Business School academics included in newly launched international research consortium

The Humans in Digital Logistics (HuLog) project, an international research consortium of Hasselt University, University of Leeds, Kozminski University and the Hertie School, launched on 1 Nov 2022.

The Humans in Digital Logistics project will investigate how digital technologies shape work and employment conditions in warehouses in Europe. To date, the impact of digital technologies on work and employment in warehouses remains poorly understood. Most studies of warehousing focus on IT-induced efficiency gains reducing the time and cost of processing goods, while at the same time neglecting the experience of workers. This project takes a more human-centred look at the digitally-driven transformation of warehousing and logistics work.  

The HuLog project will produce multidisciplinary, cutting-edge scientific knowledge on work and employment in European logistics. It will advance the scientific literature in and across relevant disciplines and inform the public debate on the future of work in a context of rapid technological transformation.

The project involves an extensive network of 17 national and international collaboration partners including employers, employers’ associations, trade unions, public employment services, social-profit companies, and sectoral associations. In collaboration with them, the HuLog project will identify guiding principles for negotiating more human-centred and socially sustainable digital warehousing.

PIs of the international consortium:

Prof Dr Patrizia Zanoni (Hasselt University) - Lead PI

Prof Dr Anke Hassel (Hertie School)

Dr Charles Umney (University of Leeds)

Dr Milosz Miszczynski (Kozminski University)

Project HuLog is supported by FWO Belgium, NSO Poland, UKRI United Kingdom, and the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung Germany under CHANSE ERA-NET Co-fund programme, which has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme, under Grant Agreement no 101004509.

View the Humans in Digital Logistics project page