Dr Elizabeth Humphrys is a political economist of labour and work, and the Head of Discipline of Social and Political Sciences at UTS. She researches the impact of economic crisis and climate change on workers, and control within the labour process. Elizabeth takes a multidisciplinary approach, drawing also on sociology and history, to seek ways to make work safer and more equitable.

Elizabeth's current and recent projects have investigated: climate change and workers' health and safety; impacts of neoliberalism on labour; industrial and social contexts of hi vis clothing in Australia; experiences of disabled professional workers; and, the 1970 West Gate Bridge disaster. Her book, How Labour Built Neoliberalism, was described in the Sydney Review of Books as a ‘tremendously important’ contribution to understanding economic change in Australia’s recent past.

Since joining UTS in 2016 Elizabeth has designed and taught subjects on the future of work and global political economy in the School of Communication, and overseen industry placements in the final year of the Social and Political Sciences degree. She has also taught in the Bachelor of Communications core and electives curriculum, to students in many disciplines, on Australian history, digital literacies and inclusive citizenship. 

Elizabeth is an Editor of the Q1 journal Social Movement Studies, and an Associate Editor of Economic & Labour Relations Review, and an Associate of the independent policy think tank the Centre for Future Work. The UTS Research Groups she participates in are: the Climate, Society and Environment Research Centre (C-SERC); the Australian Centre for Public History (ACPH); and, the Disability Research Network.