How long should we work, who benefits from productivity gains, and what would a fairer future of work look like?
These questions will be at the centre of Rethinking Working Time: Productivity, Fairness and Wellbeing, a major national conference hosted by the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia on 12 November 2026.
As debates intensify around artificial intelligence, flexible work, workforce participation and wellbeing, the conference will feature internationally recognised experts whose research is shaping conversations about the future of work including Academy Fellow Professor Rae Cooper AO (University of Sydney), Professor John Howe and Professor Brendan Burchell.
The conference will feature a keynote address from internationally renowned Cambridge University researcher Professor Brendan Burchell, whose work has informed global discussions about shorter working weeks and working-time reform. Drawing on international evidence and workplace experiences, his keynote will examine the potential benefits and challenges of reducing working hours while maintaining productivity and wellbeing.
Professor Rae Cooper AO, one of Australia’s leading experts on work and gender equality, will contribute to a session exploring how working-time arrangements affect families, carers and workforce participation. The session will examine the relationship between flexible work, unpaid care and gender equality, and consider how new approaches to working time could improve wellbeing and economic participation.
Leading labour law and employment relations scholar Professor John Howe will speak on the impact of digital technologies and artificial intelligence on work. His session will explore how technological change is reshaping the pace and organisation of work, and what this means for workers, employers and regulation in an increasingly digital economy.
The one-day event will bring together economists, workplace researchers, policymakers, union leaders, business representatives and social scientists to explore how Australia can respond to changing patterns of work in ways that enhance productivity, fairness and quality of life. Discussions will cover productivity and technological change, artificial intelligence, flexible work and care, and the future of the standard working week.
Hosted at the Potter Museum of Art, University of Melbourne, Rethinking Working Time: Productivity, Fairness and Wellbeing aims to foster informed discussion about one of the defining economic and social questions of our time: how work can be organised to support productivity and wellbeing in the decades ahead.
Event details
What: Rethinking Working Time: Productivity, Fairness and Wellbeing
When: Thursday, 12 November 2026, 9.00 am – 4.30 pm
Where: Potter Museum of Art, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria
Full program available here.
Registration link: https://events.humanitix.com/rethinking-working-time-productivity-fairness-and-wellbeing
Keynote speaker bios:
Professor Brendan Burchell
Brendan J Burchell is a professor at the Faculty of Human, Social, and Political Science at the University of Cambridge and a professorial fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge.
Burchell’s recent research projects have included the effects of labour market experiences on psychological well-being, work intensification and job insecurity; predictors and correlates of the transition into self-employment; managers’ and employees’ different perspectives on jobs, part-time work and gender differences in working conditions and careers, restless leg syndrome and financial phobia. He has held numerous research grants published widely in the academic literature; his work has been featured widely in newspapers and social media. In 2019 his team’s work on the Employment Dosage Project received widespread media coverage in new sites such as The Guardian, The Independent, ITV, the Telegraph, the Metro, and Vice.
Most recently, Professor Burchell lead a team of researchers at the University of Cambridge in monitoring a trial of the four-day working week for 61 UK based companies. To date, it is the world’s largest trial of the four-day working week.
Professor Rae Cooper AO FASSA
Rae is Professor of Gender, Work and Employment Relations at the University of Sydney and founding Director of the Australian Centre for Gender Equality and Inclusion at Work. Her research focuses on women’s labour market participation, career dynamics in very male-dominated sectors, job quality, flexible working, and respect at work. She has led major projects in these areas funded by the Australian Research Council and state and federal governments and works in partnership with organisations across the public, private, and not for profit sectors to translate research insight into improved workplace practice and policy.
Rae has published more than 80 journal articles, numerous book chapters, and several major research reports. She is a prominent public commentator on work and employment issues, regularly contributing to television, radio, print media, and senior policy and business forums. She has served as a non-executive director across public sector bodies and NGOs and is currently a member of the Ministerial Advisory Board of Jobs and Skills Australia.
Rae was the Co-Lead Chief Investigator on a major report released earlier this month by the Working for Women Research Partnership. Good Flex, Bad Flex: Designing Flexibility for Gender Equality looks at the ways Australia can boost gender equality, strengthen workers’ economic security, and make work more sustainable by redesigning jobs to give people greater choice and control over how their work is performed. The report included a survey of more than 6,000 Australian workers across occupations, role types and genders, as well as focus groups and yarning circles with 400 women in the mid-years 40 to 55 range.
In 2019, Rae was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to higher education and to workplace policy and practice and in 2024 she was made a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia.
Professor John Howe
Professor John Howe is Associate Dean (Research) in the Melbourne Law School, where he is a member of the Centre for Employment and Labour Relations Law and the Melbourne Regulation and Design Network. John’s research interests include labour market regulation and policy, regulatory design, and social procurement. He has written extensively on the role of the state in regulating employment and labour markets, and on the intersection between state-based regulation and corporate governance. John is presently engaged in research concerning regulatory enforcement of minimum employment standards and labour dispute resolution in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region. He also researches the history of labour regulation and policy in Australia.
John has extensive experience in senior leadership and governance roles in practice and the academy. Since 2021, he has been a Board Director at the Victorian Workplace Injury Commission. He was Secretary of the Australian Labour Law Association between 2005 and 2009, and Chair of the international Labour Law Research Network from 2015-2019. He was Deputy Dean of the Melbourne Law School from 2013-2016, and Director of the Melbourne School of Government from 2017-2023.
John is a member of the Australian Labour Law Association, the Association of Industrial Relations Academics of Australia and New Zealand (AIRAANZ), the Labor and Employment Relations Association (US), and the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History. He is also a member of the Editorial Committee of the Australian Journal of Labour Law, and was an Editor of the AJLL from 2015-2023.
Prior to commencing an academic career, John worked in private legal practice, and also as a researcher for public policy and advocacy organisations in Washington DC.