If you are a member of an organization that would like to become an affiliate of BIEN, click here or scroll down to the bottom for the requirements of affiliates and the instructions for requesting affiliation.
Facebook: Basic Income Guarantee AustraliaCoordinator: Gregory Marston (g.marston@uq.edu.au)School of Social ScienceFaculty of Humanities and Social SciencesUniversity of QueenslandSt Lucia CampusMichie Building, QLD, Australia 4067
AUSTRIA: Netzwerk Grundeinkommen und sozialer Zusammenhalt – B.I.E.N. Austria
Founded in October 2002
Antonigasse 100, 1180 Wien
Website: www.grundeinkommen.at Email: info (AT) grundeinkommen.at (please replace “AT” by “@”)
Contact person: Margit Appel (margit.appel@ksoe.at) Contact person (Media): Markus Blümel (markus.bluemel@ksoe.at)
Bangladesh: Bangladesh Basic Income Network (BBIN)
Founded in August 2020
Chairperson: A K M Maksud Secretary: Imtiaj Rasul Coordinator: Khandaker Reaz Hossain
President: Luca Santini (luca.santini@bin-italia.org) Vice President: Rachele Serino (rachele.serino@virgilio.it) Coordinator and contact person: Sandro Gobetti (sandro.gobetti@bin-italia.org) Other members and roles of BIN Italia Committee: https://www.bin-italia.org/consiglio_direttivo.php Email: info@bin-italia.org Address: BIN Italia Via Filippo De Grenet, 38 – 00128 Rome, Italy Tel.: Luca Santini: +39 3487752116 Tel.: Sandro Gobetti: +39 3334375476
Founded in April 2008 Website: www.icu.org.mx Coordinator: Pablo Yanes (ingresociudadano@gmail.com; pyanes2007@gmail.com) Member of BIEN’s International Advisory Board: Pablo Yanes
Coordinator: Branko Gerlic Contact persons: Branko Gerlic (branko.gerlic@gmail.com), Dr. Valerija Korosec (valerija_korosec@yahoo.com), Dr. Igor Pribac (suriprib@guest.arnes.si)
Zofijini ljubimci – Drustvo za razvoj humanistike Ob zeleznici 8 2000 Maribor Slovenia
President: Daniel Raventós (presidencia@redrentabasica.org) Member of BIEN’s International Advisory Board: Daniel Raventós Departament de Teoria Sociològica, Filosofia del Dret i Metodologia de les CCSS Facultat d’Economia i Empresa Universitat de Barcelona Diagonal, 690 08034 Barcelona, Spain
BIEN is willing to affiliate organisations with the same aim as itself:
To educate the general public about Basic Income, that is, a periodic cash payment delivered to all on an individual basis, without means test or work requirement; to serve as a link between the individuals and groups committed to, or interested in, Basic Income; to stimulate and disseminate research about Basic Income; and to foster informed public discussion on Basic Income throughout the world.
An affiliated organisation needs to
be not-for-profit
have regular activities
have a constitution with a clear decision-making structure *
promote debate on Basic Income, and not only on particular Basic Income schemes or funding methods
be focused solely on Basic Income and not committed to any broader programme or wider agenda (even if Basic Income is a central aspect of that agenda)
refrain from causing any form of reputational damage to BIEN, and not to be affiliated to any organisation that might cause reputational damage to BIEN
welcome the involvement of everyone interested in Basic Income
keep in contact with BIEN’s Executive Committee
(* Two methods for selecting the decision-making body are acceptable: selection of new members of the decision-making body by existing members of it, or election of members of the decision-making body by a wider organizational membership.)
To apply to be affiliated to BIEN, an organisation needs to write a letter to the secretary at secretary@basicincome.org explaining how it fits the criteria and providing contact details. BIEN’s Executive Committee will then decide whether to recommend affiliation to the General Assembly. The final decision on affiliation is made by the General Assembly.
Any affiliated organisation that is found not to be adhering to the criteria for affiliation will be discussed by the Executive Committee, which might recommend disaffiliation. Final decisions about disaffiliation are made by the General Assembly.
Videos of all the plenary sessions are available on youtube. Abstracts of all the concurrent sessions are available here. Full papers and slides of some presentations are available below.
This table contains the papers uploaded to the congress website prior to the congress. If other authors submit their papers then they will be added to this list.
Videos are available of many of the congress sessions. Click here to see them.
BIEN 2016, Seoul
The Proceedings of the 2016 congress are contained in a single document, in which can be found plenary session addresses and parallel session papers. Click here to download the document.
