The "Special Panel for Early Career Researchers" session, scheduled for 09:00-12:45 on Monday, 7 July, will feature presentations by 10 young sociologists, organized into different thematic clusters. This session is part of a broader initiative of the ISA RC02 to elevate the voices of early career researchers. Continuing a tradition established by Michelle Hsieh, Associate Research Fellow at the Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica, Taipei, at the Early Career Sociologists Workshop – a pre-conference event organized before the XXth ISA World Congress of Sociology in Melbourne, Australia, this special panel aim to provide young scholars with a platform to share their innovative research on various aspects of the economy, including labor, valuation, digitization, inequality, and markets. By fostering a supportive and enduring network, the panels introduce these emerging scholars to the work of the ISA and ISA RC02.
The panel is clustered into four themes. Theme 1, "Labour Valuation and Skill," includes a discussion by Ezgi Elmas from the University of Duisburg-Essen on the segmented healthcare sector for migrant physicians in Germany, specifically Turkish physicians, and Kadir Engil, also from Duisburg-Essen, who will explore the connection between transnational higher education and cross-border labor markets. Under theme 2, "Markets and Knowledge," Frederike Brandt from the Technical University Berlin will address the conflicts of materiality in lithium extraction in Argentina, while Elisabeth Schmidt from Bielefeld University will examine the role of global knowledge flows and labor mobility in the creative careers of the contemporary circus industry. In theme 3, "Labour Market Inequalities," Helena Geisler from the Swiss Federal University for Vocational Education and Training will present on employers' selection criteria during the hiring process, Duaa Kattana from Duisburg-Essen will present on the health outcomes of displaced children in Nigeria, and Aamir Ali from the University of Bielefeld will focus on the resilience strategies of Indian migrant workers in Gulf labor markets. Theme 4, "Digital Economies," will feature Ardita Osmani from Duisburg-Essen, who will discuss Chinese migrants in Italy navigating mobility and inequality, Annette Gailliot from the University of California, Berkeley, presenting an innovative methodology for reaching informal home care workers, and Michał Szewczyk from the University of Warsaw discussing the implications of a Polish-developed "Smile Counter" on emotional labor.
The panel will be further enriched by the participation of distinguished discussants: Gracia Liu-Farrer (Waseda University), Aaron Pitluck (Illinois State University), Sanjeev Routray (Universiti Brunei Darussalam), and June Wang (The City University of Hong Kong). Drawing on the full papers submitted by the presenters, these scholars have generously agreed to provide detailed and constructive feedback. Their involvement will foster an intergenerational dialogue, offering early career researchers valuable scholarly engagement, mentorship opportunities, and the potential for future research collaborations across institutional and geographic boundaries.