The FRIBIS Team care does research on UBI with respect to care activities in society. Care activities, such as child-rearing, household chores, care for the elderly, psychological and spiritual care, speaking of activities on which every human society is based, do not, or only partially, appear in the national economic accounts (e.g. the GDP). They have therefore ascribed a low economic and social value, with all the implications that this entails. Thus the concept of care raises fundamental questions about our understanding of society, work, and values.
The idea of Basic Income brings a breath of fresh air into the debate about care activities. What does the introduction of basic income mean for care and the care economy? What would be the opportunities, challenges, and effects on the members of society and their various subsystems? What is the potential of basic income for social reorientation when it comes to caring? These and other questions will be addressed by the FRIBIS Team care.

Research Team

Prof. Dr. theol. Klaus Baumann
born 1963, studied theology in Freiburg (1983-85) and Rome (Pontificia Università Gregoriana, 1985-88) and received his ordination in 1989. 1989-1992 subsequent studies in psychology (1992 Lic. psych.); 1989-1993 psychotherapy training. 1992-1995 Teaching Assistant at Istituto di Psicologia, P.U. Gregoriana, Rome, and psychotherapeutic work ibid. 1993 STL (Lic. theol.) in moral theology, P.U. Gregoriana; 1996 STD (dissertation in theology) entitled „Das Unbewußte in der Freiheit. Ethische Handlungstheorie im interdisziplinären Gespräch“ (Analecta Gregoriana 270), Rome: Ed. PUG 1996, awarded with the „Premio Bellarmino 1996“. 1996-2002 pastoral care in Hinterzarten, Germany; 1996-2002 psychotherapeutic practice in Freiburg; 2003/04 Vice rector, Theological Faculty, Paderborn. Since 2004/05 Director, Department of Catholic Welfare Studies (Caritaswissenschaft), Institute of Practical Theology, University of Freiburg; 04/2008-02/2010 Assistant Dean, Theological Faculty; since 03/2010 Dean, Theological Faculty, University of Freiburg.
Founding director of the Freiburg Institute for Basic Income Studies (FRIBIS)
Lives in Freiburg, Germany.

Dr. Tobias Dumschat has studied Business Administration with a focus on ethics at the University of Cologne (B.Sc.) and at the RWTH Aachen (M.Sc.). Most recently he worked on the research project “Society after money: a simulation”. As a PhD candidate at FRIBIS he dealt with the question, what impact an UBI could have on the Care-Economy. In addition, he is interested in ethical and sociopsychological issues of the UBI.

Prof. Dr. Ute Fischer
is full professor at the Department of Applied Social Studies. Her research, as economist and sociologist focuses on labour market development in a gender perspective as well as on the causes of poverty, (lack and forms of) democratic development and social politics. She is both member of the German initiative “Freedom Instead of Full Employment”, dealing with UBI, and of the scientific advisory board of the “Basic Income Network” in Germany.
Lives in Unna, Germany

Gudrun Kaufmann
is a research assistant at FRIBIS. She studied economics at the University of Freiburg. From 2020 to 2022, she was actively involved in the development of FRIBIS as Managing Director. She was the coordinator of several teams, including Sanktionsfrei and BINC, and managed contracts as a staff member. Her main interests are narratives in economics, care economics and financialisation.

Dr. Verena Löffler
studied Politics, Administration & International Relations with a minor in Corporate Management & Economics (B.A.) at the Zeppelin University in Friedrichshafen and the University of California Berkeley. She holds two Master’s degrees in Public Policy (M.Sc.) and Economics (M.Sc.) from the University of Münster and spent one semester at the Aix-Marseille Université. She was a research assistant at the Institute for Economic Education at the Center for Interdisciplinary Economic Research at the University of Münster for five years. As part of her dissertation, she dealt with the basic income with regard to migration and the living situation of homeless people as well as the connection between wages in care work and family time allocation.
Lives in the Ruhr area

FRIBIS Team Coordinator

Franziska Leopold 
Master of Science: Business Administration Public and Nonprofit Management, University of Freiburg. Worked as a research assistant at the Götz Werner Chair of Economic Policy and Constitutional Economic Theory at the University of Freiburg and at the Frauenhofer ISE Freiburg. Lives in Freiburg, Germany

Contact: franziska.leopold@vwl.uni-freiburg.de

Transfer Team

Ronald Blaschke
is a graduate in education and phil., co-founder of the Basic Income Network Germany, the Federal Working Group on Basic Income in and at DIE LINKE Party, the European Network Unconditional Basic Income Europe (UBIE).
He is co-editor of several books and author of numerous articles on basic income and related topics. He coordinated the European Citizens’ Initiative “Unconditional Basic Income Across the EU” at the EU and German levels.
Lives in Dresden, Germany

