On 30^th November Ana Basiri attended the Midlands Intelligent Mobility Conference at Loughborough University. This conference brought together industry, government and academic sectors to review the strategies, challenges and opportunities of making transport services in the UK more intelligent, adaptive, personalised, automated and environmentally friendly. The conference placed travellers and commuters at the heart of the transport system and discussed the challenges of user-centric mobility services.

Since many of our daily journeys are to or from work, the WORKANDHOME project studies how working from home can contribute to the reshaping of urban planning in the future. In this regard, Professor Margaret Bell (CBE) of Newcastle University gave an interesting talk on the impact of reducing the number of trips, particularly long journeys, on the emission of carbon dioxide and other pollutants. She explained that even the replacement of all cars with electric cars would not make it possible to hit the target that the UK has committed to by 2050, and the number of journeys needs to be reduced. From this perspective, it seems that working from home could be viewed not only as an alternative for business but also as a necessary approach for saving the environment.

As part of research into coworking and home-based businesses, Annabelle Wilkins recently participated in two coworking events in Winchester and London.

Winchester Jelly is a free event in which freelancers come together for social contact and to work alongside other  home-based workers in a friendly and supportive environment. It is held once a month at Winchester Racquets and Fitness centre, and according to the organisers, all members need to bring is ‘a computer, some work, and a willingness to chat’.

Annabelle also attended the launch of Freelance Friday at Huckletree Shoreditch, a coworking space in East London. Organised by Rebecca Collins and Caitin Liebenberg and hosted by Huckletree, Freelance Friday is a monthly coworking event where freelancers can meet, work and collaborate, with the added bonuses of yoga, coffee and snacks.

Both events revealed fascinating insights into how coworking can facilitate a sense of community and belonging among freelancers in different contexts and areas of the UK. We look forward to learning more about the future of coworking and freelance work over the coming weeks – please get in touch with the team if you are involved in coworking and would like to take part in the research.

Research by Darja Reuschke on the importance of housing for self-employment has been featured on the Understanding Society website. The research linked data from Understanding Society and the Household Panel Survey. It revealed how a person’s housing situation can affect their chances of entrepreneurism by tracking people over a 20-year period.

Read more about the key findings and policy recommendations: https://www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/2016/10/18/self-employment

The ILS Dortmund is recruiting self-employed workers and business owners who work mainly from home or use their home as the base for their business, in the Kreuzviertel in Dortmund. If this is you and you are interested in taking part in the research, please contact Cornelia Tippel

Darja Reuschke presented results from the ERC WORKANDHOME project at the European Urban and Regional Studies Conference in Crete on 15^th September 2016.

Darja Reuschke was invited to give a talk at a workshop on local entrepreneurship and business start-ups in Glasgow on 20th September 2016. The event was part of the CAN DO PLACES campaign supported by the Scottish Government. The event was aimed at local government and policy makers and was well attended.

GrowBizPerthshire ‏@Grow_Biz Sep 20

Looking forward to hearing @DarjaReuschke talking about #microbusinesses at @CanDoPlaces event @scotgoveconomypic.twitter.com/Fh80lJwSLo

Darja Reuschke was invited to give a seminar at the Luxembourg Institute for Social and Economic Research (LISER) in Esch, Luxembourg, on 2^nd November 2016. Darja presented results from her ERC WORKANDHOME project and discussed future research collaboration with LISER.