The EPOG Students and Alumni Association

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.

The EPOG Alumni Conference

From July 3–5, 2025, EPOG alum­ni from all around the world gath­ered on the island of San Sèr­vo­lo (Venice, Italy) for the first-ever EPOG Alum­ni Con­fer­ence, a self-orga­nized gath­er­ing that cel­e­brat­ed a decade since the very first EPOG cohort.

The event was much more than a reunion: it was a liv­ing exper­i­ment in col­lec­tive learn­ing, cre­ative exchange, and mutu­al care. The pro­gramme reflect­ed 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.

A glimpse into the pro­gramme…

Day 1 – Roots and reconnections

After arrivals and a wel­come lunch, the con­fer­ence began with an Ice­break­er and an Agen­da Walk­through to get every­one ori­ent­ed and connected.

The first pub­lic ses­sion, “Venezia: A Long Sto­ry of Inno­va­tions, Envi­ron­men­tal Adap­ta­tion and Future Per­spec­tives”, explored how the city of Venice has tack­led envi­ron­men­tal chal­lenges through cen­turies of inno­va­tion, con­nect­ing its past with future sus­tain­abil­i­ty perspectives.

The evening end­ed with a Net­work­ing Ses­sion, a relaxed space for par­tic­i­pants to share their projects and inter­ests, find new col­lab­o­ra­tors, and exchange ideas before gath­er­ing for din­ner under the Venet­ian sunset.

Day 2 – Reflection, debate, and creation

The morn­ing began with two heal­ing activ­i­ties — Lis­ten­ing to Time: A Sound­walk on San Sèr­vo­lo and the A* Meet­ing, a col­lec­tive reflec­tion space on the glob­al rise of anti­de­mo­c­ra­t­ic movements.

Next came three aca­d­e­m­ic pan­els offer­ing a glimpse of the wide spec­trum of EPOG alum­ni work and research:

• Nav­i­gat­ing the Green Tran­si­tion: Labour, Indus­try, and Finance in the Green Shift
• Fem­i­nist Economics
• Glob­al South, Devel­op­ment and Neocolonialism

In the after­noon, par­tic­i­pants joined one of three par­al­lel ses­sions, each offer­ing dif­fer­ent for­mats of col­lab­o­ra­tion and creativity:

• Com­mu­ni­cat­ing to Reach the World, a co-cre­at­ed pod­cast experiment;
• Lan­guage as Bor­der and Bridge: Rethink­ing Knowl­edge in a Glob­al­ized Acad­e­my, explor­ing mul­ti­lin­gual­ism and the pol­i­tics of language;
• Organ­is­ing the EPOG Com­mu­ni­ty, an open dia­logue on col­lec­tive strate­gies and community-building.

The day con­tin­ued with the play­ful EPOG Roulette, before mov­ing into two key moments: the Man­i­festo Pre­sen­ta­tion, where par­tic­i­pants worked col­lec­tive­ly on a shared dec­la­ra­tion, and the Plan­e­tary Ses­sion: Shap­ing Our Col­lec­tive Future, a ple­nary ded­i­cat­ed to reflec­tion, reimag­i­na­tion, and strate­gic plan­ning for the future of the EPOG community.

The night closed with a joy­ful Din­ner and Par­ty, filled with laugh­ter, danc­ing, and renewed connections.

Day 3 – Futures and farewells

Sat­ur­day opened with a boat trip in the Venice lagoon includ­ing a vis­it to an island guid­ed by for­mer Chief Engi­neer of the MOSE project. Alum­ni had the chance to do a Poster Ses­sion in the boat, show­cas­ing alum­ni research from across the EPOG spec­trum in a non-con­ven­tion­al way.

The con­fer­ence con­clud­ed with Con­clu­sions & Clos­ing, a col­lec­tive cir­cle to share reflec­tions and inten­tions for the next chap­ters of the EPOG journey.

But the cel­e­bra­tion didn’t end there — the Alum­ni Con­fer­ence flowed into the EPOG Master’s Con­fer­ence, fea­tur­ing the Alum­ni Round Table: Break­ing the Silos II and the fes­tive EPOG 10-Year Anniver­sary Aper­i­ti­vo.

A collective milestone

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!

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.