EA Organization Updates: April 2024

By tobytrem, Dane Valerie @ 2024-04-17T08:37 (+8)

If you would like to see EA Organization Updates as soon as they come out, consider subscribing to this tag.

Some of the opportunities and job listings we feature in this update have (very) pressing deadlines (see the AI, Animals and Digital Minds conference, the Pivotal Research Fellowship, and an opening for a People Operations Leader at OpenPhilanthropy).

• You can see previous updates on the "EA Organization Updates (monthly series)" topic page, or in our repository of past newsletters. Notice that there’s also an “org update” tag, where you can find more news and updates that are not part of this consolidated series.
• These monthly posts originated as the "Updates" section of the monthly EA Newsletter. Organisations submit their own updates, which we edit for clarity.
• (If you’d like to share your updates and jobs via this series, please apply here.)

Opportunities and jobs

Opportunities

Consider also checking opportunities listed on the EA Opportunities Board and the Opportunities to Take Action tag.

• The Cooperative AI Summer School 2024 will provide students and early-career AI professionals with a comprehensive introduction to cooperative AI, covering foundational concepts and cutting-edge research. The program will be held in Santa Cruz, CA, from June 19-23. Participants can attend for free or pay $350-$700. The application deadline is April 26.
• The first Workshop on the Economics of Pandemic Preparedness is happening in Stockholm on June 19-20. This event brings together epidemiologists, economists, and policymakers to share cutting-edge research on pandemic preparedness. Attendees can submit papers by May 1 here.
• The Pivotal Research Fellowship, formerly the CHERI research fellowship, is accepting applications for its summer program in London. From July 1 to August 30, fellows will have the opportunity to conduct full-time research on reducing global catastrophic risks, focusing on technical AI safety, AI governance, biosecurity, and pandemic preparedness. Mentored by experienced researchers and supported by research managers, fellows will receive a £5000 stipend, travel and accommodation support, and access to a hub for global catastrophic risk initiatives. Applications are due by April 21.
• The EU Tech Policy Fellowship offers a 7-month program beginning on July 1 for graduates to launch European policy careers focused on the safe deployment of AI and emerging technologies. The program takes place online, in Brussels, and, depending on the track you select, at partner organisations' locations (for think-tank placements). Applications close April 21.
• The Non-Trivial Fellowship is now accepting applications. It’s an online summer program for 200 students aged 14-20 to start an impactful research or policy project. Accepted fellows receive a $500 scholarship and up to $15,000 in prize-winning funding, as well as guidance from facilitators at Oxford, Cambridge, and Stanford Universities. The summer cohort will run from July 8– August 30. Apply by April 28.
• UBS Asset Management Investments has launched the 2024 UBS Asset Management Investments Recruitment Challenge, a joint superforecasting venture with Good Judgment  open to all, but with prizes reserved for full-time undergraduate and master's students graduating no earlier than January 2026. Participants must forecast on at least 20 questions to be eligible for prizes. Apply via the survey link by August 16.
• The Center for AI Safety (CAIS) has launched SafeBench, a competition offering $250,000 in prizes for benchmarks that empirically assess AI safety. The competition is open for submissions until February 25, 2025. Prizes will be awarded across four categories: Robustness, Monitoring, Alignment, and Safety Applications. Submissions should include a paper or thorough write-up with source code. Sign up on the SafeBench homepage for updates.
• The AI, Animals, and Digital Minds Conference 2024 invites attendee applications to the conference on June 3 and retreat from June 4-5, in London or online. The conference aims to explore the development of AI technologies that protect and benefit animals and potentially sentient AI. Apply by April 19.
• Rethink Wellbeing is accepting applications for their Mental Resilience Program, designed to help ambitious altruists improve their mental wellbeing and productivity. The program offers evidence-based tools from Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) through weekly group sessions and personalised exercises. The program offers many time slots and financial assistance for those in need. Apply now via the form for individuals or for facilitators to secure your spot in the upcoming summer cohort, as spaces are limited.
• Animal Charity Evaluators (ACE) has opened applications for their 2024 Charity Evaluations program. Each year, ACE invites around 15 promising animal charities to participate in their evaluation process, aiming to identify the most effective organisations working to assist farmed and wild animals. ACE encourages all interested organisations to submit an application by April 30.
• AIM (formerly Charity Entrepreneurship), is launching an animal-focused funding circle in the next few months which will bring funders together to deploy capital to the most promising animal charities. If you're an EA-minded animal funder who donates $200K or more per year, you can learn more here.
• A new research and policy organisation has launched to develop breakthrough treatments for addiction and address market failures in drug policy. The volunteer-run group, which formed through the effective altruism community, aims to end the opioid crisis and save hundreds of thousands of lives annually. They argue that curing addiction should be a global priority, as alcohol, cigarettes, and opiates kill over 10 million people worldwide each year. The group seeks additional collaborators, particularly MDs, PhDs, data scientists, graphic designers, and health policy experts. To learn more and get involved, follow their substack and contact addictionpolicyinitiative@gmail.com.
• Farmed Animal Funders (FAF) invites proposals for pooled fund ideas to support high-impact charitable interventions ending factory farming. FAF encourages creativity in pooled fund themes, ranging from specific geographies, interventions, or time-sensitive opportunities. Proposals are due by May 31.
• Kickstarting for Good is an incubator and accelerator program for high-impact nonprofits and initiatives transforming the food system. The 10-week expert-led program offers mentoring, networking, grants up to $5,000, and a curriculum on key EA principles. Applications are open for the 2024 cohort, with a priority deadline of April 30th. ProVeg also seeks expert mentors in various areas.

