Conference Programme 2026
This Conference will take place at the University of Salford at 43 Crescent, Salford M5 4WT, United Kingdom from the 16-17 of June 2026
Time | Room/Stream 1 | Room/Stream 2 |
10:00–10:30 | Welcome | |
10:30–11:30 | Keynote Speaker Professor Julia Lane: The Industries of Ideas: A people-based approach to tracing the workforce impact of research investments in AI | |
11:30–12:30 | Lunch | |
12:30–14:30 | Session 1A: AI Adoption, Internal Processes and Organisational Change | Session 1B: AI in Marketing, Consumer Perception and Generative Content |
14:30–14:45 | Break | |
14:45–16:45 | Session 2A: Skills, Education and Labour Market Transformation in the Age of AI | Session 2B: AI Adoption, Productivity and Financial Strategy |
18:00 | Dinner at Kargo MKT, Salford Quays |
|
Time |
Room/Stream 1 |
Room/Stream 2 |
|
09:00–11:00 |
Session 3A: AI, Labour Economics and Macroeconomic Dynamics |
Session 3B: AI in Organisational Functions: HR, Reporting and Supply Chains |
|
11:00–11:10 |
Break |
|
|
11:10–13:10 |
Session 4A: AI-Driven Business Models, Entrepreneurship and Labour Data |
Session 4B: Governance, Regulation, Competition and Emerging AI Risks |
|
13:10–14:10 |
Lunch |
|
|
14:10–15:10 |
Keynote Speaker Professor Richard Whittle: Artificial Intelligence: A place-based labour problem |
|
|
15:10–15:20 |
Break |
|
|
15:20–16:20 |
Teaching AI, next steps and future directions |
Session Details
* = unconfirmed / not yet registered
Session 1A: AI Adoption, Internal Processes and Organisational Change
Chair: Dr. Tahir Rashid
- Robert Menger: The hidden treasure deep in files – Anonymous classification of technical information inside of files (Discussant: Ainsley Casement-Sparrow)
- Orest Firsov: AI and internal governance of the firm: exploring power dynamics in French industrial manufacturing firms
- Ainsley Casement-Sparrow: Internal Adoption of Artificial Intelligence Tools Within Large Corporations: A Proposed Methodology to Measure Internal Adoption (Discussant: Orest Firsov)
Session 2A: Skills, Education and Labour Market Transformation in the Age of AI
Chair: Professor Andy Miah
- Tom Stables: Cognitive and Creative Transformation in AI-Augmented Work: Rethinking Cognitive and Creative Transformation in AI-Augmented Work: Rethinking Skills, Decision-Making and Value Creation in Marketing Practice (Discussant: Professor Khatira Huseynova)
- Professor Arif Qayyum: Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) Self-Efficacy in Higher Education (Discussant: Tom Stables)
- Subrah Krishnan-Harihara: Upskilling for the Unknown? Young People’s Perceptions of AI Skills, Employability and Future Work Readiness (Discussant: Professor Arif Qayyum)
- (Online) Professor Khatira Huseynova: Transformation of Skills and Jobs in Business and Economics (Discussant: Subrah Krishnan-Harihara)
Session 3A: AI, Labour Economics and Macroeconomic Dynamics
Chair: Dr. Peter Reeves
- Claudio Zucca: Automation and the Broken Career Ladder: A Coordination Failure (Discussant: Dr. Daehyun Yoo)
- Professor Helen Popper: Artificial Intelligence in the Macroeconomy: Pricing, Adoption, and Distribution (Discussant: Claudio Zucca)
- Dr. Michalis Kourtidis: From Labouring Humans to Techno-Anthropes: AI and the Posthuman Challenge to Labour Economics (Discussant: Professor Helen Popper)
- Dr. Daehyun Yoo: AI Adoption and Labour Market Adjustment: Insider-Outsider Dynamics (Discussant: Dr. Michalis Kourtidis)
Session 4A: AI-Driven Business Models, Entrepreneurship and Labour Data
Chair: Professor Marie Griffiths
- * Rebeccah Ndungi: An AI-Agent for Labor Market Intelligence: Business Model Innovation and Economic Analysis in the East African Digital Economy
- * Diana Krieger: AI-Technology Acceptance Analysis in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises – Results of a Qualitative and Quantitative Case Study in a German Company (Discussant: Rebeccah Ndungi)
- Professor Michael Vogelsang and Tom Staab: AI task domains – Developing a Clustering Method of Embedded Online Vacancy Postings (Discussant: Diana Krieger)
- (Online) Medina Klicic and Professor Simone Roth: A GenAI-Supported and Participatory Approach to Business Model Development: Evidence from Toolbox to Ecosystem (Discussants: Professor Michael Vogelsang and Tom Staab)
Session 1B: AI in Marketing, Consumer Perception and Generative Content
Chair: Dr. Yun Chen
- Dennis Liedtke: Virtual Influencers as Credible Sources: Eye-Tracking and Survey Evidence from Instagram Advertising (Discussant: Irina Simon)
- Dr. Jiayan Huang: Why Consumers Resist AI: Psychological Discomfort in Human–AI Interaction
- (Online) Professor Julia Thalmann: AI Disclosure on Instagram: Attention, Transparency, and Scepticism
- Dr. Irina Simon: From Deus-Ex-Machina to Eccyclema: Using Narrative Prompting Techniques to Generate Business-Related Case Studies (Discussant: Dr. Jiayan Huang)
Session 2B: AI Adoption, Productivity and Financial Strategy
Chair: Dr. Peter Reeves
- (Online) Dr. Shensi Wang: Is the AI Bubble Another Dot-com Crash? A Comparative Review of Two Technology-Driven Investment Booms (Discussant: Stavros Pantos)
- Dr. Christoph Bierbrauer: Is AI Productivity Mediated by User Skill? (Discussant: Dr. Shensi Wang)
- (Online) Stavros Pantos: The AI Principles Framework: A General Insurance Playbook
Session 3B: AI in Organisational Functions: HR, Reporting and Supply Chains
Chairs: Geoffrey Evans and Kingsley Omon
- (Online) Professor Thomas Rautenstrauch: From Pilots to Governance: An Empirical Framework for Responsible GenAI Adoption in HR Controlling (Discussant: Dr. Vahid Babaveisi)
- Professor Isabel Lausberg: Recalibrating AI Maturity in Management Reporting (Discussant: Professor Thomas Rautenstrauch)
- Dr. Vahid Babaveisi: AI-driven Approach for Waste Classification in the Construction and Demolition Waste Supply Chain (Discussant: Professor Isabel Lausberg)
Session 4B: Governance, Regulation, Competition and Emerging AI Risks
Chair: Dave Fallon
- Dr. Peter Reeves: Potential UK Government Policy with respect to Artificial Intelligence (AI): Prospects for middle ground regulation? (Discussant: Dr. Soumya Banerjee)
- * Theshaya Naidoo: Beyond Concerted Practice: Autonomous Algorithms and Transnational Competition Harm
- * Theshaya Naidoo: When Code Governs Capital: Rethinking Fiduciary Duties for AI-Driven Firms
- Dr. Soumya Banerjee: Unconventional Sources of Risk in Open-Source Large Language Models (Discussant: Theshaya Naidoo)
