Ursula Huws

Ursula E Huws (born 1947) is a Welsh political economist known for her work on teleworking.

Ursula Huws
Born	1947
Nationality	British
Alma mater	Courtauld Institute of Art London Metropolitan University

Early life and education

Huws attended Llanrwst Grammar School and Loreto College Llandudno in Wales and then completed her A Levels at the Oxford High School for Girls in 1965. Huws graduated in 1970 with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in the History of European Art from the Courtauld Institute of Art.^[1] She later completed a PhD at London Metropolitan University in 2009.^[2]

Career

In 1996, Huws started work at the Institute for Employment Studies.^[3] Huws has worked at the London Metropolitan University,^[4] and the University of Hertfordshire.^[5]

She is the editor of the journal Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation,^[6] and co-edits the book series Dynamics of Virtual Work with Rosalind Gill.^[7]

Research

Huws is known for her research on technological change and work. In the 1970s she began research on the impacts of computerisation on office work,^[8] including the health effects of working with video display terminals.^[9] In a 1981 study, The New Homeworkers, she examined how the combination of computing and telecommunications technologies would lead to new forms of teleworking.^[10][11] Her subsequent work has examined how advances in technology result in higher job losses for women,^[12] examined the exploitation of people working from home,^[13] and tracked the increased use of virtual assistants at work.^[14]

Selected publications

• Huws, Ursula; Centre, Leeds Trade Union and Community Resource and Information (1982). Your Job in the 80s. London: Pluto Pr. ISBN 978-0-86104-365-1.^[15]
• Huws, Ursula. The new homeworkers : new technology and the changing ___location of white-collar work. OCLC 59028012.
• Huws, Ursula (2003). The Making of a Cybertariat. New York: Monthly Review Press. ISBN 978-1-58367-088-0.^[16]
• Huws, Ursula (2014). Labor in the Global Digital Economy: The Cybertariat Comes of Age.^[17]
• Huws, Ursula (2020). Reinventing the Welfare State: Digital Platforms and Public Policies.^[18]

Honors and awards

Huws was elected a fellow of Academy of Social Sciences in 2004.^[19]

References

1. Huws, Ursula (1985). "Hiraeth". In Heron, Liz (ed.). Truth, Dare or Promise: Girls Growing Up in the Fifties. Virago Press Limited. pp. 171–187. ISBN 978-0-86068-596-8.
2. "Ursula Huws - curriculum vitae" (PDF). Analytica Publications. March 2021. Retrieved 9 August 2025.
3. "New associate fellow for IES". Management Services ; Enfield. Vol. 40, no. 4. April 1996. p. 6.
4. Evans-Pughe, Christine (2003-11-19). "The cyberserfs". The Independent. p. 48. Retrieved 2024-05-12.
5. "Ursula Huws". NYU Press. Retrieved 2024-05-12.
6. "Work Organisation, Labour & Globalisation". Pluto Journals. Retrieved 2024-05-12.
7. "Dynamics of Virtual Work | Editorial board". SpringerLink. Retrieved 2024-05-12.
8. Huws, U. The Impact of New Technology on Women’s Employment in West Yorkshire, Leeds Trade Union and Community Resource and Information Centre, 1980
9. Todd, Roger (1983-01-05). "Computers 'can put you off sex'". Daily Mirror. p. 5. Retrieved 2024-05-12.
10. Bertin, Imogen (2000). The teleworking handbook : new ways of working in the information society. Internet Archive. Kenilworth : TCA, the Telework, Telecottage and Telecentre Association. pp. 18, 26, 29, 34, 35. ISBN 978-0-9528492-2-3.
11. McCarthy, Helen (2022). "Flexible Workers: The Politics of Homework in Postindustrial Britain". Journal of British Studies. 61 (1): 1–25. doi:10.1017/jbr.2021.126. ISSN 0021-9371.
12. Lewis, James (1983-01-05). "Technology 'cuts jobs for women'". The Guardian. p. 2. Retrieved 2024-05-12.
13. Boseley, Sarah (1994-09-13). "Homeworkers 'desperate and exploited'". The Guardian. p. 6. Retrieved 2024-05-12.
14. Rose, Barbara (2004-10-24). "Virtual assistants connect to work via 'Net". Lansing State Journal. p. 109. Retrieved 2024-05-12.
15. Review of Your Job in the Eighties
    • Sykes, Geraldine (1982-06-10). "'Chips' down and here to stay". Huddersfield Daily Examiner. p. 8. Retrieved 2024-05-12.
16. Review of The Making of a Cybertariat
    • Mayer-Ahuja, Nicole (2004). "Review of The Making of a Cybertariat. Virtual Work in a Real World". International Review of Social History. 49 (3): 531–533. ISSN 0020-8590. JSTOR 44582862.
    • Evans-Pughe, Christine (2003-11-19). "The cyberserfs". The Independent. p. 48. Retrieved 2024-05-12.
17. Reviews of Labour in the Global Digital Economy
    • Hanlon, Mary (2015). "Review of Labor in the Global Digital Economy: The Cybertariat Comes of Age, Huws, Ursula". The Canadian Journal of Sociology / Cahiers canadiens de sociologie. 40 (4): 567–570. ISSN 0318-6431.
    • Fiori, Nicholas; Berardi, Franco “Bifo”; Dyer-Witheford, Nick; Huws, Ursula (2017). "The Precarity of Global Digital Labor". Women's Studies Quarterly. 45 (3/4): 321–326. ISSN 0732-1562. JSTOR 26421142.
    • Downey, Gregory J.; Huws, Ursula (2015). "Review of Labor in the Global Digital Economy. The Cybertariat Comes of Age, HuwsUrsula". International Review of Social History. 60 (3): 518–519. ISSN 0020-8590. JSTOR 26394817.
18. Review of Reinventing the Welfare State
    • Cangiani, Michele (2023-04-03). "Review of Ursula Huws, Reinventing the Welfare State: Digital Platforms and Public Policies Review of Ursula Huws, Reinventing the Welfare State: Digital Platforms and Public Policies, London: Pluto Press, 2020, 209 pp: London: Pluto Press, 2020, 209 pp". Forum for Social Economics. 52 (2): 218–222. doi:10.1080/07360932.2022.2088589. ISSN 0736-0932.
19. "New Academicians" (PDF). Social Science Bulletin. No. 9. Academy of Social Sciences. 2005. p. 4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-07-16. Retrieved 2024-01-19.

Further reading

• Huws, Ursula (1985). "Hiraeth". In Heron, Liz (ed.). Truth, Dare or Promise: Girls Growing Up in the Fifties. Virago Press Limited. pp. 171–187. ISBN 978-0-86068-596-8.

External links

• Ursula Huws publications indexed by Google Scholar