Professor Christopher Land

Chris joined ARU in 2018, having previously worked at the universities of Leicester, Essex, St Gallen, Innsbruck and Warwick, where he was awarded his PhD in 2004. Chris’ research is underpinned by an abiding interest in the relationship between economic value and cultural, ethical, aesthetic, and political values.

Most of his current research is focussed on the ‘future of work’ and how work is being impact not only by technology, but also structural, political-economic and cultural changes. Work in this stream has included research on the re-emergence of ‘craft’ as a signifier of value in post-Fordist production, including ‘craft beer’, artisanal instrument repair, and light-engineering. As well as continued research on craft and artisanal production, Chris is currently engaged in research on automation and robotics, AI, and the European Commission’s agenda for an Industry 5.0 transformation anchored in digitalisation and sustainability.

Chris is Professor of Work and Organization and Director of the Centre for Research into the Organization of Work and Consumption.

• Beginner level German

• The Future of Work
• Value/values and the labour theory of value
• Neo-craft and artisanal work, including food and drink
• Alternative organisations, including social movements and cooperatives
• Critical Management Studies and Critical Theory
• Cultural representations of work and organisation, especially in novels
• Democratic organizing at work
• Wellbeing and work
• Digitalisation and work, particularly Industry 5.0
• Skills, technological change, and sustainability

Chris is a qualitative researcher, with experience of ethnographic and interview-based research methodologies. He is happy to consider proposals from PhD applicants with an interest in using theoretical or qualitative research methods to investigate any of the research interests listed above, but particularly:

• The ‘future of work’ as a cultural imaginary shaping technological decision making in organizations and economic development policies.
• Skills and technological change (in manufacturing, professions, and service sector).
• Wellbeing at work and corporate wellbeing programme.
• Ethical business models (cooperatives, B-Corps etc) and ‘good’ working practices.

Please see the Centre for Business and Society pages for specific projects that Chris is currently looking for doctoral students to work on.

Chris teaches on a range of modules including Ruskin Modules on work and wellbeing, Research Methods, Organizational Behaviour, Sustainable and Responsible Business and Leadership and Change.

• PhD Industrial and Business Studies, University of Warwick
• MA Organisation Studies (with distinction), University of Warwick
• BA (Hons) Interdisciplinary Human Studies (first class), University of Bradford

Memberships:

• Chartered Manager: Chartered Management Institute (CMI)
• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, since 2018
• Member of the European Group on Organization Studies (EGOS)
• Member of the British Sociological Association
• Co-convenor of the BSA’s Work, Employment and Economic Life study group
• Editorial Board Member - Organization Studies
• Editorial Board Member - Organization

• Horizon EU: Human 26: Upskilling for Industry 5.0 (2022-25) - €600,000 (Co-investigator). A large scale, collaborative project with a total value of €5m, with partners from industry and HE across the UK, Italy, Sweden, Germany and Spain, and led by the Anglia Ruskin Innovation Centre – a collaborative Innovation centre between ARU and TWI (The Welding Institute). This project uses long-term ethnographic analysis of technological change and digitalisation to understand the skills implications of Industry 5.0 in a range of industries from large scale automotive manufacturing and construction to artisanal craftmanship in the ateliers of Milan.
• British Council: Empowering Global Coffee Growers (2023-24) - £40,000 (Co-Investigator). A project exploring the prospects for empowerment of tribal coffee growers through training and development in sustainable global commodity chains for coffee.
• ESRC Seminar Series: Democratic Renewal in Civil Society (2016-17) - £21,395 (Co-investigator). Running six-seminars bringing together practitioners, policy-makers and academics, to explore the potential for more equal, democratic and participative forms of organizing work and society.
• Haniel Stiftung (Foundation): Recreating Entrepreneurship (2010-11) - €36,000 (Principle Investigator). This funding was for a one-year Research Fellowship in ‘Recreating Entrepreneurship’ at the University of St Gallen, Switzerland, culminating in an international conference on ‘The Aesthetics and Politics of Organization’ at the St Gallen Kunsthalle.

Please see Chris’ ORCID profile for an up to date list of recent publications and links.

Chris has published blogs and been interviewed on radio and television about a number of topics related to work and employment, including BBC television and Radio 4.