Is the future of work online?
How online labour markets change the world of work
featuring Dr. Fabian Stephany, Researcher in Social Data Science, Oxford Internet Institute (OII), University of Oxford
About the lecture
In this lecture, Dr. Stephany explains how task automation has created the global challenge of rapidly changing skill requirements for the working population, resulting in the paradoxical situation of simultaneous unemployment and labour shortage. This skill gap widens further as technological and social transformation outpaces national education systems and often, skill requirements for mastering new digital technologies remain unclear.
At the same time, the Covid-19 pandemic has tightened company budgets, forced employees to work remotely, and facilitated the global need for timely reskilling. Over the last decade, automation pressure and remote working technologies have given rise to online labour platforms. They build a globally integrated market that mediates between millions of buyers and sellers of remotely deliverable cognitive work. This market has a strong potential for smaller and advanced economies.
Dr. Stephany discusses how these platforms could help us to understand the grand challenge of reskilling en masse. He explores how the data from online labour platforms could allow us to overcome technological limitations in reskilling by finding valuable individual training pathways, while reducing economically harmful labour market mismatches at large.
About the speaker
Dr. Fabian Stephany is a Researcher in Social Data Science at the Oxford Internet Institute (OII), University of Oxford, and a Research Affiliate at the Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society in Berlin. With the iLabour project at the OII, he studies the global dynamics of Online Labour Markets in collaboration with the International Labour Organisation. Dr. Stephany has published across research domains applying social data science in fields of migration, innovation, labour economics, and e-governance. He holds a PhD and degrees in Economics and Social Sciences from different European institutions, including Universitá Bocconi Milan and University of Cambridge. As an Economist and Senior Data Scientist, he has been working in the private sector and for various actors in the international policy landscape, such as the United Nations Development Programme, the World Bank, and the OECD in Paris.
About the OII
The Oxford Internet Institute (OII) is a multidisciplinary research and teaching department of the University of Oxford, dedicated to the social science of the Internet. Drawing from many different disciplines, the OII works to understand how individual and collective behaviour online shapes our social, economic and political world. Since its founding in 2001, research from the OII has had a significant impact on policy debate, formulation and implementation around the globe, as well as a secondary impact on people’s wellbeing, safety and understanding. The OII takes a combined approach to tackling society’s big questions, with the aim of positively shaping the development of the digital world for the public good.
About the British Council 'Knowledge is GREAT' Lecture Series
The British Council 'Knowledge is GREAT' Lecture Series showcases UK's knowledge, creativity and innovation through leading UK specialists in areas of topical debate and discussion. Throughout the year, the British Council in Singapore organises and hosts a variety of lectures on diverse topics such as arts, environment, sciences and more, aimed at academics, practitioners, students and the general public.