M. Bowles

Institute for Working Futures

This presentation examines the transformative impact of AI on the future of work and careers, highlighting the growing importance of durable human capabilities. It underscores why specific skills and mindsets enable employers to better recruit and develop individuals who can realise their full potential, think critically, collaborate dynamically,...

This keynote presentation explores the necessary steps for building sustainable careers in an AI-disrupted workplace. It emphasises the importance of enduring human capabilities and finding careers that align with each individuals’ innate skills and mindsets, careers allowing them to flourish. The discussion will address why leading employers prior...

Current and past research has focused on identifying soft skills future seafarers are expected to possess or acquire for operating ‘smart’ ships influenced by fast-changing technologies and increasing levels of automations (also known as Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships or MASS). In the absence of an existing framework, the authors of this paper p...

Digitalisation and cyber physical systems are producing highly intuitive systems in the maritime industry and transforming the nature of work and how seafarers will interact with advanced technology on Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS). Researchers are actively investigating the new skills and competencies which may be required by future emp...

With the rapid advancement in autonomous shipping, the boundaries between functions performed by the seafarers are increasingly blurring as automation reshapes how work is designed. The value of non-technical, soft skills, and mindsets that cannot be automated are being rediscovered and found valuable by employers seeking new recruits and expecting...

This paper explores how the Human Capability Standards (HCS) can build a workforce best suited with different types of organisational cultures to foster high performance and engaged talent. By using the Competing Values Framework (CVF) as a generic model, organisations can assess and map which human capabilities support specific cultural dimensions...

This is a keynote explores the myths and noise surrounding the impact of AI on work, learning and future careers.

A presentation demystifying the impact of AI on work and careers. A strong case is presented to shift away from an outdated and oversimplified 'skills=jobs' paradigm. Instead a human-led, technology enabled approach to building careers and workforces of the future is encouraged.

The deployment of skill-based hiring and talent systems faces significant challenges as many human resource and talent practitioners focus on skills but overlook the critical importance of the human abilities when building a future-ready workforce. A meta-crisis is emerging due to macro factors, presenting fundamental hurdles for businesses. Curr...

Universities are becoming institutional relics of a technological and cultural age that no longer exists. Beyond their walls, the world has fundamentally and substantially changed. This means perpetuating traditional approaches to university leadership, learning and assessment models are irrelevant at best. Australian universities are not a speci...

Join Dr. Marcus Bowles on a journey of discovering and exploring the future world of education and its role in supporting improved employability and workforce development. The evolution of microcredentials can be considered a microcosm of how education must make a subtle but substantial shift to better meet student and employer needs. Just as ear...

This presentation is a Case Study of "Future Ready @Telstra" and how they ensured their employees are great at their roles today and ready for what comes tomorrow. Coverage includes use of durable human capabilities derived through decades of research by The Institute for Working Futures, and the fundamental ways incremental micro-credentialing su...

Overviewing the research, consultation and trends supporting the formation of a new Governance Capability Framework.

The mega trends shaping engineering profession and the role of micro-credentials in meeting the future challenges for CPD and career planning.

This white paper explores the necessity of a fresh upgrade for the human operating system (OS), an upgrade that will help humans establish their irreplaceability in a world augmented or driven by artificial intelligence (AI). The analysis in this paper highlights the core capability standards and frameworks that make up this Human OS upgrade, an up...

This instalment of the Next Normal series explores why adaptive capacity is a crucial but widely overlooked (by executives) market indicator of an organisation’s readiness to meet future challenges and opportunities. Future-oriented growth and capability-building strategies will fail unless leaders can raise organisational adaptive capacity. Adapt...

Building or revising a capability framework? Trying to predict the shape of the future workforce or talent requirements? Struggling to get buy-in and answer questions relating to workforce capacity and capability that involve too many complex variables? If so, you should consider this paper immediately. This is the fourth paper in the Next Normal s...

Purpose The value of transverse skills, including human capabilities, has been acknowledged for a significant period of time by major organisations such as UNESCO and the World Economic Forum. This paper reports on the application of microcredentials linked to the Human Capability Framework in a major telecommunications organisation that has a visi...