Margit Appel
studied Political Science, Sociology, and Women’s Studies at the University of Vienna. As a research associate at the Catholic Social Academy of Austria, her work focused on foundational socio-political research and political adult education. She is a co-founder of the Network for Basic Income and Social Cohesion – BIEN Austria and is actively involved in the Austrian Anti-Poverty Conference. Now working as an independent author and speaker, she publishes and lectures on topics including democracy and participation, feminist economics, (care) work, and Universal Basic Income
Lives in Vienna,Austria

The themes of the research team concern the use of microsimulation to evaluate Universal Basic Income’s likely effects, in comparison to ‘status quo’ base scenarios as well as basic income ‘cognates’ and alternative policy reform proposals (such as in-work benefits, targeted social assistance, or other types of universal transfer). The main effects fall into the categories of fiscal costs and implications, distributional effects, and effects on financial labour market incentives, although there may be further applications of microsimulation techniques that fall outside this categorisation.

The aims of the research group are:

1. To develop and refine microsimulation techniques with respect to their application to basic income research, through expansion into more advanced areas such as:

• Dynamic models of behavioural (labour market) response and lifecourse trajectories
• Modelling implications for intra-household inequalities, by relaxing assumptions about income sharing within household
• Modelling schemes organised at alternative levels (sub- and supra-national) of political organisation.

2. To carry out substantive studies on specific basic income proposals, such as the Euro-dividend, or other specific national or sub-national schemes. In particular, to scrutinise the detailed proposals of political parties and civil society / advocacy organisations groups, where these are available.   Project outputs would include ‘standard’ static analysis of fiscal, distributional and labour market effects, but would also extend to the more advanced / innovative areas mentioned above.

3. To provide a bank of technical expertise and resources (methodological literature). The aim would be to produce basic analysis of specific schemes on commission, for example in response to queries from policy makers, media, and other interested parties, as well as to facilitate the research community to carry out their own microsimulation studies. In this regard, one key role of the group would be to connect with other FRIBIS research groups.

Activity:

• Nick Pearce organises the conference “Is It Time for Universal Basic Income?”
• The working paper by Malcolm Torry “Feasibility Study: A Basic Income Pilot Project for Wales”
• A report by Nick Pearce and colleagues “Basic Income Experiments in OECD Countries: a Rapid Evidence Review” 
• The microsimulation analysis “A Basic Income for France: Ideas for a Debate” by Matteo Richiardi
• Working Paper by Joe Chrisp, Aida Garcia-Lazaro, Nick Pearce “Technological change and growth regimes: Assessing the case for universal basic income in an era declining labour shares”
• Paper by Nick Pearce and Aida Garcia-Lazaro “Intangible capital, the labour share and national “growth regimes”
• Working Paper by Eric Qiao “A UBI for Germany funded by indirect tax reforms”
• Working Paper by Joe Chrisp, Nick Pearce and Matteo Richiardi “UBI-eh? Strengthening minimum income guarantees, universality and unconditionality in the UK working-age welfare state”

Professor Nick Pearce
FAcSS, HFRIBA
Professor and Director of the Institute for Policy Research, University of Bath. Formerly Head of the No10 Downing Street Policy Unit and the IPPR think-tank. Principal Investigator on a number of research projects on Universal Basic Income. Subject Editor, Science, Policy and Society, Royal Society Open Science. Lives in London, UK.

Professor Ugo Colombino
PhD London School of Economics 1985, Professor Emeritus of Economics at the Department of Economics Cognetti De Martiis of the University of Torino and Research Fellow at the IZA.
He is a member of CHILD – Centre for Household, Income, Labor and Demographic economics, has published several contributions in the areas of incentives and income taxation, income support mechanisms, empirical optimal taxation, labor supply, preferences for environmental and cultural goods, demand for telecommunication services.

Dr. Valerija Korošec
Ph.D. in Sociology, University of Maribor, 2000; MESPA, 1994.
Undersecretary at the Institute of Macroeconomic Analyses and Development, Government of Slovenia, Social Policy Division, since 2001. An author of Slovenian UBI proposal (2010) and numerous articles on Universal Basic Income. A representative of Slovenia in BIEN, and founding member of UBIE, Universal Basic Income Europe. Lives in Ljubljana.

