King's College London

Over 200 academics, practitioners and business leaders have attended the first Conference of the Department of Human Resource Management & Employment Relations.

The in-person conference, Shaping the Future of Work, brought together attendees for a full day of keynote talks, academic presentations, practitioner insight sessions, poster presentations and networking.

Hosted by the Department of Human Resource Management & Employment Relations at King’s Business School, the event explored how organisations, policymakers and business educators can respond to major shifts in work, including hybrid and flexible working, equality and inclusion, disabled people’s employment outcomes, meaningful work and the growing role of artificial intelligence.

The day opened with a keynote from Executive Dean, Professor Stephen Bach, who looked at the future of NHS work in an era of “polycrisis”, asking whether the NHS can move from a model employer to an anchor employer.

Further keynote sessions were delivered by Professor Heejung Chung, Director of the King’s Global Institute for Women’s Leadership, who explored whether remote working can improve gender equality or risk exacerbating existing inequalities; Professor Kim Hoque, who examined flexible working, employer equality policies and the role of government in improving disabled people’s employment outcomes; and Dr Mladen Adamovic, who discussed what evidence tells us about ethnic differences in recruitment outcomes and inclusive hiring.

The final keynote was delivered by Alexia Cambon, Director, Innovation & Insights, Office of Applied Research at Microsoft, who considered the impact of AI on the changing work environment.

Alongside the keynote programme, the conference was joined by the editorial team led by Professor Tammy Allen from Personnel Psychology, a leading journal publishing research on people and work. The journal places practical and societal relevance at the forefront, sharing the same value as King’s Business School: driving life-changing business and transforming working lives for the better.

The conversation on shaping the future of work can only be further enriched by bringing practitioners and academics together. The conference included practitioner-focused sessions on flexible working and the meaning of the workplace, diversity and inclusion and how organisations can connect meaning, purpose and strategy. These sessions brought together academic experts and senior practitioners from across business, consultancy and professional services, encouraging discussion on how research evidence can inform real-world workplace practice.

Academic parallel sessions and poster presentations also highlighted emerging research from across the field of human resource management and employment relations, with contributions covering remote working, virtual teamwork, diversity, social Justice, recruitment and technology use, wellbeing and development, as well as GenAI and work behaviour.

Jordi Escartín, Founder & Director, Metaweaves, said:

“The parallel sessions were a great opportunity to gather in smaller groups and engage through thoughtful questions.”

Amrit Kaur Deogon, Researcher & Consultant, said:

“What a jam-packed day of knowledge and practical insights. A lot of networking later, I now know about a whole bunch of exciting developments.”

Evgeniya Eibl, Strategic Partner in Organisational Development, said:

“As a practitioner, I deeply value being part of academic spaces like this. It creates a bridge that matters — for better research, better organisations, better leadership, and more human-centred work.”

Grace Adelakun, Navah Grace Consulting, said:

“What I really valued was being in a room where academia and practitioners could come together honestly and thoughtfully. So much of the discussion felt grounded in the realities organisations and employees are navigating right now, rather than theory alone.”

The conference closed with a networking reception, giving attendees the opportunity to continue conversations sparked throughout the day and build connections across academia, business and policy.