One of the hardest personal challenges is to look beyond the detail to visualise the whole system. This shift in mindset is critical for organisations seeking to be adaptive and ensure that team members who are working together to simplify or solve problems first understand the complex and often dynamic relationships and patterns that exist in thei...

This paper is the first in a new series, the Next Normal. It builds on the success of the New Normal white papers released in 2020 by The Institute for Working Futures Pty Ltd(Working Futures™) during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. This series of research and summary white papers are sponsored by Capability.Co. The Next Normal series will pr...

This short, proactive presentation will uncover the latest insights into why and how accounting skills and roles will be profoundly reshaped in the next decade. Exploration will be made of how pressure from the design of work and employment will see many traditional accounting occupations disappear. This will occur while the professional capabiliti...

Many businesses are struggling to attract and retain competent employees, which, in turn, has resulted in a skills gap in the workforce. This is because resumes and transcripts do not reflect the true potential of a prospective employee, making it challenging for employers to identify appropriate candidates. This paper reports on the recognition of...

Jobs are changing fast as many firms automate or augment work-tasks. Constant change is the new normal as technology relentlessly infiltrates all industries and businesses. This puts pressure on employees to upskill and stay relevant. While some jobs are relatively immune from disruption, these are in the minority. Most employees will need to conti...

The objective of this research was to investigate the factors of assessment that students undergoing authentic assessment perceived to be significant regarding their academic achievement. This project advanced past research by the authors which found that the academic achievement of seafarer students was significantly higher in a formatively implem...

This White Paper highlights the changes required to resolve structural problems in the labour market that hinder the rapid creation of new digital work roles. Demand for scarce digital skills constantly outstrips the supply of qualified candidates, creating a persistent shortage of talent, depriving organisations of the talent they need to deliver...

Rubrics are assessment tools without which students have no guidelines towards their achievement or to understand the teacher's feedback. Although, traditionally designed by educators, students have been engaged to co-construct rubrics with their teachers. The authors of this paper set out to investigate the difference in the academic achievement (...

This discussion paper explores the following fundamental systemic issue: COVID-19 has amplified future work trends to a point where business change now occurs at a pace that demonstrably exceeds the rate at which tertiary educational providers are responding. It is therefore imperative to look beyond traditional curriculum and to find new paths tha...

Past research shows seafarer students perceive traditional assessment methods used in maritime education and training (MET) institutes as disengaging, making them adopt surface-learning approaches towards acquiring essential knowledge and skills required for the workplace. Instead of developing skills that may be transferred to shipboard tasks, dis...

Authentic assessment tasks test the students’ knowledge to apply knowledge and skills acquired in classrooms to scenarios resembling real-world contexts. However, the fidelity of context cannot alone assure that essential aspects and constructs of professional competencies are being accurately assessed. Testing assessment tasks for content validity...

Presentation examines the future of work, with particular reference to how COVID-19 will continue to affect freelance workers. An examination is made of essential capabilities and how to make yourself stand out to employers when working in what is predicted to become a much more competitive freelance marketplace.

Plenary Address, Accounting & Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand Conference.

Projections over the next 180 days from June 2020 suggest the post-lockdown labour market will be so transformed that every organisation, student and worker—employed or unemployed—should adapt their thinking and plan for the new normal. This paper suggests 5 mindshifts that must be made to successfully navigate the immediate future for work, skills...

Covid-19 brought the future early. It achieved in three months what research into future work predicted would occur in five years: an immense shift in how, when, and where we work. For everyone it was a massive speed bump. While some employers are still driving along shakily, others have crashed to the side of the road. For the lucky few, it has b...

This presentation offers insights into the future of work, capabilities that enhance employability and how graduates can future-proof their career prospects.

The Human Capability Framework Reference Framework is now available to educators and policy makers to improve graduate employability and to accelerate the development of a future-ready workforce. The framework has its foundations in 25 years of international research findings and capability frameworks developed by The Institute for Working Futures...

Is the accounting profession as vulnerable to job loss and disruption through automation and changed business models as international and Australasian research would suggest? To answer this vital question this session will report findings from the extensive research into the future accountant and professional capability requirements conducted by Ch...

This report reviews a pilot study conducted by Deakin University and funded by Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation in 2018. The pilot sought to apply a micro-credential model in an effort to assess and recognise soft-skill related capabilities held by older Victorians located in the Melbourne and outer western region.

