About the Team
Research Team
Professor Phillip Brown
Distinguished Research Professor, Cardiff University
Programme Director, Digital Futures of Work
Phil has extensive experience studying the future of work across advanced and emerging economies. He has interviewed many leading transnational companies and senior policy makers in countries including America, China, Germany, Singapore, and United Kingdom. He’s given keynote presentation in over 20 countries and authored a number of books including The Death of Human Capital?: Its Failed Promise and How to Renew it in an Age of Disruption’ (2020). He Chaired a Review for the Welsh Government on digital innovation for the economy and the future of work, and sits on the Council of Management, National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR), Westminster, London.
Sahara Sadik
Assistant Director (Research), Institute for Adult Learning Singapore
Deputy Programme Director, Digital Futures of Work
A political economy researcher, Sahara researches on the policy context of the organisation of work, education and labour markets across diverse national systems. She focuses especially on how different societies organise themselves with contrasting ways and opportunities for human development. She is a co-author of the book Learning and Development of Non-permanent Workers in Singapore (2019; London: Routledge).
Professor Manuel Souto-Otero
School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University
Deputy Programme Director, Digital Futures of Work
My main areas of interest are education policy analysis and evaluation. I have a particular interest in the link between education and work, particularly digitalisation, the future of work and its implications for skills development, social stratification and inequalities, and internationalisation in education. I have undertaken extensive research in those areas and have also undertaken a large number of consultancy projects on education issues for the European Commission, European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop), the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), various governments, think-tanks and voluntary sector organisations.
Professor Richard Watermeyer
Professor of Higher Education and Co-Director of the Centre for Higher Education Transformations, University of Bristol
Deputy Programme Director, Digital Futures of Work
Richard Watermeyer is a sociologist and professor of higher education and co-director of the Centre for Higher Education Transformations (CHET) at the University of Bristol. His research is predominantly concerned with critical analyses of change and disruption in higher education affecting the organisation and governance of universities and science; academic identity and research praxis; and the public role and contribution of universities and scientists. His recent books include Competitive Accountability in Academic Life: The Struggle for Social Impact and Public Legitimacy (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2019) and The Impact Agenda: Controversies, Consequences and Challenges (Bristol: Policy).
Professor David James
Professor of Sociology of Education, Cardiff University
Collaborator, Digital Futures of Work
Professor James has expertise in the study of governance, teaching, learning, assessment and inequalities in education. Professional and vocational provision and its relationship to work and workplaces is a particular interest. He has researched and published extensively on these topics, directing several major projects and authoring over 80 articles, books and reports. Professor James is editor of a leading international journal and is Chair of the UK 2021 Research Excellence Framework Education sub-panel.
Professor Ewart Keep
Professor Emeritus, Oxford University
Member, Centre on Skills, Knowledge & Organisational Performance (SKOPE)
Collaborator, Digital Futures of Work
Professor Keep has been researching employment and skills issues for more than 35 years. He has written on lifelong learning, employers’ investment in skills, how skills policies are created and enacted, and the role of education and training within broader economic development. He has advised the UK government, is a member of its new Skills and Productivity Board, and is also board member of the Scottish Funding Council, and sits on the Scottish Government’s Strategic Labour Market Group.
Chia Ying
Senior Researcher, Institute for Adult Learning Singapore
Collaborator, Digital Futures of Work
Chia Ying researches on jobs and skills in the changing contexts of work, with particular focus on skills research in relation workplace performance and productivity, and on the impact of skills provision on the workforce. Her research interests also include the exploration and application of data-driven methodologies to understand the futures of work.
Hanne Shapiro
HANNE SHAPIRO futures, Denmark
Collaborator, Digital Futures of Work
For more than 25 years, Hanne has carried out international policy studies and provided strategic advice to national governments, OECD, UNESCO, and the EU Commission. She is well grounded in futures methodologies and have in several contexts, actively applied these to explore and reimagine lifelong learning scenarios and the role of human ingenuity in shaping technological change. In that context, she has worked with numerous sector bodies in Denmark, Scandinavia and in Europe such as financial services including Fintech, engineering services, advanced manufacturing, and Edtech. More recently, she has supported the European Commission in a European consultation process to define a European approach to micro-credentials in the context of lifelong learning.
Associate Professor Helen Bound
Deputy Director (Research), Institute for Adult Learning Singapore
Collaborator, Digital Futures of Work
Dr Bound’s research focus is on learning across a wide variety of contexts, including workplace learning, learning in high technology environments, professional learning and learning through collaborative activity. She is lead author of the book, Learning and Development of Non-Permanent Workers in Singapore (London: Routledge). Her most recent book is due for publication this year: Helen Bound, Jennifer Pei Ling Tan, Rebekah, Wei Ying Lim (Editors). Pedagogies for Future-Oriented Learners – Flipping the Lens from Teaching to Learning.
