We invite PhD and other early career researchers to apply for the expert-led training school, co-organized by EU COST Action Platform Work Inclusion Living Lab (PWILL), Dr. Jing Hiah, Assistant professor at Erasmus School of Law, and Anna Elias, PhD candidate at the International Institute of Social Studies.
This three-day training will equip international and local researchers to:
Critically engage with dominant discourses on platform work Integrate intersectional feminist approaches into their research Build connections with leading experts and peers in the field
Location: Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Dates: June 2-4, 2025 
Application Deadline: April 25, 2025 
Funding available! Travel and accommodation costs will be covered for participants from outside the Netherlands.
We are pleased to announce that Prof. Kylie Jarrett (University College Dublin) will deliver the keynote address on using social reproduction theory to explore labour in the platform economy ecosystem.
This training school is meant to foster a sense of community, belonging and contribute to building a network for participants. We really encourage participants to be present during all activities on all three days.
Apply now through this form.
Preliminary program Training School on Intersectional Feminist Approaches to Platform Labour
During the three-day training school, participants will work on a micro project: an idea of how to connect an intersectional feminist approach/methodology to their research or come up with a social impact activity related to their research and inspired by intersectional feminist approaches. Participants will receive a list of readings and assignments prior to the training school so they are properly prepared.
The training school will kick-off with a keynote by Kylie Jarrett (University College Dublin) where platform work will be explored by Social Reproduction Theory, followed by three workshops (on theory, methodology and social impact/action) and an Author Q&A with Kylie Jarrett about intersectional feminism in academia co-organized by Women@ESL. Besides these activities, the training school will reserve free time for participants to work on their micro project. During the last day participants will pitch their micro project to their peers and instructors of the training school.
People involved
Anna Elias is PhD Candidate at the International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam. Anna’s research explores the extent of impact that digital platforms have on livelihoods in the informal sector. She attempts to map the complexities of workers on platforms in the context of highly informal economies like India, where unemployment and skill-work misalignment in addition to various other structural issues persists. Anna has co-organized the training school.
Miren Gutiérrez Almazor, a Spanish journalist, activist, scholar, and university lecturer who focusses on data activism or how people and organizations use data infrastructure, in combination with other technologies, for social change, environmental conservation, and equality. She is the author of Data Activism and Social Change (2018, Springer). She also serves as WG1 co-leader of the Platform Work Inclusion Living Lab and will be providing a workshop on social impact and action through research.
Jing Hiah is Assistant Professor of Criminology at the Department of Law, Society & Crime, Erasmus School of Law, Erasmus University Rotterdam. Her research focuses on social harms in work and employment, drawing inspiration from critical feminist theories and approaches. She also serves as WG1 co-leader of the Platform Work Inclusion Living Lab. Jing has co-organized the training school and will act as a trainer throughout the three-day program, supporting participants in developing their micro-projects.
Kylie Jarrett is Professor of Information and Communication Studies at University College Dublin. Kylie Jarrett has been researching the internet since the 1990s with a focus on the political economy of the internet, including social media. She is the author of Digital Labor (2022, Polity), Feminism, Labour, and Digital Media: The Digital Housewife (2016, Routledge), co-editor of the forthcoming Sage Handbook of Digital Labour (2025, Sage) and editor-in-chief of the new journal Dialogues on Digital Society. Kylie will provide a keynote on exploring platform work through social reproduction theory. She is also the theory workshop instructor.
Platform Work Stakeholder Map
Defining platform work
There is no clear definition of platform work available. Definitions and typologies of platform work vary considerably but rarely capture all forms of income-generating activity associated with digital media platforms. Consequently, there is no clear definition of platform worker.
The EU Proposal for a directive on improving working conditions in platform work (European Commission, December 2021) describes platform work as labour “performed by individuals through the digital infrastructure of digital labour platforms that provide a service to their customers.” In this proposal, a digital labour platform is defined as a service provider that meets the following conditions:
- work is allocated through electronic means;
- the work is provided at the request of a service recipient.
- it involves the organisation of work, regardless of whether that is performed online or on location.
The proposal then differentiates between a “person performing platform work” which is agnostic about contractual relationships between worker and platform and “platform worker” which is defined as someone with an employment contract or relationship with a platform as defined by law.
The problem of defining platform work in ways that are inclusive of its various forms but which still allows for demarcation of it from other forms of digitally mediated work needs urgent attention.
The EU definition precludes platforms that primarily connect actors within the marketplace but which do not ostensibly organise the work as well as platforms that simply enable the exploitation of assets or reselling of goods. However some of these types of platforms (eBay, Etsy, AirBnB) actually do manage and control work/labour, especially via algorithms.
It might also be pertinent to include unpaid user labour in content and data creation for digital platforms as this activity is an important generator of surplus value, but also because there are blurry lines between commercial online content creation and un-monetised user content creation.
The P-Will working groups identified a range of stakeholders associated with platform which can be loosely grouped into 4 main categories: (1) Users on both sides of the platform-mediated labour exchange (e.g. service recipients and service providers); (2) Organisations and NGOs which support and sustain workers in formal or informal collectives; (3) Regulators whose policies provide parameters and governance of platform work or who respond to the impacts of this form of labour; and (4) Platform companies which includes the economic actors as well as technology designers who site behind the work mediating technologies. An additional stakeholder spanning these categories is the media which plays a role in constructing the narratives about platform work. The final stakeholders are academics and researchers whose frameworks for investigation shape the platform economy landscape and our knowledge of it.
Within each of these categories are subcategories of specific stakeholders.
Each of these actors has a set of issues, problems or challenges related to the dynamics and nature of platform work as well as a set of needs that should be met to ensure an inclusive, equitable, and just labour environment.
The nature of platform work is broadly defined and constantly changing. We welcome suggestions of additions or amendments to this list. Please email
P-WILL@publicpolicy.rs
Produced by Working Group 1 members (WG leaders: Dr. Kylie Jarrett and Dr. Jing Hiah) with contributions from all working groups of the P-Will COST Action (CA21118)