Work, Crisis, and Transformation in and beyond Europe
20–24 July 2026 | Bildungszentrum Mattli, Morschach (Switzerland)
The world of work is being reshaped by intersecting crises: socio-ecological breakdown, intensified migration regimes, geopolitical instability, and the reorganisation of global production. These transformations profoundly affect labour relations and relations of care and social reproduction, while also opening possibilities for new forms of organising, solidarity, and collective knowledge production. Critical labour studies offer analytical tools to analyse these changes by foregrounding power, and worker agency, and spatial relations.
This interdisciplinary Summer Retreat for Labour Theory and Research brings together researchers working on labour from critical, feminist, and political economy perspectives. The programme covers six thematic streams:
(1) Socio-ecological crisis and labour;
(2) Labour migration;
(3) Labour and digitalisation;
(4) Global production networks;
(5) Care work and social reproduction;
(6) Authoritarianism, Militarisation and Labour;
Each participant will join two of these streams. Please follow the link below for more information on the tracks and online application tool:
Please apply by February 20th 2026. Successful applicants will be notified at the beginning of March.
We are looking forward to a week of discussing labour research with you!
The organising team (in alphabetical order)
Antonie Schmiz, Barbara Orth, Bettina Engels, Christiane Meyer-Habighorst, Jeremy Auerbach, Karin Schwiter, Michaela Douch, Oliver Pye, Stephan Liebscher, Yannick Ecker