Toward a renovation of economic circulation and institutionsMorley-Fletcher, Edwin (IT) Opening AddressOzanira da Silva e Silva, Maria (BRA) The Minimum Income as a Policy for Increasing Child Education in BrazilPelzer, Helmut (GE) Funding of an Unconditional Basic Income in Germany via a Modified Tax/Transfer SystemPioch, Roswitha (GE) The bottom line of the welfare state in Germany and the NetherlandsQuilley, Steven (UK) Sustainable Funding of Basic Income: Environment, Citizenship & Community, and a Trajectory for Basic Income Politics in Europe (published in Basic Income on the Agenda)
Reynolds, Brigid (IRE), with Sean Healy
From Concept to Green Paper: Putting Basic Income on the Political Agenda (published in Basic Income on the Agenda)
Robeyns, Ingrid (B)
An emancipation fee or hush money? The advantages and disadvantages of a basic income for women’s emancipation and well-being (published in Basic Income on the Agenda)
Roos, Nikolas (NL)
Basic Income and the justice of taxationSalinas, Claudio Caesar (ARG), with Philippe Van Parijs Basic income and its cognates. Puzzling equivalence and unheeded differences between alternative ways of addressing the new social question (published in Basic Income on the Agenda) Scharpf, Fritz (D) Basic Income and Social Europe (published in Basic Income on the Agenda)
Schutz, Robert (US)
More Basic IncomeSerati, M. (IT), with E. Chiappero & F. Silva Basic income: an insidious trap or a fruitful chance for the Italian labour market?Silva, F. (IT) ), with E. Chiappero & M. Serati Basic income: an insidious trap or a fruitful chance for the Italian labour market?Smith, Jeffery (US) From Potlatch to EarthshareStanding, Guy (SWI) Seeking Equality of Security in the Era of GlobalisationTerraz, Isabelle Redistributive Impact of a Basic Income: A Focus on Women’s SituationVan Parijs, Philippe (B), with Claudio Caesar Salinas Basic income and its cognates. Puzzling equivalence and unheeded differences between alternative ways of addressing the new social question (published in Basic Income on the Agenda) Widerquist, Karl (US) Reciprocity and the guaranteed income
Bank account name: The Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN)
Bank and bank address: CAF Bank Ltd, 25 Kings Hill Avenue, Kings Hill, West Malling, Kent ME19 4JQ, United Kingdom
IBAN number: GB19CAFB40524000031789
Swift number: CAFBGB21XXX
Account number: 00031789
Sort code: 405240
And there are two options for membership:
To become a life member, pay a single fee of 90 British pounds.
To become an annual member, decide on your annual fee (see the suggestions below) and set up a standing order, either to Paypal or to the bank account.
Suggested scale:
Annual Income
Membership fee
0-£20,000
£10 per year
£20,000-£40,000
£20 per year
£40,000-£60,000
£30 per year
£60,000-£80,000
£40 per year
More than £80,000
£50 per year
For any questions related to BIEN’s financial affairs, please contact the treasurer, Dr. Malcolm Torry, at treasurer@basicincome.org
All members have the right to vote at BIEN’s General Assembly meetings, to stand for election to the Executive Committee, and to vote for the Executive Committee.
Please note that membership takes effect 22 days after the application for membership has been sent and a fee has been paid, and only sooner than that if the Executive Committee makes such a decision in a particular case (see paragraph 9, 1, b of the constitution). No new memberships will be approved either at the General Assembly or during the week before it.
B(I)ENefactors
The donation level at which a person becomes a new B(I)ENfactor is £360. If they wish, B(I)ENefactors’ names are listed on the website, but they have no special role in BIEN.
B(I)ENefactors
Stephen Stillwell (US), Víctor Gómez Frías (ES), Joel Handler (US), Philippe Van Parijs (BE), Helmut Pelzer (DE), Guy Standing (UK), Eduardo Suplicy (BR), Robert van der Veen (NL), Richard Caputo (US), Rolf Kuettel (CH), Jeanne Hrdina (CH), Wolf D. Aichberger (AT), Einkommen ist ein Bürgerrecht (DE), Ahn Hyo Sang (KR), Al Sheahen (US), Daniel Schmidt (DE), Gunmin Yi (KR), Cho Sung Hee (KR), Adriaan Planken (NL), Steven Grimm (US), Julius Nadas (US), Luc Gosselin (CA), Jon Altman (AU), Annika Lillemets (SE), Aktive Arbeitslose Österreich (AT), Robin Ketelaars (NL), Neil Howard (IT), Amanda Renslow (US), Ryan Renslow (US), Bruno Gantelet (FR), Ali Mutlu Köylüoğlu (TR), Cecilia Soto (MX) and Nicholas Rodie (AU), Marcelo Lessa (BR), Alessandro Jochem (BR)
A General Assembly of BIEN members is held once a year, and constitutes the Annual General Meeting of the Charitable Incorporated Organisation registered in the United Kingdom.
