Research areas

The network aims to bring together knowledge and expertise from multiple academic disciplines to develop integrated models of sustainable work.

This model will be developed through the coordination of the following interrelated streams of enquiry:

1. Economic costs and categories

  • What are the costs of ill health and injury on productivity and lost output?
  • What are the costs of work-related ill health and injury and who bears them?
  • What are the main categories of ill health and injury that are contributing to the above costs?

2. Understanding the health hazards arising from work (Work as Hazard)

  • In what ways does work harm health and wellbeing and how are they changing?
  • What are the most important sources and forms of work-related ill health?
  • How can workplace injury be reduced or eliminated?
  • What are the workplace trends that will affect health in the future? How is the changing nature of work affecting health?
  • What do we know and what gaps exist?

3. Facilitating work that optimises health, wellbeing and productivity (Work as Enhancement)

  • What are the characteristics of work that optimise health, wellbeing and productivity?
  • Which workplace health promotion activities improve health outcomes?
  • What are the links between healthy work and productivity?
  • How can work be redesigned to optimise health, wellbeing and productivity?
  • How can we support building organisational leadership to promote sustainable work?

4. Participation and rehabilitation

  • How can we reduce barriers to and facilitate the creation of quality jobs for vulnerable groups, including the disabled and injured?
  • What are the most effective ways to assist people with health conditions to enter the workforce, remain participating in employment and to return to work after illness/injury?

5. Healthy and sustainable work structures and pathways

  • Which business models are most effective in sustaining long-term health and productivity at work?
  • How can people be better supported in their pathways to and from work over their life course so as to optimise their health and wellbeing?