The UBI Piloters Network

by | Jul 31, 2023

The UBI Piloters Network brings together researchers, policymakers, activists, and civil society actors interested or engaged in trialling Unconditional Basic Income (UBI). The space is convened by the University of Bath, the University of Freiburg’s Institute for Basic Income Studies, and the Basic Income Earth Network. We aim to create connection across the UBI piloting field, to build new collaborations, share key learnings, and establish best practice. Sign up to our newsletter here and read on to learn more.

UBI Piloters Network

Research, policy, and activist interest in UBI has exploded in recent years, and this has led to a huge rise in the number of global UBI pilots. Yet for all this amazing growth, until now, no global platform has existed for sharing UBI pilot findings, creating community across the piloting field, or supporting researchers to engage effectively with policymaker audiences. The UBI Piloters Network aims to remedy these issues by building and curating the world’s first global network of UBI piloters, taking inspiration from the work of the Basic Income Earth Network and US UBI Community of Practice.

Launched in Summer 2023, The UBI Piloters Network curates a monthly newsletter that brings together updates from across the piloting community, featuring updates on recent research, policy developments, potential gatherings, publications, and opportunities for collaboration.

The Network also hosts an online seminar series for piloters to share recent findings and discuss emerging developments. It will host a hybrid Winter School on ‘How To Build A Pilot’, and convene the world’s first ever conference of UBI piloters – hosted in Germany in Summer 2024.

If you have ideas for how to expand this work and make it more relevant to you and the UBI piloting community, please do get in touch! We want this to work for the community it aims to serve.

Please also share the Network with piloters far and wide!

Enter your email address here to sign up to the Newsletter:

Our Partners

The UBI Piloters Network is a collaboration between the University of Bath (in particular the UBI piloting WorkFREE research team), the Freiburg Institute of Basic Income Studies (FRIBIS – especially the UBI Experiments Team), and the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN). Seed funding has come from Bath, FRIBIS, and the European Research Council.

The University of Bath is a leading centre of UBI research in the UK and is in the process of building a UK UBI Beacon to nurture the next generation of UBI scholars, activists, and engaged policymakers. At Bath, WorkFREE brings together scholars, activists and civil society institutions from India and the UK to pilot ‘UBI+’ in four informal settlements in inner-city Hyderabad, India. UBI+ combines universal basic income (UBI) and needs-focused, participatory community organising in order to support people to increase their power to meet their needs. The two-year pilot seeks to answer a wide range of questions, including ‘What impact does UBI+ have on people’s freedom from exploitation?’ and ‘Can UBI+ support the green transition?’.

FRIBIS is an interdisciplinary network at the University of Freiburg dedicated to research on Universal Basic Income. By bringing together researchers and civil society actors from all over the world, we aim to provide a sound, well-researched foundation for the public and political discourse on Basic Income. In this way, it wants to contribute to transformation towards a more just and sustainable society.

BIEN is a global network of UBI activists and researchers. Drawing on its unique Basic Income expertise built over decades of work, BIEN strives to be a globally trusted, go-to source of information and analysis around Basic Income. BIEN builds connective tissue between people and institutions working on Basic Income, be these activists, campaigners, researchers, governments or civil society organisations. And BIEN aims to catalyse local and global debate and work to push the boundaries of what is possible, all in the direction of a more just, caring society.

The ERC is a major Europe Union research funding agency at the heart of research and innovation across the continent.

Share Your Stories and Contact Us

If you have UBI Piloting New to share, other relevant material to go out in the Newsletter, ideas you want to run buy us, or plans to pitch, please get in touch with us here: piloters@basicincome.org

BIEN Chair Sarath Davala podcast for UBI4ALL

BIEN Chair Sarath Davala podcast for UBI4ALL

by | Jul 11, 2023 | News

In the second episode of UBI4ALL’s #checkoutbasicincome podcast, Sarath Davala, Chair of the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN), is interviewed.

In this episode Sarath tells about his life experience: how he became a UBI activist, when before he was skeptic about the idea. He also discusses what he learned in the well-known basic income experiments that took place in India.

Biographical note: Sarath Davala is an independent sociologist based in Hyderabad, India, and is currently the Chair of the Basic Income Earth Network. After a stint as a professor at IIM Bangalore, he switched to the voluntary sector and worked closely with several NGOs and trade unions in India and abroad. He has worked closely with the Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), and was the Research Director of the Madhya Pradesh Basic Income Pilot Study that was conducted between 2011 and 2013 in India by SEWA. He is the co-author of the book: Basic Income: A Transformative Policy for India. He is currently co-directing another basic income pilot project with waste collectors in Hyderabad.

To listen to the podcast on Spotify, click here.

To listen to the podcast on Facebook, click here.

Invitation: Will UBI (Really) Change the World?

Invitation: Will UBI (Really) Change the World?

by | Apr 29, 2023 | Events, News

You are kindly invited to a symposium that will showcase the latest findings from Basic Income’s newest pilots in India and Brazil. BIEN’s Sarath, Julio and Diana will present their latest work as well as policy considerations for international development related to this tool.

This one-day event is set for 30 May and will be held at Vienna ‘s Center for International Development in collaboration with the University of Vienna, Austria. 

Program and registration (in person and via Zoom) can be found by clicking here.

Will UBI Become Mainstream? – Al Jazeera Video

Will UBI Become Mainstream? – Al Jazeera Video

by | Apr 12, 2023 | News

“Interest in universal basic income (UBI) programmes around the world is continuing to rise, with governments and private donor groups examining the social and economic effects of unconditional cash payments to citizens. Ireland recently joined the ranks of countries providing a basic income.

In a three-year pilot initiative, 2,000 artists and creatives are receiving payments of €325 ($355) a week. The programme, which has cross-party support, is similar to basic income plans trialled in other countries including Finland, the United States and Wales. About 10 million women in India’s Tamil Nadu state will receive basic income payments when a programme backed by state leaders launches in September. GiveDirectly, a New York-based NGO funded by private donors, is providing unconditional monthly payments to people in rural Kenya in a twelve-year programme.

Recipients of universal basic income – particularly those living in financial precarity – say the payments have improved their well-being and helped them focus on boosting their education and skills. Proponents of UBI say it helps spur local economies, given that recipients are free to use the money how they choose. Critics say the pilot schemes are merely providing free money with little oversight, disincentivising people from work and driving a wedge between recipients and other community members who miss out.”

This episode of Al Jazeera’s The Stream examines the increasing interest in basic income schemes around the world and asks if UBI is winning mainstream acceptance. Click here to view the episode.

Insecurity is the problem, universal basic income part of the solution

Insecurity is the problem, universal basic income part of the solution

by | Feb 2, 2023 | News

One of BIEN’s founders, Philippe Van Parijs, has published a review of new book by a distinguished Indian economist, Pranab Bardhan. Bardhan argues that insecurity and not inequality is the source of our worldwide democratic malaise. And in poor countries even more than in rich ones a basic income is required in order to reduce not poverty but insecurity.

Van Parijs concludes: “Whether in India, Europe or America, Bardhan does not claim that basic income constitutes a magic potion to guarantee security, let alone a magic bullet to kill populism. But it is part of the battery of security-enhancing policies that are needed if the root causes of the worldwide disenchantment with democracy are to be addressed.”

To read the review, click here.