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!
Share your story
If you have news, material, or story ideas that you think would interest the Network, please do get in touch. We'd be delighted to consider it for inclusion in the next issue.
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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 European Research Council is a major European Union research funding agency at the heart of research and innovation across the continent.
