This should help a little:
Projects: (i) Ethics of extreme technological risk (working with Professor Partha Dasgupta) This subproject aims to examine the limitations of standard cost-benefit analysis (CBA) as a means of assessing the importance of mitigating extreme technological risk (ETR); to develop a version of CBA more suitable to this context; and derive conclusions about the importance of mitigating ETR compared to other global priorities. Relevant disciplines include: Philosophy (especially moral philosophy, applied ethics, and formal decision theory) and Economics (e.g., the economics of sustainability, the theory of future discounting).
(ii) Horizon-scanning and foresight for extreme technological risk (working with Professor William Sutherland) Successful management of ETR is likely to require early detection. This subproject aims to optimise the horizon-scanning and foresight techniques available for this task, and to understandthe similarities and differences between the case of ETR and other horizon-scanning applications. Relevant disciplines include: Zoology and Ecology, Conservation Studies, Science and Technology Studies, Psychology.
(iii) Responsible innovation and extreme technological risk (working with Dr Robert Doubleday and Professor Martin Rees) This subproject asks what can be done to encourage risk-awareness and societal responsibility, without discouraging innovation, within the communities developing future technologies with transformative potential. Relevant disciplines include: Science and Technology Studies, Geography, Philosophy of Science, plus relevant technological fields (e.g., AI, Virology, Synthetic biology).
It's sort of not that useful though. This is a description of the "shovel-ready" projects and those are actually pretty straight-forward. If you fit into one of those categories, you'd basically be under a single person with a well-defined discipline and you can get a pretty good sense of who you'd be working for by scanning a half-dozen paper abstracts if you're not already familiar with them. There's a decent chance you're actually funded directly out of the individual professor's research grant. It's pretty business as usual.
But being a post-...
[To be cross-posted at Effective Altruism Forum, FLI news page]
I'm delighted to announce that the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk has had considerable recent success in grantwriting and fundraising, among other activities (full update coming shortly). As a result, we are now in a position to advance to CSER's next stage of development: full research operations. Over the course of this year, we will be recruiting for a full team of postdoctoral researchers to work on a combination of general methodologies for extreme technological (and existential) risk analysis and mitigation, alongside specific technology/risk-specific projects.
Our first round of recruitment has just opened - we will be aiming to hire up to 4 postdoctoral researchers; details below. A second recruitment round will take place in the Autumn. We have a slightly unusual opportunity in that we get to cast our net reasonably wide. We have a number of planned research projects (listed below) that we hope to recruit for. However, we also have the flexibility to hire one or more postdoctoral researchers to work on additional projects relevant to CSER's aims. Information about CSER's aims and core research areas is available on our website. We request that as part of the application process potential postholders send us a research proposal of no more than 1500 words, explaining what your research skills could contribute to CSER. At this point in time, we are looking for people who will have obtained a doctorate in a relevant discipline by their start date.
We would also humbly ask that the LessWrong community aid us in spreading the word far and wide about these positions. There are many brilliant people working within the existential risk community. However, there are academic disciplines and communities that have had less exposure to existential risk as a research priority than others (due to founder effect and other factors), but where there may be people with very relevant skills and great insights. With new centres and new positions becoming available, we have a wonderful opportunity to grow the field, and to embed existential risk as a crucial consideration in all relevant fields and disciplines.
Thanks very much,
Seán Ó hÉigeartaigh (Executive Director, CSER)
"The Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (University of Cambridge, UK) is recruiting for to four full-time postdoctoral research associates to work on the project Towards a Science of Extreme Technological Risk.
We are looking for outstanding and highly-committed researchers, interested in working as part of growing research community, with research projects relevant to any aspect of the project. We invite applicants to explain their project to us, and to demonstrate their commitment to the study of extreme technological risks.
We have several shovel-ready projects for which we are looking for suitable postdoctoral researchers. These include:
However, recruitment will not necessarily be limited to these subprojects, and our main selection criterion is suitability of candidates and their proposed research projects to CSER’s broad aims.
Details are available here. Closing date: April 24th."