Centres, groups and other initiatives

Nordic Research Centre of Labour Law (NORLAB)

Nordic Research Centre of Labour Law aspires to be a leading hub for rigorous academic inquiry and impactful real-world applications in the field of labour law.

Our mission is to advance the discipline by fostering interdisciplinary research, promoting evidence-based legal development, and facilitating meaningful dialogue among scholars, practitioners, and policymakers.

By leveraging our robust national and international networks of experts and collaborators, we aim to address critical challenges in working life, shape legal discourse, and influence the evolution of labour law and employment relations in the Nordic region and beyond.

The labour law research environment at BI is the largest in Norway and ranks among the most significant internationally in terms of scholarly output and research capacity. This makes BI the ideal academic home for the Center.

Our main objective is to deliver academic excellence, outstanding teaching, and meaningful contributions to society, particularly by supporting the development and modernization of labour market regulation in a rapidly changing world.

What we do

The main activity is academic research, but we also aim to:

  • Disseminate knowledge through open-access publications, seminars, and public policy briefs
  • Support legal education and capacity-building for current and future professionals
  • Engage with decision-makers to promote informed and practical labour law reforms
  • Provide a platform for collaboration across institutions, disciplines, and borders

Main research areas

  • The regulation of work and employment in the context of digitalization and platform work
  • The relationship between education systems and labour rights (labour & education law)
  • European and international labour law harmonization and enforcement
    Collective labour relations and dispute resolution mechanisms
  • The legal history and theory of labour law
  • Corporate restructuring, sustainability, and labour protections in the green transition