Today saw an electric start to BIEN2022, a coming-together of the world’s most dynamic thinkers, activists and ideas focused on the understanding and promotion of Basic Income.
Following the success of 2021’s Congress help in Edinburgh, Scotland, the 2022 edition is being proudly co-hosted by BIEN Australia, The Centre for Policy Futures, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at The University of Queensland, the Australian Basic Income Lab, and Queensland University of Technology.
After years of labouring under pandemic conditions and quarantine regulations, this year’s event is taking place as a hybrid event, hosting both online and face-to-face discussions.
A landmark first day saw opening remarks from prominent Basic Income advocates including Andrew Yang and Scott Santens, before continuing with 14 action-packed sessions throughout the day.
Hot topic throughout the day included Paths to Basic Income, a discussion of implementing Basic Income, and Modelling Basic Income, a discussion of how to understand the likely impacts and benefits of applying the policy in the real world.
A lively roundtable discussion of the impact of Basic Income on the world of work followed, as did an examination of the more transformative impacts of Basic Income implementation.
Other highlights included a special session focused on the tactics of building support for Basic Income, and an examination of what Basic Income can do to help address deeply-rooted inequalities.
The day also saw an excellent discussion on the role of Basic Income in empowering First Nations communities, improving gendered and care roles in society and discussions of what role a Basic Income can play in helping the Arts, and fighting the ecological crisis.
Finally, the day closed with a headline talk on building political paths to Universal Basic Income, and a keynote address from Guy Standing on building a conception of the ‘Blue Commons’.
BIEN2022 will return tomorrow with another busy schedule, and we will be uploading video coverage of many of these sessions as they become available.
BIEN2022’s headline theme of Crisis & Transformation invites Congress participants to interrogate the role the basic income in addressing the major ecological, health and economic crises besetting our world today. This task could not be more urgent.
Australia is among the many countries to have experienced catastrophic wildfires and floods in recent years. At the same time, the COVID-19 pandemic ripped through society, while economic inequality and insecurity continued to grow. An estimated 1 billion animals were killed in Australia’s 2019 bushfires, while some East Coast homes have been inundated three times in 12 months in recent floods. Natural disasters and the pandemic forced national and state governments to introduce radical policy interventions, including in the area of income support. These interventions proved temporary. But could they hold important lessons for basic income researchers and advocates?
BIEN2022 comprises over 200 papers, panels and roundtables presented by leading thinkers, researchers, policymakers and activists from around the world. Highlights include: a video message from Andrew Yang, Kathi Weeks on Work Futures & Post-Productivism, Guy Standing on The Blue Commons, Philippe van Parijs on Climate on Covid, Putin: Dawn or dusk for UBI?, and contributions from leading activists and artists in the basic income movement, including Scott Santens and Jessie Golem. Experts from the World Bank, International Labour Organisation, CEPAL and ODI will examine the potential of Emergency Basic Income in light of the of the pandemic experience. Other speakers include, Annie Miller, Almaz Zelleke, Yanu Prasetyo, Sarath Davala, Ugo Gentilini, Hyosang Ahn, Hilde Latour, Karl Widerquist, Toru Yamamori, Louise Haagh, Neil Howard and many more. BIEN2022 includes sessions on basic income and health, analysis of experiments in South Korea, Brazil, North America and Europe and film screenings.
The local organising committee for the 2021 Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN) Congress in Glasgow are very excited to announce our call for papers for this virtual, online event.
We are inviting you to submit papers and pitches for talks, workshops and other activities that should be represented online at the 22nd BIEN Congress. To submit yours please follow this link.
The theme for the Congress is ‘Idea to Reality’. We want to consider how we take basic income from a big idea for big change to a reality.
The Congress will be hosted digitally only from Thursday 18th – Saturday 21st August 2021. Exact details are to be confirmed but this will be a programme packed with perspectives on basic income in Scotland, the wider UK and around the world.
We will present insights into the status of basic income in Scotland, including: the feasibility study into a Scottish BI experiment, political attitudes and work on basic income, civil society perspectives, creative and cultural demonstrations that represent the Scottish debate.
We welcome your contribution to the Congress. To submit your proposal for consideration please complete this proposal form before the deadline Friday 12 March 2021.
We will be encouraging presenters to submit their papers before the Congress so that they are available for all participants, as attendance will be online only. The changed circumstances of this Congress mean that access to papers and presentations in advance will be more important and inclusive for all. Having these available online will also facilitate feedback and review by a wider range of participants and so improve the potential submission to Basic Income Studies and other outlets. We would welcome the presentations by 6th August 2021.
