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The EPOG Students and Alumni Association

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    Conferences

    The association

    The EPOG Stu­dents and Alum­ni Asso­ci­a­tion (EPOG SAA) is a non-prof­it organ­i­sa­tion (under the French “1901 law”). It has been cre­at­ed and it is man­aged by EPOG stu­dents and grad­u­ates. Its activties include pub­lish­ing the “EPOG Pol­i­cy briefs”, organ­is­ing the EPOG Alum­ni Con­fer­ence, co-organ­is­ing the EPOG Mas­ter’s Con­fer­ence and facil­i­tat­ing net­work­ing events between stu­dents and alumni.

    Pres­i­dent: Daniela Mur­cia (EPOG 2025)
    Vice-Pres­i­dent: Valentin Schläf­fer (EPOG 2022)
    Trea­sur­er: Joaquín Pereira (EPOG 2023)
    Sec­re­tary: Ali­na Gis­pert (EPOG 2026)
    Strate­gic Lead: Marisol Man­fre­di (EPOG 2022)

    Oper­a­tion

    The asso­ci­a­tion is organ­ised into work­ing groups. Work­ing groups are cre­at­ed to devel­op and imple­ment projects. Each work­ing group has lead coor­di­na­tor, who ensures effec­tive com­mu­ni­ca­tion with­in the work­ing group and with oth­er mem­bers out­side the work­ing group.

    Pur­pose

    • to devel­op and fos­ter rela­tion­ships between alum­ni and cur­rent stu­dents of the Mas­ter’s pro­gramme, strength­en their ties with the Mas­ter’s pro­gramme, and pro­mote the role and val­ues of EPOG Mas­ter’s grad­u­ates in the job mar­ket, acad­e­mia, and society;
    • to play a key role in pro­mot­ing and imple­ment­ing the EPOG Mas­ter’s programme;
    • to organ­ise fundrais­ing cam­paigns and pro­mote intern­ships and job oppor­tu­ni­ties. The asso­ci­a­tion also aims to pro­mote the rep­u­ta­tion of EPOG Mas­ter’s grad­u­ates as a com­mu­ni­ty of high-qual­i­ty think­ing and a mod­el of open, inno­v­a­tive and inter­na­tion­alised lead­er­ship, based on an approach to eco­nom­ics that is plu­ral­is­tic, open to inter­dis­ci­pli­nary dia­logue and inter­ac­tion with soci­ety. In doing so, the asso­ci­a­tion is com­mit­ted to cre­at­ing an envi­ron­ment for dis­cus­sion on cur­rent issues, includ­ing the organ­i­sa­tion of sem­i­nars, con­fer­ences and oth­er events. The asso­ci­a­tion has no polit­i­cal affil­i­a­tion. The asso­ci­a­tion is inde­pen­dent of any polit­i­cal par­ty, trade union or pro­fes­sion­al association. 
    • to ensure strate­gic coor­di­na­tion and ongo­ing col­lec­tive reflec­tion, in accor­dance with the found­ing val­ues of the EPOG Mas­ter’s pro­gramme, in order to align the asso­ci­a­tion’s activ­i­ties with trans­for­ma­tive and inclu­sive objectives.

    Statutes

    Statutes of the Asso­ci­a­tion (in French): https://alumni.epog.eu/s/oCkMA9qxJ9Sid89

    The Eras­mus Mundus Stu­dents and Alum­ni Asso­ci­a­tion (EMA) is an asso­ci­a­tion gath­er­ing more than 9000 stu­dents and alum­ni from any Eras­mus Mundus pro­gramme (only Action 1).

    Estab­lished in 2006 at the ini­tia­tive of the Direc­torate Gen­er­al for Edu­ca­tion and Cul­ture of the Euro­pean Com­mis­sion, EMA is an asso­ci­a­tion dri­ven by its mem­bers. It offers:

    • an inter­na­tion­al pro­fes­sion­al and per­son­al net­work for Eras­mus Mundus stu­dents and graduates;
    • a pro­mo­tion of the Eras­mus pro­gramme, by par­tic­i­pat­ing or organ­is­ing fairs, infor­ma­tion sem­i­nars and pro­mo­tion­al activites worldwide;
    • a chan­nel of com­mu­ni­ca­tion for stu­dents, alum­ni, uni­ver­si­ties and the Euro­pean Com­mis­sion, in par­tic­u­lar through its Pro­gramme Rep­re­sen­ta­tives and Coun­try Representatives.

    EPOG Stu­dents and alum­ni are strong­ly encour­aged to join the asso­ci­a­tion (free of any cost) since their enrolle­ment in the pro­gramme.

    The EPOG Alumni Conference

    The alum­ni con­fer­ence is much more than a reunion: it is a liv­ing exper­i­ment in col­lec­tive learn­ing, cre­ative exchange, and mutu­al care. Each year, its pro­gramme reflects the full diver­si­ty of our com­mu­ni­ty: span­ning aca­d­e­m­ic and non-aca­d­e­m­ic expe­ri­ences, with alum­ni facil­i­tat­ing, pre­sent­ing, and cre­at­ing togeth­er in spaces designed to fos­ter con­nec­tion, reflec­tion, and joy.

    From 3 to 5 July 2025, EPOG alum­ni from around the world gath­ered on the island of San Sèr­vo­lo in Venice, Italy, for the first EPOG Alum­ni Con­fer­ence. Self-organ­ised by alum­ni and mark­ing ten years since the first EPOG cohort, the gath­er­ing brought peo­ple togeth­er to recon­nect, share their work and imag­ine what the EPOG com­mu­ni­ty could build next.

