Alexandra Bulat

Mainly raised in Romania, Bulat had spent a year in the UK as a young child while her father worked for the NHS. Returning as a student, she initially had a poor command of English.{{Cite web |date=2019-04-22 |title=Alexandra Bulat, born in Romania, she has lived in Great Britain for seven years. She is not there to take jobs away from the British but to study them |url=https://www.nuoveradici.world/articoli-in-evidenza/alexandra-bulat-born-in-romania-she-has-lived-in-great-britain-for-seven-years-she-is-not-there-to-take-jobs-away-from-the-british-but-to-study-them/ |access-date=2021-05-12 |website=Nuoveradici.world |language=it-IT}}

Bulat is a Labour Party councillor representing Abbey ward on Cambridgeshire County Council. She was elected at the 2021 local elections winning 41.77% of the vote and a majority of 205 despite a 25.76% increase in the Green party votes compared to the previous election.{{Cite web|title=Election|url=https://elections.cmis.uk.com/election/electiondetails/1/53|access-date=2021-05-12|website=elections.cmis.uk.com}}

Dr Bulat also won the University College London's (UCL) Provost Public Engagement ' Find Your Voice' Award in 2020 for public engagement by an early career researcher. She is a leading member of 3million and co-manager of their network for Young Europeans and she volunteers with charity Settled which helps EU people on application for 'settled status', following the UK Brexit arrangements.{{Cite web|last=UCL|date=2020-10-28|title=Dr Alexandra Bulat wins a Provost Public Engagement Award 2020|url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ssees/news/2020/oct/dr-alexandra-bulat-wins-provost-public-engagement-award-2020|access-date=2021-05-12|website=UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES)|language=en}} She was invited to write for the National Institute of Economic and Social Research in 2019,{{Cite web|title=Bulat, A|url=https://www.niesr.ac.uk/users/bulat|access-date=2021-05-12|website=National Institute of Economic and Social Research|language=en}} and by Al Jazeera to comment on the freedom of movement arrangements finally agreed for Gibraltar on 31 December 2020.{{Citation|title=Freedom of Movement agreed for Gibraltar - Alexandra Bulat reacts 31.12.2020| date=31 December 2020 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90oqSHEflo4|language=en|access-date=2021-05-12}} She had previously spoken about incipient racism in Romanian language posters about shoplifting appearing in British supermarkets. And she was invited to speak about her formal analysis of the attitudes to migration identified in campaign policy fliers for the EU Referendum.{{Cite web|title=Who Said What About EU Migration? – Alexandra Bulat – Conway Hall|url=https://conwayhall.org.uk/event/said-eu-migration-alexandra-bulat/|access-date=2021-07-05|website=conwayhall.org.uk}} She was one of the 33 Labour councillors who signed an open letter to The Guardian calling for a confirmatory referendum on Brexit.{{Cite web|last=Letters|date=2019-01-09|title=Labour should back another referendum {{!}} Letter|url=http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jan/09/labour-should-back-another-referendum|access-date=2021-12-13|website=the Guardian|language=en}}

As an outspoken advocate of EU citizens rights and a dual British-Romanian citizen, she shared her experiences of racist and xenophobic abuse with The London Economic Review and Labour party events,{{Cite web|title=Party Conferences 2021 – Partner with us|url=https://www.britishfuture.org/event/party-conferences-2021-partner-with-us/|access-date=2021-05-12|website=British Future|language=en-GB}} with her political enquiries into the route to citizenship during the Brexit transition period noted The Independent.{{Cite web|date=2020-12-10|title=UK should remove barriers to becoming British, report warns|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/british-citizenship-test-uk-brexit-b1768919.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201210074713/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/british-citizenship-test-uk-brexit-b1768919.html |archive-date=2020-12-10 |url-access=limited |url-status=live|access-date=2021-05-12|website=The Independent|language=en}}

