This is an in-person event
Termed “Industry 5.0”, the latest wave of technological change in the world of work is characterized by increasing convergence between machine and human intelligence, and builds on the evolving communication structures and globalized labour markets of earlier waves of change. These rapid advancements in technology are posing new, and renewed, challenges for the world of work and its legal regulation. The misalignment between traditional legal principles governing work and the realities of work in this new technological era is increasingly recognized, from classification to privacy issues to collective bargaining. This conference explores the future of technology in the world of work, with a view to thinking through emerging challenges for legal regulation and possibilities for law reform that will better respond to the new realities of work in the digital age.
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The Quantified Worker
Thursday, May 28, 2026 - Keynote Lecture
6-7 pm, followed by Reception
As artificial intelligence rapidly reshapes the modern workplace, few scholars are better positioned to guide us through its implications than Ifeoma Ajunwa. In this compelling keynote, Professor Ajunwa will explore how AI has moved beyond experimentation to fundamentally transform how workers are recruited, managed, and evaluated. Drawing on insights from her acclaimed book The Quantified Worker, she examines the growing shift in workplace power from human decision-makers to algorithmic systems—and what this means for workers, employers, and the future of work. This is a timely and thought-provoking talk you won’t want to miss.
Fee for Keynote:
- Free Event
Friday, May 29, 2026 - Full-Day Conference
8:30 am - 4:30 pm
Technology, Labour and Industry 5.0: What Future(s) for Work and its Legal Regulation?
PANEL I | Collective Bargaining and Technology: Lessons for Broader Law Reform?
Lisa Kresge, UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education
Bargaining Over the Digital Workplace: Recent Trends and Emerging Issues in Technology Bargaining
Lorenzo Frangi, ESG UQAM
Shaping teleworking: forces at play in collective agreement clauses
Bethany Hastie, Queen's University, Faculty of Law, Professor | Director, Centre for Law in the Contemporary Workplace
Why Look to Collective Agreements for Technological Change Practices?
PANEL II | Regulating the Platform Economy: Reflections on Ontario’s Digital Platform Workers’ Rights Act
Laura Dehaibi, Laval University, Department of Industrial Relations
Regulating Labour and Employment in the Platform Economy: Commitment to Workers’ Rights or Neoliberal Compromise?
Raoul Gebert, Université de Sherbrooke
Rights for digital platform workers: comparative perspectives
Paul Christopher Grey, Brock University, Department of Labour Studies
Unenforceable Rights, Enforceable Wrongs: A Critique of the Digital Platform Workers' Rights Act
Kevin Banks, Queen’s University, Faculty of Law
Reflections on Ontario’s Digital Platform Workers’ Rights Act
PANEL III | Cross-Border Work and Third-Party Employment: Accountability in Global Labour Markets
Lauren Thomas, Economist at Deel
Beyond Borders: Data-Driven Insights into the Global Employer-of-Record (EOR) Market
Andrea David Mieli, Global Head of Legal at Deel
Employer of Record: Defining the Model, Resolving the Confusion, and Unlocking the Future of Cross-Border Work
Samuel Dahan, Professor of Law, Queen’s University, Director, Conflict Analytics Lab (CAL) Founder, OpenJustice
The Infrastructure of Global Hiring: Employers of Record and the Future of Work
PANEL IV | Rethinking the Relationship between Data and the World of Work
Brishen Rogers, Georgetown University, Faculty of Law
Data and Democracy at Work
Michele Molè, Security Technology and ePrivacy Research Group, University of Groningen
When the Boss Is a Service: Outsourcing (Algorithmic) Management and the Challenge of Worker Protection
Vera Khovanskaya, University of Toronto, Faculty of Information
Digital Unionism in Practice: Building and Maintaining the Technology Unions Use
Alex Miltsov, Bishop's University
Worker Voice and Generative AI: A Framework for Democratic Technology Governance
This event is organized by Queen’s Law, the Centre for Law in the Contemporary Workplace, and the Conflict Analytics Lab.
Thanks to Thomson Reuters for hosting this event.