Rate My Professor Michael Gillan

Michael Gillan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Management and Organisations at the UWA Business School, University of Western Australia, where he currently serves as Head of Department. His academic career at UWA has involved extensive research on employment relations, global governance, and labour regulation, with a particular emphasis on Asia. Key research interests include the role of Global Union Federations in employment relations in India and Indonesia through an ARC Discovery project, employment relations in global production networks, labour movements in India, and employment relations in Myanmar. Gillan contributes to UN Sustainable Development Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth. He is the former President of the South Asian Studies Association of Australia and has led multiple funded research initiatives, demonstrating significant influence in the field of industrial relations and labour studies in the Asia-Pacific region.

Gillan has authored or co-authored over 64 research outputs, including 25 journal articles and 19 book chapters, published in prestigious outlets such as Economic Geography, Asian Studies Review, South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, Australian Journal of Labour Law, and the Journal of Industrial Relations. Notable recent publications include 'Authoritarian innovations: a fresh perspective on the state's role in labour governance' (Journal of Industrial Relations, 2024, with M. Ford), 'Calling multinational enterprises to account: CSOs, supranational institutions and business practices in the global south' (Global Networks, 2024, with M. Ford and H.H. Thein), 'Coalition-building as a power resource: Transnational collaborations between global unions and non-union actors' (Social Movement Studies, 2025, with M. Ford), and 'The Global Union Federations and their affiliates: Constrained agency in action' (Economic and Industrial Democracy, 2026, with M. Ford). His research has been supported by major grants, including ARC Discovery Project 'Global Production Networks and Worker Representation in Myanmar' (2018-2020, $305,116, with M. Ford and H.H. Thein), ARC Discovery Project 'Scaling Global Labour: The Global Union Federations in Indonesia and India' (2013-2015, $189,416, with M. Ford), an International Labour Organisation scoping exercise (2017, $23,100), and UWA Research Grants Scheme funding for projects on trade unions in India (2005, $12,400) and good faith bargaining (2004, $4,530). These contributions underscore his impact on understanding labour organisation, globalisation, and economic development in South and Southeast Asia.