Meet the team

  • Founder/ Steering Group Co-Chair

    Leah Ruppanner is a Professor of Sociology and Founding Director of The Future of Work Lab at the University of Melbourne. She was previously a Director of The Policy Lab at the University of Melbourne.
    Her research investigates gender and its intersection to inequalities, technologies and policies.

    Leah is a leading expert on COVID-19 and its impact on gender inequality in US and Australia. Her book, Motherlands: How States Push Mothers out of Employment (2020) provides a typology of childcare and gender policies and their relationship to mothers' employment varies across US states. This has led to a range of high impact publications showing women have divergent experiences based on their state of residence. Finally, she is leading a project on gender bias in hiring algorithms to understand how gender bias limits women's access to employment.

  • Steering Group Member

    Vetere is the Deputy Dean of Engagement and an expert in human-computer interaction with a direct focus on aging populations. He will directly contribute to our understanding of the technological changes in work futures and existing partnerships with industry and the City of Melbourne.

  • Co-chair/Steering Group Member

    David’s research draws on cultural geography and mobilities research to investigate contemporary social problems involving mobility-labour relationships. His research programme has been developed through five Australian Research Council funded projects:

    (1) Commuting Life: Labour Mobilities and Transformations in the Twenty-First Century City
    (2) Working Away: How Mobile Work is Transforming Homes
    (3) Enhanced Humans, Robotics and the Future of Work
    (4) Gig Cities: Pleasure and Sorrow in the On-Demand City
    (5) How the Digital Remote Working Revolution is Transforming Homes

  • Co-Chair/Steering Group Member

    Dr Brendan Churchill is an Australian Research Council (ARC) Senior Research Fellow and Senior Lecturer in Sociology in the School of Social and Political Sciences, Faculty of Arts.

    He has been at The University of Melbourne since 2017, most recently as a Research Fellow and the Program Manager of Life Patterns Research Program in the Melbourne Graduate School of Education (MGSE) and before that as a Research Fellow in Sociology in the School of Social and Political Sciences (2017-2021).

  • Steering Group Member

    Susan is a Professor in Organizational Studies in the Department. She is an internationally recognized expert in gender, workforce diversity, organizational communication and qualitative methods.

    Her research interests also include gender, age and employment; work-based identities, and the impact of new technologies on work and organizations. Before becoming an academic Susan worked in industrial relations, equal employment opportunity and human resource management in public and private sector organizations. She is on the editorial boards of the journals Organization Studies, Journal of Management Studies and Gender, Work and Organization.

  • Steering Group Member

    Borland is the Truby Williams Professor of Economics and leading labour economist in Australia whose research expertise informs the highest levels of government. He will directly contribute to understanding how automation influences economic changes in the Australian workforce and brings direct networks to industry and government.

  • Steering Group Member

    Cheong is an expert on data mining, social networks and digital ethics. His research provides critical insights into bridging computer science and legal understandings of equity in technology, a direct contribution to understanding digital work futures.

  • Steering Group Member

    Blackham is a DECRA Fellow expert on employment law for marginalised groups – women, youth, older and gig workers. She will bring research expertise on legal frameworks to understand work futures and a strong track record of external funding.

  • Steering Group Member

    King is a current DECRA fellow and an expert on disability, gender and work in relation to health. She has a current project on mental health of young carers, a group particularly important for work futures and an extensive track record of external funding.

  • Steering Group Member

    Evans is a Director and expert in indigenous leadership, business development and entrepreneurship. She is excellent at building high-impact community-led projects including the MUURA Indigenous Business Master Class program, a skill that is integral for developing impactful outcomes for this HRI.

  • Steering Group Member

    Frermann is an expert on the creation of meaning and natural language processing. Her currently funded projects on gender bias in hiring algorithms and fairness in natural language processing (ARC Discovery) will provide critical understanding of equity in emerging technologies.