About our decent work and productivity research

About our research 

We are a multi-disciplinary group of researchers with backgrounds in:

  • business psychology

  • employment relations

  • human resource management

  • leadership and management

  • social policy

  • work and equalities

Our vision is to identify what causes – and who has – decent and productive work, and what can be done to shape a bright future for the world of work.

Our funding

Several prestigious funders support our research activities, including:

  • Economic and Social Research Council

  • National Institute for Health and Care Research

  • Nuffield Foundation

  • Leverhulme Trust

  • Our knowledge transfer partners

Our impact

Our research translates into real-world impact. Our excellent track record includes our:

  • highly-rated REF 2021 impact case study on changing employment and practice in adult social care

  • regular engagement with parliamentary committees and government departments

  • close partnerships with a wide range of policy and practice organisations, who share our commitment to decent and productive work

Our expertise

We have expertise across a wide range of areas, including:  

  • health and wellbeing at work  

  • labour market transitions, skills and employability, including active labour market policy, graduate employability and vocational training

  • creating decent and productive work. including employment charters and good line management  

  • employee voice, industrial relations and trade unions   

  • equalities in work, training and education, including self-employment and entrepreneurship

  • business psychology 

Our partners

As well as extensive collaborations with fellow academics, we have close working relationships with policymakers, companies and research centres in the UK, Europe and beyond.

We are partners with the Massey People, Organisation, Work and Employment research group at Massey University in New Zealand. 

Selected projects

Find out how our research is making an impact.

Key publications 

Our academics regularly publish in world-leading journals including:

  • Work, Employment and Society

  • Human Relations

  • the International Journal of Human Resource Management

We also publish accessible research and policy reports, including: