Professor Deirdre McCann welcomes UN and World Bank to Durham
Professor Deirdre McCann has welcomed global policy-makers from the World Bank, UN International Labour Organization (ILO), and International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) to Durham.
Professor McCann’s workshop on Quantifying the Global Business Environment held on 14th September, explored the rise of global business indexes and their influence on national labour law policies across the world, with a particular focus on the World Bank’s new Business Ready (B-READY) index. The participants reflected upon urgent challenges to the future of work including promoting job creation in economic growth strategies, especially for young people, and ensuring decent and secure jobs.
The workshop participants included the Chief Economist of the ILO, Dr. Sangheon Lee, Dr. Valeria Perotti, the Manager of the World Bank’s Business Ready (B-READY) unit, and Rouguiatou Diallo of the ITUC. Papers were presented by leading scholars on labour and business indexes, Professor Simon Deakin and Kamelia Pourkermani (Cambridge), Professor McCann, and Professor Mathias Siems (European University Institute).
The workshop was supported by Durham University Business School (DUBS) and organised in collaboration with the School’s Professor Bernd Brandl, Director of the DUBS Policy Hub. It was followed by a DUBS public Panel Discussion, organised by Professor Brandl, at which Professor Deakin, Dr Lee and Dr Perotti were joined by the School’s Dean, Professor Kieran Fernandes and Professor Rudolf Sinkovics to reflect on contemporary global challenges to international business and labour markets and the role of Universities in shaping global policy.
Workshop papers will be published as a Special Issue of Europe’s leading labour journal, the European Journal of Industrial Relations, edited by Professor McCann, in early-2027.
Professor McCann’s article with Sangheon Lee on ‘The World Bank’s Business Ready Project’ was published earlier this year in the Modern Law Review.