Late last year we (Citizen’s Basic Income Network Scotland) were awarded a grant by the Scottish Universities Insight Institute (SUII) to run a series of workshops Exploring Basic Income in Scotland, much has happened since and significant progress has been made.
We are now ready to start with the first session which will be setting the agenda for the remaining five workshops. As the pilot local authorities have been successful with their bid for Scottish Government funding for the feasibility phase and contacts have been made with colleagues in the Netherlands and elsewhere, so the orientation and scheduling of the different events has been revisited. We plan to begin with a focused discussion on where we are with the pilots in Scotland, feedback from developments elsewhere, identification of the issues and challenges to be faced overall and specific to local contexts and groups.
This is an invitation only workshop.
Exploring Basic Income in Scotland Programme
Importantly this programme is about bringing together academics, practitioners and policymakers. Crucially, sceptics of the concept and the potential impacts and implications for particular groups will be involved as well as those who fully support the implementation of a Basic Income model in Scotland. One of the objectives, therefore, is to anticipate and address the criticisms and arguments against the idea of BI in general and the pilots in particular. Through this process of robust and focused discussion and analysis, it is planned that there will be a more rigorous basis for discussing and introducing a Basic Income in Scotland, with lessons for elsewhere as well. This should contribute to the public debates around the pilot authorities’ plans and deepen the understanding and intelligence available for critics and proponents alike.
Exploring Basic Income in Scotland – Where are we now?: Wednesday 12 September
Basic Income, Human Rights and Equality: Tuesday 25 September
Basic Income, Employment and Entrepreneurship: Tuesday 2 October
Basic Income and Housing: Thursday 11 October
Basic Income and Care: Wednesday 24 October
Implementation, Evaluation and Modelling of Basic Income: Thursday 15 November
The workshop series is planned to be challenging for all involved, contributing to the development of more effective and efficient proposals by encouraging contributions from a range of academic disciplines, policymakers and practitioners. The key role of sceptics and interest groups within and across themes is essential and so discussion and feedback will foster their participation and ensure their concerns are incorporated into the workshops, debates and feedback so that the outputs, including the Briefing Papers, are inclusive and informed.
