Starting Powerful Conversations: fixing the relationship between young people and politics

In the 2025 general election, only 37% of 18-24 year olds cast a ballot, further proof of a breakdown in the relationship between young people and politicians. In this talk, Harriet Andrews will explore the reasons behind this dislocation and explore practical solutions to bringing young people and politicians together to build trust.

Accessibility

An access guide to Birkbeck Room B34 can be found on AccessAble.

About the speaker

Harriet Andrews is the Director and Founder of The Politics Project a non-profit organisation that supports young people to engage in politics. The Politics Project is a specialist in political contact, bringing young people and politicians together to have meaningful conversations. It has supported over 800 schools across the UK to learn and engage with their representatives. 
The Politics Project also coordinates Democracy Classroom, a network of over 100 organisations in the youth, education and democracy sectors that work together on supporting young people to engage in elections, which supported over 1 million young people to engage with the last general election. Hattie has previously worked in a variety of roles in education, youthwork and democratic education.

About this event series

Political turning points, 2024-2025: Causes, consequences, solutions

2024 and 2025 are crucial years for global politics, with a number of highly anticipated elections (in India, the United Kingdom, the United States and elsewhere). These elections are coming at a time ofcoinciding with major armed conflicts (especially in Ukraine and Gaza), as well as rising levels of income inequality (globally and nationally), deflated living standards that still have not recovered to pre-Covid levels, crumbling healthcare systems, and fierce culture wars that are tearing up the fabric of our societies.

The sense of uncertainty and volatility is overwhelming and there is no way to predict what world we will live in two years from now. How can we understand thisthe causes and consequences of this overwhelming uncertainty and volatility? and what are the different components that define its causes and consequences? What is being done to mitigate for its effects and address the different challenges that emerge in it?

This series of Director’s Seminars and Soundbites will approach the question of uncertainty by exploring the complex range of practices and processes that define it today as a condition that is closely interlinked with economic, cultural, and environmental challenges.

Soundbites are a platform for professionals and entrepreneurs who are leading in their field. Speakers are innovators and inspiring actors working in new and traditional sectors, outside of academia. The Soundbite gives the audience an insight into how their organisation contributes to sustainable and inclusive prosperity.

For more events in this series visit the series page ►