Hi, we are Seb Farquhar and Owen Cotton-Barratt from the Global Priorities Project here from 8pm-10pm UK GMT (4-6pm Eastern) to answer any questions you might have! You can post questions below before then - on our research, the work we’ve done externally, our plans for the future, or anything else. Suggestions and comments are equally welcome.
What the Global Priorities Project does
The Global Priorities Project researches prioritisation and connects effective altruists with governments and foundations.
We identify good policy ideas and decision-making methods based on effective altruist principles.This involves blue-skies research, focus on specific relevant questions, but also testing concrete policy ideas with stakeholders through one-on-one meetings and conferences.
Decision-makers generally do not have the time to start with fundamentals, so we put ideas in a form that decision-makers will engage with. For example, our recent report on Unprecedented Technological Risks lays out why global catastrophic risk from things like AI, engineered pathogens, and nanotechnology needs to be taken seriously, in a format that suits policy-makers. We are using platforms like the Oxford Martin School to raise public awareness of EA considerations - like our recent OMS post on developing social institutions for AI safety.
We have begun to have decision-makers approach us privately for advice, as they have learned we have useful insights.
At the same time, we believe EAs can also learn from traditional decision-making institutions. We make sure the lessons flow in both directions. We offer advice to EAs on individual decisions based on our research. We also advise other EA organisations - for example helping 80,000 Hours develop their career advice.
Where things go from here
The Global Priorities Project is young - we are still testing out avenues for impact (like making really focused policy proposals, drafting primers on important topics like discount rates for policy-makers, or even working as policy evaluation consultants) before we narrow our focus too tightly. Each of our projects is an experiment, and we have learned valuable lessons already and are improving our work from that.
We are also, unfortunately, forced to shelve most our our project ideas because we lack staff. We are hoping to hire a third full-time staff member with complementary skills later this year. To do that, and secure 12 months of reserves, we have a fundraising target of £100,000 by the end of May.
How many people work full-time and part-time on GPP? What are sustainable growth predictions?
Do you model yourself as a think-tank?
What think-tanks have you looked at, spoken to, or modelled yourself upon?
Have you reached out to e.g. RUSI, BASIC, etc? Do you plan to?
What are your plans for the next a) 6 months b) year c) 5 years?
In what ways are you experimenting and iterating?
How many people have read your most popular content?
What are your next few marginal hires?
If a reader wants to work for GPP, what should they do/study/write/etc?
If a reader wants to help GPP, what should they do?
What would you do with a) £2,000 b) £10,000 c) £20,000?
What do you think your room-for-more-funding is?
You're based in the UK - there's about to be an election, then five years of a new government. How does that affect your plans?
When do you aim to influence debate, and policy - i.e. over what timescale? Are you trying to influence policy in 10 years, 20?
Who are the key decision-makers/stakeholders in your area? Have you mapped them out - how they relate, what their responsibilities are?
What Government Departments are you mainly interested in? Which are you monitoring? Are there any consultations open at the moment that you are submitting to? Same question for Parliamentary Committees.
At the moment GPP is funding constrained. We have an enormous pipeline of work - at one end we have literally hundreds of ideas we would love to pursue, but we also have several person-years of work on the table which is simply adapting our existing research to a particular audience to have impact. Anyone who is either able to donate or knows someone who might be able to would be enormously helpful. Based on the experience of other EA organisations, it is possible that we will become talent-constrained ... (read more)