We are approaching you and your organisation regarding our research in the building and construction sector. Our research investigates the experiences, knowledge, future visions, and expectations that workers have about the existing and future use of digital, automated or robotic technologies in the industry, about their own careers and those of future workers. We aim to learn about and propose solutions to societal changes arising from the automation, digitalization, and robotization of work-life.
This study forms part of AUTOWORK, which is an international research project in which Norwegian and Australian researchers are studying the future of work in the building, health, and sales and service sectors. The starting point for our work is that we are at a point in time when digital, automated and robotic technologies are already or are predicted to be increasingly part of workplaces, including the construction/building site. A growing range of advanced, complex, and intelligent machines and automated systems are able to work with or independently of humans. While the technological capabilities of these machines and systems are being tested and in some cases applied in industry, the effects and implications of this for both individual workers and for wider society are not yet known.
What our research will entail
The research involves an interview of up to - but no more than - 90 minutes, with workers on-site. Recognising time pressures in this environment, we will aim for interviews to be approximately an hour. Interviews will be conducted by a member of the research team, and we will adhere to all necessary on-site safety procedures.
The interview will be casual in nature, and will focus on the current and future place of automated technologies - as outlined above. The relationships between individuals in project teams are not a focus of the research, and business-specific questions are not asked.
We also wish to audio and video record these interviews, as this allows us to capture how participants react, gesture, or physically ‘act out’ scenarios. This allows us to see where and how automated and robotic technologies feature in their work, or where such technologies might appear in the future. You or individual participants will be able to notify us if there are any locations or areas where we cannot record, and we will take care not to record persons not involved in the research. We are happy to provide further detail on our research approach if needed.
Possible benefits to organisations
Our research will produce new insights about the future of work in the building/construction from the workers’ perspective. It will highlight how and where this might complicate the existing predictions about how humans and machines might work together in the future and the implications of this. We will use this new knowledge to make suggestions relating to how the future of work and training in the sector might be planned for, and how new technologies can improve worker safety. We are also interested in your questions relating to futures in the sector, and will seek to respond to them on the basis of our research findings.
Our research findings will be made public, through industry focused reports, academic publications and other media outputs. Your organisation and anyone who participates can choose to remain anonymous, however we hope that you will be interested in our findings and pleased to be identified with our work.
If you are open to engaging with this research project, are open to circulating this invitation to suitable project site personnel, or have any questions, please contact us by email (link below). Further information (for individuals participating) can be found the full explanatory statement (link below).