Job listings

​​Consider also exploring jobs listed on the Job listing (open) tag. For even more roles, check the 80,000 Hours Job Board and our Who’s Hiring? Thread.

Anthropic

• Research Engineer, Alignment Science (Hybrid, $280K-$600K)
• Research Engineer, Interpretability (Hybrid, $280K-$520K)
• Research Scientist, Interpretability (Hybrid, $250K-$520K)
• Team Manager, Interpretability (Hybrid/SF preferred, $320K-$485K)
• Research Scientist, Societal Impacts (Hybrid, $280K-$485K)
• Trust and Safety Responsible Deployment Policy Lead ($240K-$285K)

Centre for Effective Altruism

• Event Organisers for EAGxBerkeley (Remote in US, $38/hour, 26 April) and EAGxIndia (India-Remote, £15/hour, 26 April)
• Community Building Grants Associate (Remote, £44,000–£66,550, 28 April)
• Co-founder, AI Safety Group Support (Remote, $50–$80/hour)

Effective Institutions Project

• 2 x Senior Research Manager (Remote, $90K-$120K)

FAR AI

• Multiple roles including:
  • Engineering Manager (Remote or Berkeley, CA, $125K-$250K, 30 April)
  • Head of Events (Remote or Berkeley, CA, $100K-$130K)

Fish Welfare Initiative

• Monitoring & Evaluation Consultant (Remote in India, ₹1.2L-₹1.8L per month)

Founders Pledge

• Climate Communications Manager (Remote in UK £40K-£60K/Europe €40K-£60K/US $60K-$80K)
• Applied Researcher (Remote in UK: Up to £65K/USA: Up to $95K/Europe: Up to €65K)
• Senior Research Manager (Remote in US $90K-$120K)
• Advisor (Hybrid, £45K-£55K/€52.5K-€64.5K)

GiveWell

• Head of Philanthropy (Remote, $208K-$229K)
• Research Analyst (Remote, US $95.9K-$105.8K)

Longview Philanthropy

• Team Assistant and Office Manager (London, £35K-£40K, apply by 5 May)
• HR Director (London or US-Remote), £65K-£80K)
• Head of Events (London-Hybrid or US-Remote), £65K-£85K)

Open Philanthropy

• People Operations Leader (Remote, $125.8K-$153.3K, 19 April)

Suvita

• Head of Programme Delivery (Remote in India), ₹20L-₹34L, 21 April)

The Good Food Institute

• Policy Project Manager (Hybrid in DC, $81K-$85K, 22 April)

Organization Updates

The organisation updates are in alphabetical order (N-Z, 0-A-M).

New Incentives

New Incentives released a photo blog documenting how they help vaccinate hard-to-reach infants in rural Nigeria. In addition, VaccinesWork, a digital platform hosted by Gavi, recently published an article about New Incentives’ program, dubbing it "cashvocacy".

One for the World

One for the World is hosting their next marquee speaker event on Thursday, April 25th, at 12 p.m. Eastern / 6 p.m. Germany, with Effektiv Spenden’s Managing Director, Anne Schulze. The title of the event is “Think Like a Consultant: How to Maximise Your ROI on Charitable Impact.”

You can RSVP via LinkedIn or register directly on Zoom. We welcome all attendees, but the event is particularly geared towards those studying business, current and future consultants, and anyone with an interest in learning about a German perspective on effective giving. There will be time for a live Q&A.

Open Philanthropy

Open Philanthropy CEO Alexander Berger wrote about  their progress in 2023 and plans for 2024. See related posts from previous years here.

Farm Animal Welfare Program Director Lewis Bollard was interviewed in Current Affairs about why factory farming is a “moral atrocity”.  

