Introducing Meridian, Cambridge’s hub for impact-driven projects and people

By Meridian @ 2024-12-09T18:47 (+25)

If you’re in Cambridge (UK) and you’ve never heard of Meridian, consider this post your official invitation to discover your new home!

We’ve learned that most people find us through word of mouth, which is flattering but also means there are probably plenty of EAs and impact-focused people out there who are missing out on a community and co-working space. So here’s to improving our SEO and making it easier for you to find us.
 

What Is Meridian?

Meridian (formerly Effective Altruism Cambridge) is a community-focused organization and workspace in central Cambridge dedicated to solving humanity’s biggest challenges. We have a big AI safety community, along with folks working on research and field-building in biosecurity, global health and development, animal welfare, progress studies, and the long-term future of humanity.

 

Why Join?

Meridian brings together over 100 members — University of Cambridge students, think-tank professionals, researchers, and visitors — all united by a commitment to tackling important challenges through truth-seeking research and initiatives.

We have a space in the heart of Cambridge with 30 standing desks, monitors, and plenty of snacks for co-working. Beyond the physical workspace, members are welcome at community events including regular pizza socials, 'Lightning Lunches', AI roleplay games, trivia nights, and lectures. Thanks to a generous grant from Open Philanthropy, membership is free.
 

What’s Happening at Meridian?

In addition to regular office users who come to co-work (and totally not just to raid the vegan snack stash), we incubate, support, and/or host a range of projects and programs, including:

• Cambridge AI Safety Hub
• Cambridge Biosecurity Hub
• Cambridge Existential Risk Initiative
• Effective Altruism Cambridge
• The ERA Fellowship
   

To give you a taste of our activities, here are some of the programs we'll be running in January 2025:

• MARS, an AI safety research program bringing together students and mentors from around the world to advance the field through collaborative research projects.
• The Futures Fellowship, a program for ambitious individuals to learn and think critically about the long-term future of humanity and how to make a meaningful difference.
• A global health and development reading group for learning about and discussing ways to make global health and development initiatives more effective.
• A Career Planning Intensive program helping students evaluate different cause areas and identify high-impact career opportunities.
• A biosecurity working group for high-context individuals interested in learning about and doing advanced biosecurity research.
• Odyssey, a fellowship for understanding why previous small groups (cf. Early Christians, early Enlightenment) were much more right about the shape of the future than anyone else at the time. How can we be that kind of right?

In the near-term, we’re also looking at running an incubator program to help new projects and initiatives get off the ground; and a progress-focused research program for projects on energy, meta-science, and more.

In brief, we're actively growing both our co-working community and our program offerings. We welcome new members to use our workspace and encourage engagement with our existing programs — or even launch new initiatives of their own!

How to Join

To apply for membership, visit our website at meridiancambridge.org/membership, or reach out directly to info@meridiancambridge.org.

If you’re interested in one of our projects or programs, the respective websites are the best places to get more information. If you're interested in starting a project out of Meridian, please reach out to the email above.

Come be part of Cambridge's hub for ambitious, impact-driven work. We look forward to meeting you!