| Time: | September 25, 2024, 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. |
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| Download as iCal: |
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We are very excited to welcome Sarah Pink – Director of the Emerging Technologies Research Lab, and recently launched FUTURES hub at Monash University, Caulfield, Australia – in our upcoming Constructive Conversations event.
Sarah Pink will give a lecture on "Work Futures, Automation and Robotics"
The event will take place digitally and in person:
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Title: |
Work Futures, Automation and Robotics |
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Speaker: |
Sarah Pink |
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Date: |
25 September 2024 | 2:00-3:30 p.m. |
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Location: |
Campus City Center, Keplerstraße 11 (K1), Room M11.11 |
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Webex-Link: |
This lecture is part of the AdvanceAEC partner seminar series. Please register or log in to access the event credentials. |
Abstract
In this talk I explore the possible futures of work with automated and robotic systems. I argue for a revised vision, departing from conventional Future of Work approaches towards a plural understanding of Work Futures. This, I argue, helps us to better comprehend diversity in digital and work transitions, and to accommodate the human and environmental questions that will shape how automation, robotics and future emerging technologies become part of work futures.
To develop this I draw on research about work futures, robotics, automation and human well being, undertaken in the Australian construction industry over the last three years. The specificity of the construction industry, its unpredictable sites, fragmented structure, evolving materials and shifts towards prefabrication alongside, renovation, retrofit and circular economies make it an important but infrequently discussed case for understanding work future: it is a major global employer and differs substantially to manufacturing and the automotive industry to which it is often compared.
Some business perspectives have characterised the industry as held back by slow and uneven digital transition, and suggested that in the future the workforce will need to be retrained and reskilled to work in automated systems and with robotic technologies. From a futures anthropology perspective, I propose an alternative vision: Conversely our research suggests that in Australia predominantly led by technology startups already embedded in the industry, a "slow" digital transition has beneficial characteristics, and invites an alternative vision of how new workers will become part of an evolving industry landscape. I will explore: who will new gender diverse construction workers be?; how will people collaborate with future automated and robotic technologies on future construction sites?; what might remote work entail, where might it take place, and who will deliver it?; where, how and by whom might future workers be trained?
Sarah Pink
Professor Sarah Pink is visiting us from Monash University, where she is Professor and Director of the Emerging Technologies Research Lab, and recently launched FUTURES hub.
She engages and innovates interdisciplinary and international research approaches to offer fresh perspectives and realistic future visions and foresight about the role of human futures in shaping the better design, use of new, emerging and possible technologies. She has a joint appointment across the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture and the Faculty of Information Technology.
Sarah is an award winning design and futures anthropologist and documentary filmmaker, whose work is influential internationally both inside and beyond academia. In 2023 Sarah was awarded a prestigious five-year Australian Research Council Laureate Fellowship, two Honorary Doctorates from Malmo and Halmstad Universities in Sweden, three Australia Good Design Awards, and the Simon Professorial Fellowship at Manchester University, UK.
She has published numerous academic books, peer referred journal articles and book chapters and directed several documentaries. Sarah is also known for her career-long focus on innovating new research and dissemination methodologies, and engaging design futures, digital, visual and sensory methods in interdisciplinary projects to engage with contemporary issues and challenges.
