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Introduction

The Cambridge Existential Risks Initiative (CERI) summer research fellowship (SRF) is a 10-week research training programme for aspiring x-risk researchers held in Cambridge, UK. CERI SRF ‘22 concluded with a research symposium on September 5th, and the presentations from that symposium are the subject of this post.[1]

For prospective CERI applicants: CERI SRF '23 is not yet open to applications; we’re currently evaluating our impact and considering our long term strategy. There will be a Forum post if and when we open our ‘23 round. In the meantime, you may be interested in our existential risks introductory course (ERIC), or in EA Cambridge's seminar programmes in AGI safety and biosecurity.

Presentations

CERI research symposium talks, from both '22 and '21, can be found at the CERI Youtube channel.[2] Below, I break down the '22 fellows' talks by cause area, such that those interested might have a slightly easier time navigating which videos to watch.

AI risk

Technical

Governance

Biorisk

Nuclear risk

Extreme climate change

Miscellaneous and meta x-risk

Acknowledgements

I'm grateful to Nandini Shiralkar for helpful comments on an earlier draft, and to Lin Bowker-Lonnecker, Nandini again, and especially Hannah Erlebach for organising our symposium. Moreover, I'm grateful for all the effort - from the fellows, mentors, and organising team - that went into this summer's CERI fellowship. It's a privilege to work with people like you.

CERI SRF '22 fellows and organisers (and also three of the mentors). Photo by Graham CopeKoga.

Back row, left to right: Nathan Barnard, Tim Farrelly, Pranav Gade, Oscar Delaney, Hanna Palya, Herbie Bradley, Sam Pritchard, Will Aldred, Cecil Abungu, Lin Bowker-Lonnecker

Middle row, left to right: Vara Raturi, Catherine Brewer, Carson Ezell, Gideon Futerman, Yilin Huang, Dewi Erwan, Somsubhro Bagchi, Catherine Rhodes, Hannah Erlebach

Front row, left to right: Sarah Weiler, Ziyue Zeng, Brianna Gopaul, Nandini Shiralkar, Kirke Joamets, Lalitha Sundaram

  1. ^

    Note that CERI's theory of change is more about upskilling aspiring x-risk researchers (i.e., our fellows), with a view to counterfactually more impactful careers going forward, than it is about the direct impact of fellows’ outputs from the summer.

  2. ^

    Most fellows' symposium talks can be found on our Youtube channel. Some talks are unavailable on account of infohazards or other reasons.

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Hey Will, do you want to put these on EA Radio alongside the Stanford Existential Risk Initiative talks?

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