An EconoTimes perspective

Heather Connolly

Associate Professor of Employment Relations, University of Leicester

Associate Professor of Employment Relations, University of Leicester I am a British Academy Mid-career Fellow and Associate Professor of Employment Relations. Prior to coming to Leicester, I spent five years at De Montfort University and have held positions at the Universities of Manchester and Warwick. While working on my PhD (Warwick, 2003-2007) I was a Researcher for the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) in Brussels and a visiting researcher at the IRES research institute in Paris. I maintain strong links with research institutes in France (CRESPPA-CSU, Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris-Dauphine) and am part of the broader international CRIMT network. I am a Senior Fellow of the HEA, an Academic Member of the CIPD and on the Associate Editorial Board of Work, employment and Society (WES). I have experience of teaching on a wide variety of employment relations and HRM modules and research methodology for postgraduate and doctoral students. My research interests centre around the possibilities for trade union renewal, and how trade unions across Europe shape and are constrained by their institutional contexts. My in-depth qualitative research, in France, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK, explores how trade union activists respond to contemporary challenges, particularly the possibilities for radical unionism and the innovative role that trade unions might play in the social inclusion of migrant workers. I have published a number of articles and books in these areas and am currently finalising a co-authored research book from a Leverhulme Trust funded project on comparative trade union responses to migrant workers. For the academic year 2017-18 I will be a British Academy Mid-Career Fellow and researching the possible futures of trade unions in Europe, with a focus on how trade unions in France and the UK seek to represent precarious workers.