Past research showed that traditional assessment methods that required seafarer students to construct responses based on memorisation and analysing information presented in absence of real-world contexts (e.g. oral examinations and multiple-choice questions) disengaged the students from learning. Memorising information is a lower-order cognitive ab...

Key global and Australasian bodies have reported research suggesting the accounting profession is one of the most vulnerable to disruption through automation and changed business models. For universities seeking to improve the employability of graduates and professional bodies seeking to support professional members on a successful lifelong career,...

Key global and Australasian bodies have reported research suggesting the accounting profession is one of the most vulnerable to disruption through automation and changed business models. For universities seeking to improve the employability of graduates and professional bodies seeking to support professional members on a successful lifelong career,...

The Institute for Working Futures has identified six trends in 2020 that will have the most profound effect on tertiary education providers in Australia and New Zealand—including universities, private higher education providers, and institutions registered to delivery under their respective national vocational education and training systems.

This session will sort through the noise and misinterpretations to examine how micro-credentials are an essential means to target and recognise the professional capabilities engineers require today and in the future. This study will include a realistic assessment of the impact of automation on the Australian engineering workforce and the rapid tran...

Recent writing on the future of work is cultivating a psychology of fear. This presentation will remove the hyperbole from the now very noisy future work discussion and emphasise what research and evidence confirm as fact. At the risk of slaying some popular misconceptions, Marcus will provide some robust foundations that will equip individuals...

While many frameworks have emerged purporting to describe human skills, soft skills, employability skills, or future capabilities, there exists sparse research comparing these frameworks or isolating the most important skills within an Australasian future workforce context. Given the importance of using a skills framework to better analyse and pred...

Update of CA ANZ Capability Model implementation

Dr Marcus Bowles will explore what education providers must do to meet the demands of the future world of work and the disruption of tertiary education in Australia. Four critical challenges will be presented to highlight how vocational providers and universities can transform to graduate students that better meet the capabilities employers will va...

Insights into projects reshaping the digital future for higher education By looking through the lens of technology innovation we will examine four existing disruptions that will cause us to rethink higher education teaching, curriculum design, and the underpinning public funding model in Australia. The presentation will examine four themes: 1. Futu...

An examination and workshop covering how Engineers Australia implemented micro-credential models in their reformed Chartered membership process.

This session is less about the ‘what’, ‘when’ and ‘where’ associated with accreditation practices. Instead we will explore ‘why’ change is inevitable due to ‘how’ certain drivers will increasingly promote disruption to accreditation practices across academic, industry and professional domains. Through a focus on credentials insight will be offered...

Reference framework drawn from semantic analysis and global research into capabilities required for future work and employment. Establishes a levelled framework with core, common, leadership, and management capability standards.

Findings of research relating to impact of automation on Australian jobs, the types of automation and impact on jobs to task level, the capabilities required for future work and teh size of the reskilling task to be undertaken by 2025.

Thought leadership paper confirming latest research into myths incorrectly shaping debate in Australia about the future workforce and the impact of technology on jobs.

Overview of VeriSkills a platform and application allowing individuals to manage their lifelong records in a digitally controlled, verified and secure manner. Confirms process, how capabilities and credentials can be verified, and backing of data into the blockchain.

Investigation into what are micro-credentials, common misconceptions, and execution of a micro-credential framework in higher education institutions.

Past literature on authentic assessment suggests that it provides a far more reliable and valid indicator of outcomes such as higher student engagement, ability to transfer skills to different contexts, multiple evidence of competence, and student performance. This has appeal in seafarer education and training where both students and employers incr...

This document reports the results from a survey conducted to validate and tighten findings made in the first stage of this research project. On 10 August 2017, the initial phase of the research was completed with the Project Reference Group and Skills Impact receiving the preliminary report titled Automation Skills: A background paper. The report r...

The focus of this project is on ensuring we have training packages in place that support the development of skilled workers needed to support automation-enabled change and growth; and that the training system can prepare people for the jobs of the (very near) future. This paper brings together desk research on the way that automation is transformin...