At the closing date in June 2021, for those not yet confirmed to have settled status in the UK, Bulat and others were concerned about the impact of a late surge in awareness and the backlog in applications and a loss of rights.{{Cite news |date=2021-07-01 |title=Britain is much more European than anybody thought |url=https://www.economist.com/britain/2021/07/01/britain-is-much-more-european-than-anybody-thought |access-date=2021-07-05 |newspaper=The Economist |issn=0013-0613}} BBC reported that she spelled out basic rights that young Europeans would lose, and said that a 'physical proof of status' is needed to suit some people.{{Cite news |last1=Peel |first1=Shaun |last2=Rigby |first2=Nic |date=2021-06-13 |title=EU settlement: Fears people may miss post-Brexit deadline |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-57435083 |access-date=2021-12-13 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}} Attitudes to migrant workers who previously may have had to take work that could be considered 'low skilled' and the future 'points system' blocking access to the labour markets currently relying on EU migrants was a concern of her research in 2019.{{Cite journal |last=Bulat |first=Alexandra |date=May 2019 |title='High-Skilled Good, Low-Skilled Bad?' British, Polish and Romanian Attitudes Towards Low-Skilled EU Migration |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/national-institute-economic-review/article/abs/highskilled-good-lowskilled-bad-british-polish-and-romanian-attitudes-towards-lowskilled-eu-migration/7BC7BB5E55BF62A94C29EF43D2C0905B |journal=National Institute Economic Review |language=en |volume=248 |pages=R49–R57 |doi=10.1177/002795011924800113 |issn=0027-9501 |s2cid=159180786|url-access=subscription }} In the debate on voter identification for voting in the UK,{{Cite web |last=Allegretti |first=Aubrey |date=2021-07-04 |title=Millions in UK face disenfranchisement under voter ID plans |url=http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/jul/04/millions-in-uk-face-disenfranchisement-under-voter-id-plans |access-date=2021-12-13 |website=the Guardian |language=en}} Bulat and others produced a report on the current and potential impact on under-represented groups in London.{{Cite web |last1=Hammoud-Gallego |first1=Omar |last2=Lawall |first2=Katharina |last3=McRae |first3=Isabelle |last4=Moise |first4=Raluca |last5=Wanga |first5=Stephanie |last6=Bulat |first6=Alexandra |last7=Pop |first7=Elisabeth |date=2 December 2021 |title=London Voices: the journey to full participation {{!}} Citizenship & Integration Initiative report funded by Trust for London and the UK Democracy Fund |url=https://www.trustforlondon.org.uk/publications/london-voices-the-journey-to-full-participation/ |access-date=2021-12-13 |website=Trust for London}} As vice-chair of the County Council committee looking at paid family leave, a motion which was then passed, she had said "For me this is a matter of principle and basic rights, especially if we want to improve diversity in local government”.{{Cite web |last=elworthy |first=john |date=2021-09-29 |title=Council says pay decision will affect who wants to seek election |url=https://www.cambstimes.co.uk/news/local-council/key-cambs-councillors-to-get-paternity-pay-8375804 |access-date=2021-12-13 |website=Cambs Times |language=en-UK}}

In March 2024, Bulat was selected by Labour as the Propsective Parliamentary Candidate for Huntingdon for the upcoming General Election.{{Cite web |date=2024-03-04 |title=Congratulations Alex Bulat, Labour's Parliamentary candidate for Huntingdon! |url=https://twitter.com/EofELabour/status/1764694992105115772 |website=Twitter |language=en}} Bulat stood in 2024 General Election on the 4th July 2024 and came second with 16,758 votes, behind the Conservative candidate Ben Obese-Jecty with 18,257.{{Cite news |title=Huntingdon - General election results 2024 |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/election/2024/uk/constituencies/E14001298 |access-date=2024-07-05 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}

Her doctorate was based on research on exploring whether local contact affected attitudes towards EU migrants in 'a comparison of British, Romanian and Polish residents' views in two English local authorities in the context of Brexit'.{{Cite web|last=UCL|date=2017-07-05|title=Alexandra Bulat|url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ssees/people/politics-and-sociology-research-students-folder/alexandra-bulat|access-date=2021-05-12|website=UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES)|language=en}} Her studies included ephemera in the British Library where her case study analysis identified a bias in the materials against migrants from certain EU countries.{{Cite web|title=Alexandra Bulat|url=https://www.bl.uk/case-studies/alexandra-bulat|access-date=2021-05-12|website=The British Library}} A recent collaboration on EU citizens’ perceived identity is conducted with Professor Tanja Bueltmann of Strathclyde University.{{Cite web|title=Researchers bid to find out how Brexit has affected EU citizens living in the UK|url=https://www.thenational.scot/news/19092650.eu-citizens-asked-brexit-opinions/|access-date=2021-05-12|website=The National|date=16 February 2021 |language=en}} She was later co-author of a study funded by EU Horizon Fund to study the impact of 'growing up abroad' as which compared Italian and more recent Romanian cohorts.{{Cite journal |last1=Moroşanu |first1=Laura |last2=Bulat |first2=Alexandra |last3=Mazzilli |first3=Caterina |last4=King |first4=Russell |date=2019-07-04 |title=Growing up abroad: Italian and Romanian migrants' partial transitions to adulthood |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2018.1501505 |journal=Ethnic and Racial Studies |volume=42 |issue=9 |pages=1554–1573 |doi=10.1080/01419870.2018.1501505 |issn=0141-9870 |s2cid=149708904}}

Along with a doctorate from University College London, Bulat also has a Masters degree from Cambridge and an undergraduate degree from the University of Sussex.

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Category:Romanian emigrants to the United Kingdom

Category:Alumni of University College London

Category:English politicians

Category:Members of Cambridgeshire County Council

Category:Women councillors in England

Category:Labour Party (UK) councillors

Category:Alumni of the University of Sussex

Category:Alumni of the University of Cambridge

Category:English women activists

Category:British political activists

Category:Labour Party (UK) parliamentary candidates