere in the field. Throughout his discussion, Prof Carr presented insights into the various theories and methodologies employed by psychologists exploring the consequences of living wages around the world. He emphasised that the job disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic exacerbates the need for a continued move towards living wages, hailing the EAWOPii’s living wage animation as a fantastic tool to help this effort.
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EAWOPii will release their second product — an animation translating work and organisational psychological science concerning how employee-based threats arise in organisationson — on 8 June. Find out more about this event.
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Meanwhile, the living wage animation is freely available in several languages on the EAWOPii YouTube channel.
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Alfie Tinline Bartholomew