2020
Because of the coronavirus outbreak, the Charity Commission agreed that charity governing bodies could decide not to hold Annual General Meetings during 2020. As the 2020 BIEN congress had been cancelled, the Executive Committee decided not to hold a General Assembly during 2020, but instead to fulfil as many of the normal functions as possible by postal ballot, with results to be announced on the date on which the General Assembly would have been held.
Sarath Davala is an Indian sociologist based in Hyderabad, India. He co-founded India Network for Basic Income and Mission Possible 2030 – both organisations working on basic income related issues. From 1993 to 2000, he was an Associate Professor at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore. Between 2010 and 2014, he was the Research Director of the Madhya Pradesh Basic Income Pilot Project. He is the co-author of the book: “Basic Income: A Transformative Policy for India”, which summarised the findings of the MP BI pilot study. He is currently co-leading another basic income pilot with waste collectors in the city of Hyderabad, India, a project initiated by University of Bath, and supported by European Research Council. Sarath is also collaborating with different agencies to innovate solutions to reach cash the last mile in the rural parts of India.
Deputy Chair: Hilde Latour
Hilde Latour has a background in biomedical sciences and cultural anthropology and years of experience in program and knowledge management. She is a life member of BIEN, board member of Basisinkomen Nederland (Dutch BIEN) and co-founder of Mission Possible 2030 – Basic Income the key to SDG. As a guest lecturer at the blockchain minor – International Financial Management and Control at The Hague University of Applied Sciences, she explores the boundaries of paradigm shifts, such as Building Commons on the blockchain, a new narrative for Basic Income.
Treasurer: Lindsay Stirton
Lindsay is a Professor of Public Law at the University of Sussex. His academic interests are wide-ranging academic, spanning administrative law and public administration in the UK and elsewhere. Lindsay’s interest in basic income has to date been centred on the administrative analysis of basic income policies, and he has published widely on this topic. More recently, Lindsay’s interest has extended to understanding the dynamics of political and governmental support for basic income policies, in which the administrative factor is just one of several components.
Lindsay lives in Seaford, on the South Coast of England, where he serves as Liberal Democrat Town Councillor for the Seaford South ward.
In his spare time, Lindsay trains for and runs marathons.
Secretary: Fabienne Hansen
Fabienne Hansen is a PhD student in social anthropology at the University of Freiburg, Germany. She is also associated with Universidade Federal Fluminense in Niterói, Brazil, where she looks at the integration of UBI within municipal social policies in Brazil. Generally, Fabienne is interested in the effects basic income could have on everyday livelihoods as well as the shaping of policyscapes that stand behind policy decisions. She was elected BIEN Secretary in 2024.
UN Liaison: Diana Bashur
After serving three years as BIEN Secretary, Diana will focus her work within BIEN on expanding BIEN’s partnerships with United Nations entities, presenting basic income as a complement to international development and peacebuilding efforts. This builds on BIEN’s collaboration with UNDP, the Office of the UN Secretary-General, the UN Peacebuilding Support Office and UNIDO, which Diana has led since 2021.
Diana is a PhD candidate at the University of Vienna researching basic income’s potential for social cohesion. In the past, she has worked for the United Nations and the French Development Agency in Damascus, New York and Vienna. Diana was elected BIEN UN Liaison in August 2024.
Social Media Manager: James Grant
James has been contributing to BIEN’s online presence since 2018, becoming the Social Media Manager for the organisation in 2021. He studied International Relations at Queen Mary, University of London, and currently works in the tech sector.
Public Outreach: Julio Linares
Julio Linares is an economic anthropologist from Guatemala. He holds an MSc in Anthropology and Development from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a MA in Applied Economics and Social Development from National ChengChi University (國立政治大學) in Taipei, Taiwan. His research focus dwells on the relationship between money, direct democracy and unconditional basic income. Julio is currently based in Berlin, Germany, where he explores these topics in practice with the Circles UBI project. Julio is currently serving his second term as Public Outreach for BIEN. He speaks Chinese, English, Spanish, German and a bit of Hungarian.