Rethink Priorities (RP)

• RP published summaries of their previously commissioned research oninto increasing scientific capacity in sub-Saharan Africa, clean energy prices, carbon capture technologies, the climate philanthropy landscape, and other global health and development topics.
• The latest installment in the organization’s Shrimp Welfare Sequence addresses the reasons that shrimp farming is so deadly. While understanding and reducing the pre-slaughter mortality rate is not guaranteed to improve aggregate welfare, it could reduce the overall number of shrimps with bad lives.
• The Animal Welfare Team also investigated the potential cost-effectiveness of farmed fish stunning slaughter commitments from retailers in France, Italy, and Spain. Corporate commitments for fishes would likely be less cost-effective than similar interventions for shrimps, but could be competitive if one prioritizes averting the most intense suffering.

80,000 Hours

80,000 Hours released an updated audio version of their career review of AI governance and policy and a blog post about other particularly neglected pre-paradigmatic causes to work on.

On the 80,000 Hours Podcast:

• Rob interviewed Spencer Greenberg on causation without correlation, money and happiness, lightgassing, hype vs value, and more.
• Luisa interviewed Bob Fischer on comparing the welfare of humans, chickens, pigs, octopuses, bees, and more.

And on 80k After Hours, Luisa spoke with Christian Ruhl on why we’re entering a new nuclear age and how to reduce the risks.

Centre for Effective Altruism (CEA)

CEA is looking for a Community Building Grants Associate!

We are looking for an ambitious, engaging, and strategic professional to join CEA’s Groups team. The Groups team is in the middle of a strategic reorientation featuring a more proactive approach to seeding new groups and improving support.

We are looking for someone who can develop a deep understanding of excellent groups through pragmatic research, engage in talent acquisition, develop and execute new products and forms of support, and evaluate, explore, and lead our (experimental) seeding and incubation program. Apply here by April 28th.

Faunalytics

The Faunalytics team interviewed environmental groups in the US, China, and Brazil, and found that many are open to working with the animal protection movement or already are. Key findings and recommendations for advocates can be found in the link above.

The organization hosted a panel discussion with representatives from Animal Ask, Animal Charity Evaluators, Faunalytics, Good Growth, Mercy for Animals, and Rethink Priorities to discuss the results of their study, Research And Data As Tools In Advocates’ Decision-Making Discussion.

Just in time for their 24th anniversary, the new faunalytics.org is here! The entire website (which features dozens of original studies and over 5,000 Research Library entries) has been redesigned with clarity and accessibility in mind. Explore the website, watch the video tutorial, and visit the user guide to learn more.

Fish Welfare Initiative

Fish Welfare Initiative (FWI) recently published an overview of their ongoing and planned studies in India in 2024. These on-the-ground studies are designed to identify new promising interventions or to increase the evidence base for FWI’s current work. For instance, one study they are doing looks at assessing the welfare implications of using nutritionally-improved feed for Indian major carp.

FWI also published a projects page, where they list out and include pictures from their ongoing programming.

Lastly, they are hiring for a Monitoring & Evaluation Consultant in India. Learn more.

GiveWell

WIRED recently interviewed GiveWell’s CEO and co-founder, Elie Hassenfeld. Read the profile here.

GiveWell recently published the fourth blog post in their multi-part series covering how GiveWell works and what they fund. "What we fund, #1" explores GiveWell's grantmaking scope beyond the top charities list that they're best known for, including higher-risk opportunities, incubating programs, research, and more.

Giving What We Can

GWWC USA is now live and accepting donations. This means if you’re donating in the US, your donations will now be processed by GWWC USA instead of Effective Ventures US.  

Donors from Australia can now donate tax-deductibly via GWWC’s new Australian donation platform, enabled by their funding partnership with Effective Altruism Australia.

Good Food Institute

In March, GFI published their 2023 Year in Review, which spotlights stories from the past year of the people and partnerships creating alternative protein progress around the world.

The Humane League

Just 17 days after launching a global campaign to hold hospitality companies accountable to their cage-free promises, THL’s Open Wing Alliance—a global coalition working to end the abuse of chickens worldwide—announced 3 massive victories for egg-laying hens:

• Hilton Hotels & Resorts pledged to publicly report their progress toward ending cruel cages across every single region.
• Louvre Hotels Group published their global cage-free egg percentage on their website.
• Meliá Hotels International agreed to publish global progress across their entire portfolio and at the regional country levels.

Combined, these 3 commitments stand to spare over 850K hens from battery cages every year.

And in March, The Humane League announced their 2024 Legacy Matching Challenge. For a limited time, when you join THL’s Legacy Society, a generous donor will donate up to $2,500 in your honor. THL will only receive these funds—up to $100,000 in total—once you’ve let them know of your legacy commitment. Learn more about the matching challenge here.