    The pro­gramme moved between research, prac­ti­cal col­lab­o­ra­tion and reflec­tion. A pub­lic ses­sion con­sid­ered Venice’s long his­to­ry of inno­va­tion and envi­ron­men­tal adap­ta­tion. Alum­ni-led pan­els explored the green tran­si­tion, fem­i­nist eco­nom­ics, and devel­op­ment and neo­colo­nial­ism in the Glob­al South. Oth­er ses­sions made space to dis­cuss mul­ti­lin­gual­ism in acad­e­mia, exper­i­ment with a co-cre­at­ed pod­cast and con­sid­er how to organ­ise the EPOG community.

    Col­lec­tive care and con­nec­tion were just as impor­tant as debate. A sound­walk on San Sèr­vo­lo invit­ed par­tic­i­pants to lis­ten to their sur­round­ings, while a dis­cus­sion addressed the rise of anti­de­mo­c­ra­t­ic move­ments. Net­work­ing, a shared man­i­festo and the Plan­e­tary Ses­sion gave alum­ni oppor­tu­ni­ties to find col­lab­o­ra­tors and set pri­or­i­ties together.

    On the final day, par­tic­i­pants trav­elled by boat through the Venice lagoon and shared their research in a poster ses­sion on board. The first gath­er­ing showed what an alum­ni-led space could make pos­si­ble: crit­i­cal exchange, new con­nec­tions and a con­tin­u­ing sense of com­mu­ni­ty beyond graduation.

    Across three days, the con­fer­ence show­cased the best of what EPOG stands for: inter­dis­ci­pli­nar­i­ty, crit­i­cal inquiry, and sol­i­dar­i­ty in prac­tice. From sound­walks to fem­i­nist eco­nom­ics, from strate­gic orga­niz­ing to fes­tive din­ners, the event held space for both intel­lec­tu­al ques­tion­ing and col­lec­tive care.

    In times that test our sense of belong­ing and pur­pose, this first Alum­ni Con­fer­ence remind­ed us that EPOG is more than a degree: it’s a liv­ing, evolv­ing community.

    Here’s to the next ten years of imag­in­ing, orga­niz­ing, and laugh­ing togeth­er!

    Check out the pro­gramme here.

    From 26 to 30 June 2026, EPOG stu­dents and alum­ni came togeth­er in Chan­dolin, Switzer­land, for the sec­ond EPOG Alum­ni Con­fer­ence. Fol­low­ing the first gath­er­ing in Venice in 2025, the con­fer­ence offered space to recon­nect, exchange ideas and shape the future of the EPOG Stu­dents and Alum­ni Asso­ci­a­tion (SAA).

    Host­ed at the Ancien Grand Hôtel Chan­dolin, the pro­gramme com­bined dis­cus­sions on eco­nom­ics, ecol­o­gy and soci­ety with work­shops, net­work­ing, col­lec­tive deci­sion-mak­ing and time out­doors. Par­tic­i­pants explored ecofem­i­nist eco­nom­ics, the chal­lenges of the green tran­si­tion and the cur­rent macro­eco­nom­ic land­scape. A pan­el on migra­tion in acad­e­mia opened a con­ver­sa­tion about belong­ing, dis­crim­i­na­tion and the prac­ti­cal chal­lenges of study­ing and work­ing across borders.

    The con­fer­ence also made room for col­lab­o­ra­tion and action. Alum­ni shared projects in a pitch ses­sion, exchanged expe­ri­ences of pur­su­ing a PhD, and dis­cussed how het­ero­dox econ­o­mists can con­tribute to social change. A fur­ther pan­el drew on cam­paign expe­ri­ence to con­sid­er respons­es to the rise of anti­de­mo­c­ra­t­ic move­ments. At the SAA ple­nary, mem­bers reviewed the association’s activ­i­ties and future pri­or­i­ties; the con­fer­ence closed with reflec­tions and the announce­ment of the SAA Board elec­tion results.

    Food was part of the conference’s col­lec­tive approach. Par­tic­i­pants pre­pared meals, shared tables and cleaned up togeth­er, bring­ing the often-unseen work of care into the heart of the gath­er­ing. The veg­e­tar­i­an and veg­an menu reflect­ed a com­mit­ment to sus­tain­abil­i­ty and con­cern for animals—not as a rule for oth­ers to fol­low, but as an invi­ta­tion to explore a dif­fer­ent way of eat­ing and liv­ing together.

    Shared music, games and a hike in the moun­tains around Chan­dolin were part of the gath­er­ing too. Togeth­er, these moments made the con­fer­ence a place not only for debate, but also for strength­en­ing the rela­tion­ships that sus­tain the EPOG com­mu­ni­ty beyond graduation.

    You can check out the pro­gramme here.

    The EPOG policy briefs

    The EPOG alum­ni asso­ci­a­tion is also in charge of the EPOG “Pol­i­cy briefs”.

    The EPOG “Pol­i­cy briefs” com­prise four pages of pol­i­cy analy­sis and rec­om­men­da­tions on top­i­cal issues, writ­ten in col­lo­qui­al lan­guage. They con­tribute to pub­lic debates world­wide. It is curent­ly issued in Eng­lish. They are dis­sem­i­nat­ed to a wide audi­ence, includ­ing jour­nal­ists, pol­i­cy mak­ers, mem­bers of par­lia­ment and think tanks. 

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