This study investigates the strategic antecedents of operational agility in humanitarian logistics. It began by identifying the particular actions to be taken at the strategic level of a humanitarian organisation to support field-level agility. Next, quantitative data (n=59) were collected on four strategic-level capabilities (being purposeful, act...

DeakinDigital is an independent, university-backed international credentialling agency assessing professional capability standards through an evidence-based process. Evidence for issuing a micro-credential recognises a professional capability standard that, in turn, can form part of a macro-credential (a higher education qualification). Credentials...

An industry white paper for organisations building high-performing workforces for the digital age. Audience This paper is intended for leaders in business, education and government seeking to understand credentials and their strategic benefit in the future world of work and learning and the fundamentals underpinning how we grow capabilities in an o...

Keynote presentation overviewing the White Paper on major breakthroughs in credentialing professional capability standards. The presentation establishes the need for improved ways for higher education to keep pace with rapid change to work and occupations, and outlines an innovative approach pursued by Deakin University and the world's first creden...

Series of presentations and a keynote by Dr Marcus Bowles on leadership in the digital age and the role of LEAD credentials.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to extend the concept of agility in humanitarian logistics beyond emergency operations. Since the humanitarian logistics literature focuses primarily on emergencies and sees longer term and regular operations as being conducted in relatively stable and predictable environments, agile practices are usually not...

Presentation to key executive addressing the following questions: - Why do leadership capabilities need to transform? - How do we define leadership given new structures and business models? - What are the most important leadership capabilities and why is competency not enough? - How do we develop our leadership capabilities but assure global compar...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the underlying strategic mechanisms of agility in a humanitarian logistics context. Based on the research conducted in business disciplines, the paper empirically examines a set of four strategic dimensions (being purposeful, being action-focused, being collaborative, and being learning-oriented) an...

With the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping Convention 1995 (STCW’95) moving seafarer training towards outcome-based education (OBE), emphasis has shifted to assessment practices that will allow seafarer students to demonstrate their ability to perform workplace tasks at standards described in the STCW Code. This paper argues tha...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose first, a comprehensive model of the concept of agility in a humanitarian logistics context, and second, to generate a research agenda to test and operationalise this model. Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on the dynamic capabilities model originated by Teece and uses a topical literat...

This paper introduces an assessment methodology that can underpin the objective measurement of shiphandling skills and permit comparative analysis of manoeuvring plans against their execution in a full mission bridge simulator. It was hypothesised that expert shiphandlers would have shown a strong consistency between the initial plan provided and t...

The LaMDA Framework is primarily intended to reinforce the strategic capabilities required by individuals, professions, industries and organisations seeking to be competitive in the Digital Age. Capabilities are defined as the underlying knowledge, skills and attributes required to perform work. While they can be used to profile individuals, unlik...

Past research shows that seafarer employers are critical of some of the assessment methods adopted by the educators at maritime education and training institutes (METs) to assess the competence of seafarers. The criticisms included the failure to develop and assess the holistic skills required to deploy competence in a range of contexts. Moreover,...

Regional insights into Tasmanian Regional Economy

The Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping Convention (STCW) amendments in 1995 intended to improve the knowledge-based training mandate established in STCW’78 by making it outcome-based. This required seafarer students undertake competence assessment (or outcome of training received) to demonstrate their capacity to perform tasks li...

The purpose of this article is to review human resources development strategies for merchant navy seafarers in two southern hemisphere countries: South Africa and Australia. This is done by assessing the labour market and training contexts for seafarers in both these countries. Through its empirical comparative focus, this paper provides HRD insigh...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to use a theory-based approach to develop a new classification model for disasters that reflects their logistics implications, and to contextualise the findings by applying the model to a particular disaster situation. Design/methodology/approach – A widespread literature review was conducted in order to conc...

This report covers Australia with an emphasis on Tasmania. Working Futures™ undertook the project with cooperation from the University of Tasmania, the Australian Computer Society (Tas) and AscariITG.

Food safety requires more sophisticated and intelligent technology in the food supply chain management. The emergence and development of nanotechnology brings a good opportunity to improve the complex technical issues that food supply chain safety needed and may bring revolutionary changes to the food supply chain in the future. This paper reviews...

