POSTED: 29 Jan, 2026
Our Human-Robot Workforce researchers, Associate Professor Penny Williams and Professor Paula McDonald were at The Association of Industrial Relations Academics of Australia and New Zealand (AIRAANZ) conference at the University of Technology Sydney from 28-30th January.
Penny presented in multiple sessions including one in the ‘Technology and Worker Voice’ stream: Humanoids at Work: What will happen when workplaces are shared with human-like robots? by Melinda Laundon, Penny Williams.
The theme of this year’s conference is Shifting perspective and practice: Industrial relations in a changing world of work. This theme invites reflection and dialogue on societal impact in industrial relations scholarship and practice, and the challenges and opportunities of undertaking socially impactful research in a changing world of work.
Read more: AIRAANZ conference 2026 | AIRAANZ
Recent News
ARTICLE: The Humanoid Moment
Written by Dr. Katia Bourahmoune, Acting Co-Lead, Quality Assurance & Compliance program. In April 2026, a humanoid robot crossed the finish ...
A Cost-Effective Path to Better Finishing: Robots That Learn Through Sound
Industrial automation has traditionally been built around a fundamental limitation: robots cannot “feel”. Sensing physical interaction with a work ...
CHI 2026 Honourable Mention for Human–Robot Collaboration Research
A paper from our Designing Socio-Technical Robotics Systems program has been recognised with an Honourable Mention Award at ACM CHI 2026, placing it i ...