Call for Papers

Cultivating human potential: Building sustainable people practice in a changing world

In an era of rapid change, increasing complexity and evolving expectations of work, organisations must intentionally create the conditions that enable people, teams and systems to thrive. The conference explores how organisations can unlock human potential, foster resilience and develop people practices that create lasting organisational and societal value.

Inspired by Cape Town’s unique character as a place of convergence, diversity and resilience – where people, cultures and ideas meet and adapt in the face of challenge – the conference invites academics, practitioners, leaders and students to share research, insights and innovative approaches to creating workplaces that are productive, people-centred and future-ready.

Through evidence-based dialogue, delegates will examine how people practices can strengthen adaptability, promote wellbeing, support inclusive growth and contribute to sustainable organisations capable of flourishing in uncertain and demanding environments.

The conference is organised around four complementary tracks – Labour Relations, Human Resource Development, Industrial Psychology and Human Resource Management – which collectively explore how sustainable people practices can strengthen resilience, foster human flourishing and enable organisations to navigate complexity while creating long-term value for individuals, organisations and society.

Conference tracks and relevant topics

There are various themes that are interdisciplinary and that can be researched under any of our allocated tracks, such as leadership research, artificial intelligence, 4IR, analytics, succession planning, talent management etc. You can choose a track that best fit these interdisciplinary research topics.

We invite scholarly, conceptual, empirical and practitioner-oriented contributions that address, but are not limited to, the following tracks and topics:

1. Labour Relations: Building resilient employment relationships

• Future of labour relations in AI-enabled (because this is a thing now), hybrid, digital and platform-based workplaces
• Social dialogue, workplace democracy and stakeholder engagement
• Collective bargaining, labour peace and dispute resolution
• Employee voice, participation and workplace democracy
• Workplace justice, procedural fairness and organisational equity
• Conflict management, mediation and relationship-building (for trust purposes)
• Employment law, labour policy and constitutional developments
• Decent work, social justice and sustainable employment
• Labour relations during organisational transformation
• Labour market resilience and workforce sustainability

2. Human Resource Development: Cultivating capability for sustainable and adaptive futures

• Strategic HRD and capability development for organisational and societal sustainability
• Learning, development and organisational capability in complex and changing work environments
• Reskilling, upskilling, skills transitions and lifelong learning for the future of work
• Leadership, management and talent development, including succession capability
• Career development, employability and sustainable careers
• Coaching, mentoring, developmental relationships and workplace learning in practice
• Organisational learning, learning cultures, knowledge management and intergenerational knowledge transfer
• Digital learning, artificial intelligence, learning analytics and the evaluation of HRD impact
• Inclusive, equitable and accessible learning for wellbeing, resilience and human flourishing
• Green skills, national skills systems and partnerships between workplaces, universities, colleges, professional bodies and other skills-development institutions

3. Industrial Psychology: Enhancing human flourishing and wellbeing

• Employee wellbeing and mental health
• Psychological resilience and adaptability
• Employee engagement and motivation
• Meaningful work and employee experience
• Leadership and organisational culture
• Diversity, inclusion and belonging
• Psychological assessment and psychometric practices
• Team effectiveness and collaboration
• Work-life integration and flexible work
• Positive psychology and human flourishing at work

4. Human Resource Management: Advancing sustainable people practice

• Strategic and sustainable HRM
• Future of work and workforce transformation
• Talent management and retention
• Recruitment and selection innovations
• Performance management
• Employee experience and engagement
• Diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging
• Digital HR and people analytics
• Responsible leadership and HR governance
• HRM for organisational sustainability and resilience

All prospective presenters must submit an extended abstract for peer review.

Extended abstract requirements

Extended abstracts must be between 750 and 1 000 words (excluding the reference list) and should include:

• Title of the paper
• Conference track
• Purpose and objectives of the study
• Theoretical framework and key concepts
• Research design and methodology (where applicable)
• Approach to data collection and analysis (where applicable)
• Key findings or expected findings
• Theoretical contribution
• Practical implications for people practice
• References (not in word count)

Conceptual papers are welcome and should clearly articulate their theoretical foundations, arguments and contributions.

Authors should ensure that sufficient detail is provided to enable a rigorous review of the scholarly merit and relevance of the submission.

Full paper for conference proceedings – optional

Authors whose extended abstracts are accepted will have the opportunity to submit a full paper for consideration in the GPPC2027 Conference Proceedings. Submission of a full paper is optional and is in addition to the accepted conference presentation. The proceedings aim to showcase high-quality scholarship and innovative practice that contribute to advancing sustainable people practice globally. Further guidelines regarding paper length, formatting and submission procedures will be provided with the abstract acceptance notifications.

All full papers will undergo an additional peer-review process before inclusion in the conference proceedings.

Important dates

Review process

All submissions will undergo a double-blind peer-review process. Authors are therefore requested to remove all identifying information from their submissions. Submitting authors may be invited to serve as reviewers as part of the conference peer-review process.

Ethics and originality

Submitted work must:

• Be original and not previously published or presented at another conference.
• Not be under consideration elsewhere at the time of submission.
• Comply with applicable research ethics requirements.
• Have obtained ethical clearance where required by the authors' institutions or relevant regulatory bodies.
• Be accurately referenced and adhere to accepted standards of academic integrity.

Conference organisers reserve the right to request proof of ethical clearance where applicable.

We look forward to receiving submissions that advance our understanding of how sustainable people practices can cultivate human potential, strengthen resilience and contribute to thriving organisations and societies in a changing world.

Abstract submission form