This paper has been developed by the Australian Computer Society to try and provide more granular insights into Information and Communication Technology (ICT) employment and business activity in Tasmania. It is a “State of the State” report that builds off the ‘knowns’ to illuminate the ‘unknowns’ that need to be considered when producing industry...

The Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) Convention set global, minimum standards of competence for seafarers. Maritime Education and Training institutes (METs) are responsible for ensuring assessment processes not only assure attainment of STCW outcomes but also produce competent graduates that meet the expectations of core...

This Guide is intended to provide guidance and assistance for those seeking to re-establish a mentoring programme. It is a summary of the steps and critical actions required by the practitioner or leaders. It is designed to complement more extensive theoretical and instructional resources. Nevertheless, the essential parameters are outlined suffici...

At present there is no universally accepted body of knowledge suggesting the best method for leading the design and implementation of a learning strategy at a strategic or organisational level. While this publication does not seek to promote a single ‘silver bullet’ solution, it does seek to help leaders and educators better understand how to syste...

Digital Economy and Regional Futures research project, Institute for Working Futures and the Australian Maritime College, University of Tasmania.

The report will illustrate that this achievement has accentuated the need for skills development. Australia is facing the dual challenge of not only skilling a workforce to undertake the massive infrastructure build, but also developing the information and communication technology (ICT) skills—or so-called e-skills—necessary to promote adoption. T...

A nanosensor is an improvement in sensor technology, which is based on the use of structures provided by recent advances in nanotechnology, such as nanowires, nanotubes and nanopores. This paper reviews the recent application of nanosensor technology in the field of logistics management, from packaging, storage, distribution, tracking and tracing a...

This paper reviews the recent application of nanotechnology in agricultural products logistics from packaging, storage and delivery, tracking and tracing, safety, respectively. This paper specifically describes the potential applications of nanotechnology in the agricultural products logistics, the benefits of nanotechnology to the agricultural pro...

Supply chain management requires more intelligent technology in the future; however, the current sensor technology is causing a bottleneck in the development of an intelligent supply chain. The emergence and development of nanosensors provide a good opportunity to improve the complex technical issues that supply chains need and may bring revolution...

Seafarer training in Australia is severely affected by the scarcity of training berths, which is due to the absence of sufficient berths on ‘blue water’ vessels in a declining Australian fleet. Analysis of responses from global maritime institutes provide evidence to suggest an inconsistency in approach and a global frustration with international r...

The development of nanotechnology creates an excellent opportunity to address complex technical issues of agricultural supply chains and heralds revolutionary changes. The potential application of nanotechnology to the agricultural and food supply chain is reviewed. Although there is evidence that nanotechnology could enhance agricultural supply ch...

This is the final report for the project commissioned by Innovation & Business Skills Australia (IBSA) to confirm and validate, through consultation with experts, existing and new skill sets and competencies fundamental to digital literacy.

Overview of recent reports into NBN and skilling as it applies to regional Australia. This presentation overviews the impact and implication.

Using foresighting to predict and determine the shape of future ICT work and employment.

Using smart technologies to improve supply chains.

This is the report to Innovation & Business Skills Australia (IBSA) on findings from research into the impact of the National Broadband Network (NBN) on enterprises in two industries: the printing industry and the insurance broking industry. Through a combination of foresighting methodology by industry members and a study of specific enterprises,...

Research project report into the testing of ebooks and using Kitaboo™ within an integrated vocational training and higher education context to improve distance and flexible learning production for Australian Maritime College staff and our students.

This article provides a concise discussion on two important aspects to the national broadband network (NBN) being constructed in Australia. The material is extracted from a monograph to be published by the DEHub (Bowles, 2011) and is, in part, based on international research for Innovation and Business Skills Australia that was completed as part of...

This article provides a concise discussion on two important aspects to the national broadband network (NBN) being constructed in Australia. The material is extracted from a monograph to be published by the DEHub (Bowles, 2011) and is, in part, based on international research for Innovation and Business Skills Australia that was completed as part of...

A nanosensor is an improvement in sensor technology, which is based on the use of structures provided by recent advances in nanotechnology, such as nanowires, nanotubes and nanopores. This paper reviews the recent application of nanosensor technology in the field of logistics management, from packaging, storage, distribution, tracking and tracing a...