Introducing SSPS6008 – Universal Basic Income
In 2025, the the School of Social and Political Sciences (SSPS) at the University of Sydney will offer the first unit of study focused on Universal Basic Income (UBI) to be taught at a university in Australasia.
This interdisciplinary unit critically examines UBI’s potential to tackle 21st-century challenges like inequality, economic insecurity, technological disruption and more frequent extreme weather events. It traces the historical, ethical, and political economic foundations of UBI from its origins in the French and American revolutions to contemporary trials, political campaigns and policy exemplars. Students will engage with a variety of research methods, including historical analysis, ethical argument, social scientific experiments, and computer-based microsimulations, to evaluate UBI’s potential merits and limitations.
The unit will be taught by Dr Troy Henderson, with guest lectures by leading Australian and international UBI experts. Dr Henderson is a Senior Research Officer at the Mental Wealth Initiative and a former Lecturer in Political Economy at the University of Sydney. He is Co-Director of the Australian Basic Income Lab and Co-Editor of the international journal Basic Income Studies. His research interests include Basic Income, alternative workweek schedules, social policy reform, labour market economics and heterodox economic theory.
In 2025, this unit will will be taught intensively across 4 days in May-June. It will be available to students enrolled in the Master of Political Economy, the Master of Public Policy, the Master of Social Justice, the Executive Master of Public Administration, and other postgraduate coursework degrees via special permission. There are plans to offer the unit more widely in future years.
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