About

Patrick Feuerstein is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Fairwork Secretariat at the Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB). As part of the Fairwork project, Patrick is currently leading a number of global research projects focusing on working and living conditions on digital labour platforms. He is also responsible for coordinating the global dissemination of the Fairwork Pledge, a key element of Fairwork’s outreach activities and stakeholder engagement.

Before joining the Fairwork project, Patrick was a lecturer, research associate and acting professor of sociology with a focus on “Digitalization in the World of Work” and “Work, Organization and Economy” at the Georg-August-University in Göttingen. He is also a member of the Sociological Research Institute at the Georg-August-University Göttingen (SOFI).

Patrick received his PhD in Sociology from the University of Göttingen with a thesis on the impact of IT offshoring on working conditions of software developers in Germany and India. Recent research projects have focused on collaborative and open innovation processes in the IT industry and on working and living conditions of workers in global production networks in the automotive and chocolate industries. His empirical work is predominantly qualitative. His recent research has included fieldwork in China, Ecuador, Ghana, Grenada, Hungary, Indonesia, Mexico, the Philippines, and Trinidad.

Positions at the OII

• Research Associate, June 2022 - August 2023