SER Café Meeting (online)

Date: 30 January 2026, 8:00 AM PT / 4:00 PM GMT (UK) / 5:00 PM CET.  

Location: Online 

Please register at this link. 

The paper published by Tiago Vieira (European University Institute) and Pedro Mendonça (Heriot-Watt University) in 2025, The times, are they changing? Examining platform companies’ chameleonic labour process as a response to the Spanish Rey Rider, investigates the impact of Spain’s Ley Rider (Rider Law), which established a universal presumption of employment for platform couriers by highlighting platform companies as “institutional chameleons,” to underline their ability to adjust their operations to either comply with or circumvent new regulatory frameworks. 

Qi Song (Northwestern University) and Tiantian Liu (The University of Manchester) published their study in 2025 called Transcending boundaries and breaking social safety nets: how digital platforms reorganize the market and exacerbate economic insecurity, to explore the platformization of the Chinese freight transportation sector, specifically the emergence of the Full Truck Alliance (FTA) by arguing that platforms have replaced traditional “relational infrastructures”—social networks based on trust and local ties—with centralized digital infrastructures. 

As with all SER Café events, this session will prioritize dynamic conversation with the authors over lengthy presentations. Come ready to engage, ask questions, and discuss these critical contributions to the field. Our authors look forward to your questions and comments.