Professor Johnny Sung
Visiting Research Fellow, Institute for Adult Learning Singapore
Collaborator, Digital Futures of Work
Professor Sung is currently a visiting fellow at the Institute for Adult Learning. He specialises in three areas of skills research: (a) national systems of workforce development with special reference to the sectoral approach to skills development and future of work; (b) skills utilisation and workplace performance, and (c) high performance working, business model and the demand for skills.
Professor Caroline Lloyd
School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University
Collaborator, Digital Futures of Work
Professor Lloyd’s research expertise focuses on skills, work organisation and labour markets, with a particular interest in international comparative studies. She jointly wrote the books Low Wage Work in the UK and Skills in the Age of Over-Qualification: Comparing Service Sector Work in Europe. Her current research projects explore the use and impact of digital technologies in the workplace in the UK and Norway.
Dr Chen Zan
Principal Researcher, Institute for Adult Learning Singapore
Collaborator, Digital Futures of Work
Dr Chen’s research focuses on training and adult education, innovative learning, teacher cognition, teacher education and professional learning. She has almost 20 years of research and teaching experiences in universities in Singapore and China. At IAL, she leads projects on Training and Adult Education (TAE) landscape and systems to inform both policy and practice and support future development of the TAE sector.
Simon Freebody
Adjunct Research Associate, Institute for Adult Learning Singapore
Collaborator, Digital Futures of Work
Simon has over 11 years of experience designing and conducting social science research and evaluation in the areas of labour economics, workforce development, and work-related technological shifts and trends. Skills and abilities include research and survey design, policy and program evaluation, quantitative research methods, econometrics and multivariate statistics.
Candice Chong
Researcher, Institute for Adult Learning Singapore
Collaborator, Digital Futures of Work
Candice’s research interest are in the areas of industrial-organisational psychology and behavioral science. Her research at the IAL includes intervention studies in the organizational as well as individual context. She is currently involved in mixed-methods research projects that study the impact of corporate policies and structures on talent, jobs and skills amidst the changing nature of work.
Tan Bao Zhen
Researcher, Institute for Adult Learning Singapore
Collaborator, Digital Futures of Work
Bao Zhen conducts local and international large-scale quantitative research on adult skills, adult education and lifelong learning, which involve stakeholders such as the Ministry of Manpower Singapore, Ministry of Education Singapore, SkillsFuture Singapore, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Sheng Yee Zher
Principal Researcher, Institute for Adult Learning Singapore
Collaborator, Digital Futures of Work
Yee Zher’s research interests include skills utilisation, job quality and lifelong learning and he conducts nationwide large scale quantitative research like PIAAC and the Skills and Learning Study. His research in IAL covers the development of the Singapore Lifelong Learning Index for the monitoring and tracking of Lifelong Learning Culture in Singapore as well as the development of a job quality measure for workers and tracking the skills trend of job in Singapore.
Jazreel Tan
Researcher, Institute for Adult Learning Singapore
Collaborator, Digital Futures of Work
Jazreel’s research interest includes understanding skills (demand), workplace practices, organisational productivity and the impact of automation on jobs and skills. Some of the main projects that she has worked on in IAL includes the Business Performance and Skills Survey (BPSS) and the Automation studies.
Bryan Ang
Researcher, Institute for Adult Learning Singapore
Collaborator, Digital Futures of Work
Bryan’s research focuses on the study of local and international Training and Adult Education systems, as well as labour markets and skills. His research interests lie within the intersection between politics and policymaking. Some of the main projects that he has worked on in IAL include the Training and Adult Education Landscape Survey 2 (TAE 2) as well as the COVID-19 Educators’ Survey.
Dr Katherine Parsons
Research Student, Cardiff Business School
Collaborator, Digital Futures of Work
Along with her work on the Digital Futures of Work Programme where she is researching the role of HRtech in shaping the future of HR, talent management, and employee rewards, Katherine is a research associate with the Centre for Innovation and Policy Research at Cardiff University and is currently involved in a number of research projects regarding innovation policy and strategy and the digitalisation of work. Her research interests also include the exploration who we are when we are at work from an identity perspective. Her PhD focused on understanding the ways in which start-up teams construct their sense of who they are and what they do during the earliest stages of new venture creation, particularly those seeking to achieve social purpose whilst making a profit.