Dr. Aida Garcia-Lazaro
PhD in Economics, University of York, 2019. 
Macroeconomist and research associate at the Institute for Policy Research, University of Bath. 
Currently conducting research for the project The Economics of the Basic Income. Key areas of interest: monetary and macroprudential policies, inequality, labour market, migration and basic income. Prior to her PhD studies, Aida Garcia-Lazaro worked for the Mexican government and the United Nations in consultancy studies for two years. Lives in the West of England.

Professor Matteo Richiardi
Professor and Director of the Centre for Microsimulation and Policy Analysis, University of Essex.
A labour economist specialising in microsimulation and agent-based modelling techniques. Main areas of interests: inequality, worker insecurity, labour force participation, and wage dynamics.  
Board member of the International Microsimulation Association and Chief Editor of the International Journal of Microsimulation. Lives in Essex, UK.

Dr. Malcolm Torry
Visiting Fellow, Institute for Policy Research, University of Bath, and General Manager of Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN). Formerly a visiting senior fellow at the London School of Economics and Director of the Citizen’s Basic Income Trust.  Author of numerous books and articles on Universal Basic Income. Lives in London.

Dr. Joe Chrisp
Research Associate at Institute for Policy Research (IPR), University of Bath. Joe completed his PhD on the political feasibility of basic income in high-income countries at the IPR, University of Bath. Joe is an author of 15+ research papers on comparative politics, labour markets, welfare states and basic income. Lives in Bath, UK.

Jack Landry
Research Associate at the Jain Family Institute. Author of several microsimulation analyses of the expanded child tax credit. Formerly a research professional at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy. Lives in Washington DC, USA.

Eric Qiao
Research Assosiate at the Institute for Policy Research, University of Bath. Specializes in applied microeconomics and public policy, with a focus on labour economics, especially labour supply, education and fiscal policy evaluation. Author of the essay series on labour supply in the UK. Lives in the West of England.

Contact: kq249@bath.ac.uk

Jamie Cooke
Head of RSA Scotland. Jamie Cooke leads on the development of the RSA’s activity in Scotland, through innovative partnerships, projects and programmes of activity. Particular areas of interest include basic income, inclusive growth, the role of cities and Scotland’s relationship with the rest of the world. Lives in Scotland.

Cleo Goodman
Co-Founder of the Basic Income Conversation, an organisation dedicated to increasing and improving the debate around basic income in the UK. Cleo leads the Basic Income Conversation’s activities through their Research Network, work with civil society and political engagement. Her background is in the Scottish third sector and she is particularly interested in exploring community led and locally funded basic income models and demonstrations.

Promoting the concept of unconditional basic income through effective management of UBINGOs: a research from the perspective of social innovation and social marketing.

The project aims at developing effective social marketing approaches for non-governmental organizations that have made the realization of an unconditional basic income (UBI) their mission. In a first step, based on approaches of social innovation research this study strives at identifying the drivers of the acceptance of the unconditional basic income (i.e., the acceptance perspective). In addition, preferences for different forms of the uncondi- tional basic income in different population groups will be estimated. In a second step, to increase acceptance and support among citizens MUBINGO strives at designing effective social marketing strategies (i.e., the implementation perspective).

Prof. Dr. theol. Klaus Baumann
born 1963, studied theology in Freiburg (1983-85) and Rome (Pontificia Università Gregoriana, 1985-88) and received his ordination in 1989. 1989-1992 subsequent studies in psychology (1992 Lic. psych.); 1989-1993 psychotherapy training. 1992-1995 Teaching Assistant at Istituto di Psicologia, P.U. Gregoriana, Rome, and psychotherapeutic work ibid. 1993 STL (Lic. theol.) in moral theology, P.U. Gregoriana; 1996 STD (dissertation in theology) entitled „Das Unbewußte in der Freiheit. Ethische Handlungstheorie im interdisziplinären Gespräch“ (Analecta Gregoriana 270), Rome: Ed. PUG 1996, awarded with the „Premio Bellarmino 1996“. 1996-2002 pastoral care in Hinterzarten, Germany; 1996-2002 psychotherapeutic practice in Freiburg; 2003/04 Vice rector, Theological Faculty, Paderborn. Since 2004/05 Director, Department of Catholic Welfare Studies (Caritaswissenschaft), Institute of Practical Theology, University of Freiburg; 04/2008-02/2010 Assistant Dean, Theological Faculty; since 03/2010 Dean, Theological Faculty, University of Freiburg.
Founding director of the Freiburg Institute for Basic Income Studies (FRIBIS)
Lives in Freiburg, Germany