Research Coordinator: Jurgen De Wispelaere
Jurgen De Wispelaere is a political theorist turned public policy scholar, specialising in the political economy of basic income. He has published extensively on the politics of basic income, including most recently on basic income and crisis politics, basic income as national-regional-local policy, and the political origin story of basic income in Maricá (Brazil) and its diffusion across Rio de Janeiro state. He is the co-editor of four volumes as well as the Founding Editor of the interdisciplinary journal Basic Income Studies. Jurgen was a member of the BIEN EC in 2002-2004 and co-organised the BIEN Congresses in Montreal (2014) and Tampere (2018). He is currently leading the UBIdata Project for BIEN.
Volunteer Coordinator: Lee Seng Kiat
Prior to his career in architecture and project management, Seng Kiat coordinated volunteers as polling and counting agents nationwide to observe the momentous 2018 Malaysian General Election. Since moving from Kuala Lumpur to London, Seng Kiat volunteered for BIEN before serving as Volunteer Coordinator. Seng Kiat has advocated for Basic Income from 2019 and resonates with BIEN’s role in fostering discussions over Basic Income. He is also fluent in Malay and Mandarin. Seng Kiat was elected BIEN’s Volunteer Coordinator in August 2024.
Hubs Supervisor: Dr. Neil Howard
Dr. Neil Howard is Reader in International Development at the University of Bath, where he leads UBI Bath, the UK’s first centre of basic income scholarship. He is an anthropologist of development turned social protection scholar. His research investigates the governance of exploitative labour practices, as targeted for eradication by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). He also explores innovative forms of labour and social protection, focusing on Unconditional Basic Income (UBI) combined with participatory community organizing. Neil co-led two international policy experiments trialling this combination in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and Hyderabad, India. He also sits on the Executive Committee of the Basic Income Earth Network.
Affiliates Coordinator: Olaf Ostertag
Olaf Michael Ostertagis based in Berlin, Germany, and has been a grassroots activist for Basic Income since 2004. He co-founded the “BAG GE” (Basic Income Working Group) within the political party DIE LINKE (“The left”), together with Katja Kipping, Ronald Blaschke, Stefan Wolf and others. This action committee was successful in convincing a majority of this party’s membership to adopt Basic Income as a political demand until recently. His first professional education was actor’s training, at Valentin Plátáreanu’s studio. Olaf wrote over two dozen satirical plays for ensemble casts and stand-up comedy shows, the latest of which he is currently performing in Berlin. Olaf worked briefly as a journalist and as office manager for members of parliament, on state and national levels. In 2017, he began training as a tax accountant and has worked at the same consultancy firm consecutively since 2018. He currently chairs two charities in Berlin: A local history association and an artist’s social club. As Affiliates Coordinator, he aims for collecting the knowledge, experience and objectives from all over the world, and hopes to be able to foster exchange and inspiring debates between BI activists from different backgrounds. He encourages to reach out to him to induce conversations: olaf [(at)] basicincome.org
News Service Editor: Peter Knight
Peter Knight joined BIEN in 2017. He is a PhD (Stanford University) economist and strategic analyst with broad international experience in digital transformation, e-development, e-government, distance education, electronic media, telecommunications reform, international banking, foundation work, and teaching. Peter is devoted to leveraging information and communication technologies to accelerate social, economic and political development. He currently focuses on promoting thought, communication, and action across three areas: sufficiency, sustainability, and innovation; he is Coordinator of the Sufficiency4Sustainability Network.
Features Editor: Tyler Prochazka
Tyler Prochazka is the opinion editor for BIEN. He is the chairman of UBI Taiwan and a PhD student at National Chengchi University.
Bank account trustees (not members of the Executive Committee): Jacob Eliot, Anne Miller, Simon Duffy, Reinhard Huss
Chair of the International Advisory Board: Philippe Van Parijs
Tasks related to the different posts
The task of the EC
BIEN’s purpose is: To educate the general public about Basic Income, that is, a periodic cash payment delivered to all on an individual basis, without means test or work requirement; to serve as a link between the individuals and groups committed to, or interested in, Basic Income; to stimulate and disseminate research about Basic Income; and to foster informed public discussion on Basic Income throughout the world.
The task of the EC is to ensure that BIEN fulfils its constitutional purpose and to set policy to that end.
General duties of EC members
To attend EC meetings, and if not attending to send apologies. At least 50 % of meetings must be attended between one General Assembly and the next
To fulfil and develop the tasks related to the post to which you were elected
To work with any working group(s) to which you are allocated in order to fulfil the tasks allocated to the group(s) by the EC
Individual duties
Chair
The role of the Chair is to collectively develop a vision, mission and long-term strategy for BIEN. In all aspects the Chair should work closely and in consultation with the Deputy Chair.
