AIRAANZ Conference 2027
The Association of Industrial Relations Academics of Australia and New Zealand (AIRAANZ) is pleased to announce that the 2027 conference will take place in Brisbane, Queensland, at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) from Wednesday 3 February, to Friday 5 February 2027.
The conference theme is "Power in the Balance: Technology, Participation and Decent Work." As labour markets respond to technological disruption, climate disasters, and geopolitical instability, relationships of power between individual actors, institutions, and states are continually shifting, reconfiguring labour processes and employment relationships. Across industries and economies, the boundaries of managerial control, worker autonomy, and collective action are being redrawn. At the same time, evolving labour markets, regulatory frameworks, and forms of work organisation are putting pressure on established understandings of participation, representation, and decent work.
This year’s theme invites contributions that explore these tensions from multiple angles: asking who benefits from change, who carries the risks, how workers, unions, employers, and states are responding, and what fairness, security, and inclusion look like in an increasingly volatile world. This conference offers a timely opportunity to turn the attention of industrial relations scholarship towards some of the most pressing questions facing the world of work today.
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Uma Rani is Senior Economist at the Research Department of the International Labour Office. She is a development economist by training and holds a Ph.D in Development Economics from University of Hyderabad, India. Prior to joining the ILO she held the position of Associate Professor at Gujarat Institute of Development Research, Ahmedabad, India and held a number of Visiting Fellow Positions in Tokyo, Zürich and Paris. She has conducted research in the area of informal employment, non-standard forms of work, minimum wages, poverty and inequality with a focus on gender. Since 2016 she has been working on digital transformations in the world of work, wherein she tries to explore how labour and social institutions could be strengthened to address economic and social inequality. She coordinated the major flagship report of the ILO on "World Employment and Social Outlook 2021: The role of digital labour platforms in transforming the world of work” and is currently co-editing a book on "From Taylorism to algorithmic management: A multi-sector analysis of technology, control and worker experiences”.
Dr Iain Ross AO -is the Chair of the Net Zero Economy Authority and a member Monetary Policy Board of the Reserve Bank of Australia. Iain led the Fair Work Commission for over a decade from March 2012 to November 2022. Prior to his appointment as President of the FWC he was a judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria and President of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal. Iain previously served as a Vice President of the AIRC for 12 years and prior to that appointment was an Assistant Secretary at the ACTU. In 2023 Iain was a special advisor to the Victorian Apprenticeship Taskforce and in 2024 was a joint reviewer on the Strategic Review of the Australian Apprenticeship Incentives System. Iain was elected as a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in 2019.
KEY DATES
Call for proposals for special sessions, streams and workshops open: 22 June 2026
Proposals for special sessions, streams and workshops deadline: 24 July 2026
Conference abstract submissions open: 24 Aug 2026
Conference abstract submission deadline: 2 Oct 2026
Abstract acceptance notifications: 6 November 2026
Early bird registrations open: 9 Oct 2026
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