Prof. Dr. Jörg Lindenmeier
2000-2004 Research assistant at the Chair of Marketing and Health Management (Prof. Dr. Dieter K. Tscheulin) at the University of Freiburg. Doctoral thesis on “Consequences of Yield Management for Customer Satisfaction: Conceptual Foundations and a Causal Analytical Consideration” (summa cum laude) and post-doctoral thesis on “Recent and Latest Developments in the Marketing of Profit-Oriented and Non-Profit-Oriented Companies: Considerations from the Perspective of (Consumer) Behavioral Research” (Venia Legendi for the subject Business Administration).
2012-2013 Professor for Health Care Management & Behavioral Economics at the Wissenschaftliche Hochschule Lahr and since 2013 Professor for Public and Non-Profit Management, in particular Corporate Governance and Ethics at the Universität of Freiburg. At hoc reviewer of numerous journals.
Lives in Lahr, Germany

Prof. Dr. Dieter K. Tscheulin
Studied Economics and Business Administration at the Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany, and the Christian Albrechts University Kiel, Germany; stays abroad in Florence, Italy and Uppsala, Sweden, Junior Professor at the Université Notre-Dame de la Paix Namur, Belgium.
2008-2014 Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Freiburg. Teaching positions at numerous national and international universities. Director of the Chair, Department of Marketing and Health Management, University of Freiburg.
Lives in Lörrach, Germany

FRIBIS Team Coordinator

Franziska Leopold
Master of Science: Business Administration Public and Nonprofit Management, University of Freiburg. Worked as a research assistant at the Götz Werner Chair of Economic Policy and Constitutional Economic Theory at the University of Freiburg and at the Frauenhofer ISE Freiburg.
Lives in Freiburg, Germany

Contact: franziska.leopold@vwl.uni-freiburg.de

Ronald Blaschke
is a graduate in education and phil., co-founder of the Basic Income Network Germany, the Federal Working Group on Basic Income in and at DIE LINKE Party, the European Network Unconditional Basic Income Europe (UBIE).
He is co-editor of several books and author of numerous articles on basic income and related topics. He coordinated the European Citizens’ Initiative “Unconditional Basic Income Across the EU” at the EU and German levels.
Lives in Dresden, Germany

Karl-Heinz Blenk
describes himself as: Human, partner, father, friend. He is a founding member and board member of the BGE Allgäu e.V. and the “Better Place Organization” Common Good Society, registered association and a founding member of the German political party Basic Income Alliance. Professionally, he is a banker, organizational consultant and software developer.
Lives in Lauben near Kempten in the Allgäu, Germany

Joachim Winters
Studied law at the University of Freiburg, Germany, many years of self-employed commercial activity in various industries in external and in his own company.
Joachim Winters was project coordinator at the political party Basic Income Alliance and was a member of the Network Council of Network Basic Income Germany. He gives workshops on UBI and networks the topic with other socially relevant issues.
Lives in Göttingen, Germany

Prof. Dr. Sebastian Kaufmann
born 1979, studied philosophy, ancient history and modern German literature at the University of Freiburg, Magister Artium 2007, doctorate 2011, habilitation 2018, from 2013 to 2023 sub-project leader at the of the research unit “Nietzsche-Kommentar” at the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Since 2022, he has been an adjunct professor at the Institute for Modern German Literature at the University of Freiburg; he is leading the research team of PartUBI since 2022.
Lives in Freiburg im Breisgau

Robert Krause, PD Dr.
comparative literature and cultural studies scholar, born 1980, studied German language and literature, history and philosophy at the Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg as well as Romance studies and art history at the universities of Strasbourg and Seville, Magister Artium 2007, doctorate 2010, habilitation 2019. Krause is an academic assistant at the German Seminar of the Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg, from February 2023 to July 2023 visiting professor at Iméra, Institut d’études avancées in Marseille with the research project “The Unconditional Basic Income: towards a cultural and intellectual history of a necessary utopia”, from July until december 2023 academic assistant in the PartUBI team project.

Alina Plitman, M.A.
is a doctoral student supervised by Prof. Dr. Andreas Urs Sommer at the Philosophy Department of the University of Freiburg. She completed her studies in economics at the Ruhr University Bochum. At the University of Stuttgart, Ms Plitman completed her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Philosophy. Ms Plitman’s main research interests are applied ethics, economic ethics and political philosophy. Her dissertation is concerned with the concept of an unconditional basic income. It focuses on the concept of work, its revision and incorporation into theories of justice. Alina Plitman is a member of the Junior Research Group at FRIBIS and at the Society for Business Ethics.
Lives in Stuttgart