She / he should seek new partnerships globally and develop meaningful collaborations with people and organizations that will further the strategic objectives of BIEN in terms of strengthening research about Basic Income, its dissemination worldwide in as many languages as possible so that basic income discussion becomes rigorous and robust. In addition to these strategic aspects of the role, Chair in consultation with the Deputy Chair and the EC members should fulfil the following tasks:
To chair meetings of the EC and the General Assembly
To propose policy and initiatives for BIEN and to lead them
To ensure that decisions made by the EC conform to BIEN’s purpose
To take any urgent decisions required between EC meetings
To represent BIEN to other organizations and individuals
To liaise with the congress Local Organizing Committees over the content of congresses
To submit an annual report to the General Assembly
To raise funds for BIEN and make it financially sustainable
To encourage new organizations to affiliate to BIEN, and work for growth of membership
Deputy Chair
To fulfil all of the functions of the Chair whenever the Chair is absent
To fulfil any of the tasks of the Chair by mutual agreement
To support and help the chair in proposing policy goals and initiatives for BIEN and to assist with leading them
Secretary
In consultation with the treasurer, to keep an up to date register of BIEN members and of members of the EC
To take minutes of EC and GA meetings
In consultation with the Chair, to prepare meeting agendas
To prepare papers required by the EC
To send agendas, minutes and other papers to EC members before EC meetings and to BIEN members before meetings of the GA
To receive correspondence and ensure that it is acted on
To undertake correspondence as required by decisions of EC and GA meetings
To ensure that all requirements of registration by the UK’s Charity Commission are met
To administer elections, including proposing tellers to the EC
Treasurer
To keep income and expenditure accounts along with evidence of income and expenditure
To make payments as agreed by the EC
To submit regular financial reports to EC meetings
To prepare annual accounts
To liaise with the auditor over auditing of the accounts
To prepare budgets if asked to do so by the EC
To manage the bank and other accounts
To propose financial rules to the EC
Hubs Supervisor
The Hubs Project involves building regional BIEN hubs in Africa, Asia and Latin America and professionalising BIEN’s day-to-day activities. The project aims to strengthen the basic income ecosystem and BIEN’s role in it.
Regular oversight of the Hubs project
Meeting with BIEN coordinator and regional hubs managers to check progress and course correct
Strategic support to coordinator and regional hubs managers
Reporting to the BIEN EC about project progress
Connecting with partners and donors around the project.
News Service Editor
In consultation and cooperation with the EC and Chair to develop news policy
To oversee BI News posts on the website
To issue monthly BIEN Bulletin emails
To supervise the work of the volunteers allocated to the news service
To ensure that guidelines agreed by the EC are adhered to by volunteers
Social Media Manager
In consultation and cooperation with the EC, Chair and News Editor to develop social media policy
To oversee social media channels
To supervise the work of the volunteers allocated to social media
To ensure that guidelines agreed by the EC are adhered to by volunteers
Affiliate and Public Outreach
To maintain an up to date register of affiliated organizations and their contact details
To liaise between affiliated organizations and the EC
To convene meetings of representatives of affiliated organizations at and between congresses
To oversee BIEN’s relationships with international and other organizations in consultation with the Chair and in conformity with policy set by the EC
To assist with convening meetings between BIEN and other organizations both at congresses and on other occasions in consultation with the Chair and Congress local organizing committees
Volunteer Coordinator
To oversee the recruitment, allocation and training of volunteers
In consultation with the Chair and in conformity with policy set by the EC to liaise with volunteers and to manage volunteer policy
Research Coordinator
To develop research policy and initiatives in consultation with EC and Chair
To review and update information related to research pages on the BIEN website
To assist and suggest measures to promote quality of research at BIEN congresses
To serve as point of contact for outside research-related organizations and activities
To facilitate research initiatives in collaboration with external research and community partners
To engage in exploring strategic funding options for basic income research initiatives
Congress Organiser (appointed by the EC and the Local Organizing Committee)
To co-ordinate the Local Organising Committee (LOC) that plans the congress
To liaise between the EC and the LOC by attending EC meetings and in other ways
Website Manager
To manage the website and liaise with its other users in consultation with the Chair and in conformity with policy set by the EC
Bank account trustees
To facilitate the relationship between BIEN and the Charity Commission
To facilitate the efficient management of the bank account