Funzing Talks is a new concept which aims to re-invent your after work drinks. They've pulled together an impressive array of leading entrepreneurs, intellectuals, bright thinkers and incredible individuals to inspire your evenings. Held in a hand picked range of bars across Manchester, and now London, a Funzing Talks event makes the perfect after work activity.

Funzing has always encouraged you to do something different with your free time, so we say do just that - you never know where it may lead you!

Technology is radically changing how we work, who we work for, and what work we do. This can be seen clearly with the rise of the so-called “gig economy” and platform work. There are now an estimated 70 million people finding work through apps, platforms, and websites. This work involves geographically specific work like Uber and Deliveroo, alongside new kinds of microwork (small fractured tasks) and freelancing that is mediated entirely online.

Within these new kinds of work, there are emerging concerns about the conditions, which are often obscured behind technology. Similarly, there has been a rapid rise in the use of artificial intelligence and algorithmic management, yet relatively little is known about the impact of these at work. This talk will explore the new forms of work that are emerging, how older forms could be disappearing, and what the increasingly near-future of work will look like.

Jamie Woodcock is a researcher at the Oxford Internet Institute, the University of Oxford. He is a sociologist of work, focusing on digital labour, the gig economy, and resistance. He is currently involved in the Fairwork Foundation, a project about online labour platforms. Jamie is the author of Working The Phones, a study of a call centre in the UK inspired by the workers’ inquiry. His research involves developing this method in co-research projects with Deliveroo drivers and other digital workers in the gig economy.

Doors: 7pm / Talk starts: 7.30pm

Tickets are available here