Publication opportunities: Papers presented at the BIEN congress will go into the pool of papers to be submitted for the Basic Income Studies prize winning essay of 2021, if submitted by October 1st – the annual deadline for the BIS Prize entry.
To be considered for the BIS prize, papers would have to be of the standard scholarly format and length of academic paper journal submissions. The editors of Basic Income Studies also encourage submissions of congress papers of a suitable format to the regular review process. Papers entered this way will also be considered for the prize’.
The 20th Basic Income Earth Network Congress will be hosted online from Wednesday 18 – Saturday 21 August 2021. The theme for the Congress is Idea to Reality. We want to consider how we take Basic Income from a big idea for big change to a reality. All are welcome to join us in discussion at this exciting time for the Basic Income Movement.
The conference will be hosted on Whova, a specialist online conference platform. You’ll be able to view the programme and pick which sessions to attend, securely view all the presentations on the platform, as well as take part in discussions and message boards and re-watch anything you might have missed for up to 6 months afterwards.
Basic Income Network Scotland, in partnership with the University of Strathclyde, are excited to be putting together a programme packed with perspectives on Basic Income in Scotland, the wider UK and around the world. We will present insights into the status of Basic Income in Scotland, including: the feasibility study into a Scottish Basic Income experiment, political attitudes and work on Basic Income, civil society perspectives, and creative and cultural demonstrations that represent the Scottish debate.
More about the Programme
The programme will be a dynamic mix of academic paper presentations, workshops, and special events showcasing the work of artists and Basic Income activists across the world. There will be strands focussing on Scotland; Canada; funding Basic Income; Basic Income and Health; Basic Income and the environment; the Philosophy of UBI, and more. Across four days we’re looking forward to welcoming nearly 200 speakers to share their work.
Our highlights include:
Annie Miller, co-founder of Basic Income Network Scotland, will be presenting at the Congress. Economist, academic, lecturer, Basic Income advocate and author, Annie has written several important books on Basic Income: A Basic Income Handbook (2017), A Basic Income Pocketbook (2020) and Essentials of Basic Income (2020).
You’ll also get the chance to hear from Guy Standing, another exciting author who’s made important contributions to literature on Basic Income, including his book Plunder of the Commons: A Manifesto for Sharing Public Wealth – which Brian Eno called ‘one of the most important books I’ve read in years’!
Representatives from Scotland’s Basic Income feasibility study;
Hearing from Scottish Universities Insight Institute project about Basic Income and Mental Health, Peace of Mind;
Representation from the United Nations Development Programme
Follow Citizen’s Basic Income Network Scotland on twitter and facebook and on its blog for more information about the programme.
Basic Income Network Scotland welcome donations to support their volunteer-led work on the Congress.
This will be the first time the Congress has taken place online and we’re happy that this means more people than ever will be able to attend. However there are still costs we need to cover – running an online conference has unique demands and requires just as much in terms of resources as an in-person conference! We’ll be providing moderation, technical support and any other required assistance to speakers and attendees throughout. The costs we need to cover include volunteers’ expenses and fees for software and web hosting.
Online conferences of a similar scale usually cost between £50 and £200 to attend. With the programme we’ve got lined up – four days of paper sessions, workshops and special events, hearing from leading thinkers on UBI, we think our suggested contributions are great value for money!
We’re asking all attendees to donate some of what you would have spent on attendance, travel and accommodation to support Basic Income Network Scotland, a volunteer-led organisation educating and advocating for Basic Income in Scotland and your local hosts for this edition of the BIEN Congress.
We’re asking for the following contributions, depending on your situation:
Individual/self-funded – £5-£10
Professional, attending one day only – £30
Professional, attending whole Congress – £50
Attending on behalf of an organisation who are supporting you to attend – £100
But of course, if you want to donate more, you’re welcome to!
We’re looking for volunteers to support and shape the delivery of this year’s BIEN Congress. This opportunity provides you with an instrumental role in hosting Basic Income experts and a conference of people from around the world determined to take Basic Income from idea to reality.
For obvious reasons the Congress this year will be online, but we’re determined to use this as an opportunity to increase the accessibility and diversity of attendees, infusing a traditional international academic conference with fresh ideas. The virtual platform will be used to create a dynamic and interactive community reflective of the Basic Income movement in Scotland.
Just before the congress begins a new comprehensive history of Basic Income will be published. Further details can be found here. In connection the congress, the publisher is giving a 50% discount on the hardback price until the end of August. Details can be found here.
