The State of Things

Georgiana Epure is fundraising for a new platform to educate young people about the politics that affect their everyday lives.

We believe that a nurturing environment where young people can both learn, and create, political content, is a way of building bridges across the aisle, of cross-fertilising new ideas about what society and the good life should look, irrespective of ideological leanings.
Georgiana Epure

A Gates Cambridge Scholar is raising funds to start a unique educational platform that addresses shortcomings in citizenship and political education across the UK and other regions of the world.

Georgiana Epure [pictured] and three other Cambridge students and alumni – Matt Mahmoudi, David Orr and Luke Naylor-Perrott – are raising funds to start The State of Things which will address increasing political polarisation in the West and post-truth discourses.

Georgiana says: "A healthy democracy necessitates an educated population, who understand the political implications of their choices. Growing up I often thought that politics was about being loud on TV, about a certain person or a group of persons and not about important issues that affect my everyday life. In the absence of civic and political education, it was not until I joined the Students National Council when my eyes opened and I began to see and understand the politics behind different things like the educational system and started to connect the dots. Growing up, I remember wishing there was someone or something that made politics more relatable to me.

"We are worried that young people today are growing up without a fundamental introduction into the world of politics, where angry and polarised exchanges are considered ‘politics as normal’. We believe that a nurturing environment where young people can both learn, and create, political content, is a way of building bridges across the aisle, of cross-fertilising new ideas about what society and the good life should look, irrespective of ideological leanings.”

The State of Things will be centred on three principles: accessibility, non-partisanship and engagement. The project aims to develop a website and a student magazine to increase young people's interest in and knowledge about politics by illustrating how politics permeates everyday life – from explaining the Fairtrade, agricultural subsidies and trade policies behind a morning cup of coffee to sexual and reproductive health policies that allow for access to and affordability of contraceptives. As the project develops, the founders envision the creation of fora for interested youth to engage with local politicians. They envisage this ‘day in the life’ approach will provide students with a more tangible understanding of political life and enable them to pose their questions to their representatives.

To get the project started, The State of Things team is now engaged in a fundraising campaign to cover the upfront costs of the project, which include conducting a series of focus groups with secondary school students in the UK. Donations can be made on the Pembroke College The Time and The Place campaign website.

Georgiana Epure graduated in 2017 with an MPhil in International Relations and Politics from the University of Cambridge. She is currently a 1+3 Economic and Social Research Council scholar at the University of Leeds, researching the politics of international criminal justice.

Georgiana Epure

Alumni
Romania
2016 MPhil International Relations & Pols
Christ's College

Georgiana Epure is a human rights and gender justice advocate, with a background in international politics and international criminal justice.
Georgiana is Senior Advocacy and Campaigns Officer at Girls Not Brides: The Global Partnership to End Child Marriage, where she leads the development and delivery of Girls Not Brides’ global advocacy and campaigns to end child marriage, in collaboration with teams based in Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean, member organisations and National Partnerships and coalitions.

As the President of the Association for Liberty and Gender Equality (Romania), she coordinates the organisation’s advocacy work, with a focus on eliminating harassment in the workplace, combatting violence against women, and developing feminist cities. She also serves on the Board of Women Deliver, an international NGO that seeks to advance sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Previously, Georgiana was a Legal Associate with the Open Society Justice Initiative, where she worked on human rights strategic litigation and advocacy on issues ranging from economic justice and women’s rights to corporate accountability, ensuring respect for human rights in national security operations and implementation of judgments. Prior to this, Georgiana worked at the European External Action Service and in the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court.

Georgiana holds an MPhil degree in International Relations and Politics from the University of Cambridge, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and an MA degree in Social Science Research Methods from the University of Leeds, where she also completed her BA in International Relations as a valedictorian.