Prof. Dr. Andreas Urs Sommer
born in 1972, studied philosophy, church and dogma history and German literature in Basel, Göttingen and Freiburg im Breisgau, licentiate in 1995, doctorate in 1998 at the University of Basel, habilitation in 2004 at the University of Greifswald, from 2014 to 2023 head of the research unit “Nietzsche-Kommentar” at the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, since 2016 W3 professor of philosophy with a focus on cultural philosophy at the Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg. His most recent book publications deal with questions of political philosophy, namely Eine Demokratie für das 21. Jahrhundert. Warum die Volksvertretung überholt ist und die Zukunft der direkten Demokratie gehört (Herder 2022) and Entscheide dich! Der Krieg und die Demokratie (Herder 2023).
Lives in Freiburg im Breisgau

Milan Wenner, M. A.
is currently a PhD student in philosophy at the University of Freiburg (Germany). His dissertation deals with anti-modernist narratives of decline in the ‘long 20th century’. He is also working on the UBI in the context of political philosophy and the philosophy of history. His research on the narrative of the Great Displacement connects both of Wenner’s aforementioned research areas. This is why he is particularly interested in the use of the narrative of technology-induced unemployment and its potential as a meta-political tool for Basic Income advocates.
Lives in Freiburg im Breisgau

FRIBIS Team Coordinator

Leon Hartmann, M. A.
studied philosophy and German literature in Freiburg. He is currently a doctoral candidate in philosophy at the University of Freiburg and works as a research assistant at FRIBIS. In his dissertation, he analyses historical and contemporary conceptions of the future in the context of unconditional basic income, political participation and direct democracy. In doing so, he primarily examines discursive future practices and associated semantics as well as reflections on governmental techniques. Special attention is paid to the concept of the ‘narrative’ and its implications for the social negotiation of the future.
Lives in Freiburg im Breisgau
Contact:
leon.hartmann@philosophie.uni-freiburg.de
leon.hartmann@fribis.uni-freiburg.de

Michael von der Lohe
Dipl. Ing. Photoingenieurwesen, born in 1953, has been an employee of OMNIBUS FÜR DIREKTE DEMOKRATIE gGmbH since 2000. He has been managing director there since 2004. He was a self-employed photo designer from 1978 to 2014 and won the Kodak European Award for professional photographers in 1988. In 1992, he developed a chemical process for burning silver halide emulsions onto ceramic substrates. From 2000 to 2006 he was an employee at the company Wirtschaft und Kunst – erweitert gGmbH in Frankfurt.
Lives in Hattingen, Germany

Susanne Wiest
has been advocating for the introduction of an universal basic income in Germany since 2008. Long-standing and also more recent partners in this free field of work include organisations such as the OMNIBUS FÜR DIREKTE DEMOKRATIE, collaborators of the initiative Freiheit statt Vollbeschäftigung, Uschi Bauer, initiator of the Krönungswelle, and since 2020 the Freiburg Institute for Basic Income Studies (FRIBIS). Central and fundamental was the inspiring cooperation with Götz Werner. Since 2022 Susanne Wiest has been chairperson of Mensch in Germany e. V.
Lives in Alt Tellin, Germany

Philip Kovce
is an external doctoral candidate at the Götz Werner Chair of Economic Policy & Constitutional Economic Theory at the University of Freiburg. He also conducts research at the Philosophicum Basel, teaches in the Studium fundamentale at the University of Witten/Herdecke, and writes as a freelance author for the press and radio. Numerous publications on unconditional basic income, including, together with Birger P. Priddat Bedingungsloses Grundeinkommen. Grundlagentexte (Suhrkamp 2019).

Sabine Scharff, M. A.
is author, doctoral candidate in philosophy at the Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg and mother. She completed her Master of Arts in Philosophy, Art History and German Studies at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich and worked for many years as a research assistant and project coordinator at the Staatliche Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe and the ZKM Karlsruhe. She realised various international and transdisciplinary projects with a special focus on political issues in the application of digital media. For over ten years, she has been involved with the Institut für Wirtschaftsgestaltung [hyperlink: http://www.ifw01.de/] in Berlin and now also within the Freiburg Institute for Basic Income Studies (FRIBIS). In her work in the PartUBI team, she is particularly interested in the implications of the digital shift for the relationship between participation and basic income.
Lives in Munich, Germany

Sören E. Schuster
is a doctoral candidate in philosophy at the Albert-Ludwig-University of Freiburg. His main research interests at the Institut für Wirtschaftsgestaltung in Berlin are Philosophy of Economics, History of Economic Thought, Philosophy of Management and Friedrich Nietzsche. Together with Georg N. Schäfer, his most recent publication was Mapping Mainstream Economics. Genealogical Foundations of Alternativity (Routledge, 2022)
Lives in Berlin