About the Global Priorities Fellowship

Summary

This philosophy and economics fellowship aims to support promising PhD and master’s students in contributing to global priorities research, with a particular focus on issues that are of relevance to improving the wellbeing of future generations over the very long term. Applications are open to full-time graduate students at any stage of their studies, including those starting their programmes in the autumn of 2020. The application deadline is 10 January 2020. Fellows will receive a stipend of £5,000 (about US $6,150) and are encouraged to attend the yearly fellows’ event in Oxford, United Kingdom. The stipend is for one year in the first instance, but is open to renewal for a second year.

For 2019 Global Priorities Fellows, please see this page for re-application instructions.

If you are available to come to Oxford for a longer period in the summer (from 6 June to 4 July 2020), you might also want to consider applying for the Global Priorities Institute’s Early Career Conference Programme (ECCP). You can apply to both, this fellowship as well as the ECCP, at the same time and it is possible you might be selected for one or both of the programmes.

About Global Priorities Research

Global priorities research is an academic discipline at the intersection of economics, philosophy, and the social sciences. Its aim is to determine how individuals and institutions should spend their limited resources in order to improve the world as much as possible. We currently have a particular focus on the idea of longtermism — trying to work out how best to ensure that the long-run trajectory of civilisation goes well.

For more information on global priorities research, please see the Global Priorities Institute website.

Programme & Application Details

Dates

Application deadline: 10 January 2020

When applicants will hear back: End of January 2020

Fellowship event: 24-28 June 2020

Fellowship payouts to begin: September 2020

Who can apply?

We accept applications from full-time master’s and PhD students in any year of their studies. This includes those who have applied to start their programme in autumn 2020. We primarily expect to support applicants from the fields of economics and philosophy (there is no requirement for the applicants to be based at those particular departments). Applicants do not have to have prior experience in global priorities research: we encourage applications from candidates newly entering the field. Applications are not restricted by country, and we encourage students from throughout the world to apply. We also strongly encourage applications from members of groups underrepresented in the relevant fields of academia, including women and people of colour.

If you are not sure you are a good candidate for the fellowship but would like to know more, please don’t hesitate to get in touch for an informal chat about the programme.

What we offer

Money : A stipend of £5,000 (about US $6,150) per year of the fellowship. Fellows start by applying for a year of fellowship, after which they can apply for an extension of a further year. We encourage fellows to use their stipend for their research expenses (e.g. conference fees or computer equipment). Once accepted, we will also consider additional funding requests related to the fellows’ research and studies.

Community : The Forethought Foundation runs a yearly fellows workshop. During this event, fellows will be able to engage with more senior researchers on the topics of their studies, receive mentorship and exchange ideas with their peers. All event costs will be covered by the Forethought Foundation. Additionally, we encourage fellows to communicate throughout the year through an online network.

Coaching: Dedicated sessions with a productivity coach. We believe that learning how to be a productive researcher can have a huge influence on one’s output, so we encourage fellows to take this opportunity.

What we ask of the fellows

Fellows will have a research focus that aligns with the Forethought Foundation’s mission and goals. We are looking for students interested in helping answer the question of how to do the most good in the world, given our limited resources. We also strongly encourage fellows to attend the annual fellows’ meetup to engage with the wider research community. After a completed fellowship, participants will give feedback about their fellowship experience and show how they have used the financial support.



The application process

Application Stages

Stage 1 - Submit application materials Applicants are required to submit the following materials: CV. Academic transcript. One academic writing sample that best represents your work (between 5,000 and 12,000 words). This does not have to be related to global priorities research. Names of 1-2 references, at least one of which must be an academic supervisor. Short research proposal (around 500 words). This proposal is not binding, and we expect you may work on other projects in the future. Personal statement, describing your motivation for working in global priorities research, and why you are a good fit for the Forethought Foundation (around 500 words). Optional: Links to blogs, websites, etc.

Stage 2 - Interviews (20-30 mins)

Research Areas

Below are a few examples of questions we would be excited for candidates to explore in their research. These are listed only to give an idea of the types of areas we are interested in; our interests are in no way limited to the questions below. For more information, you can have a look at the research areas section on our website and the Global Priorities Institute’s Research Agenda, where we outline some of the key open questions in global priorities research.



Economics

Some research we would like to see:

Discounting - How would policy recommendations change if we assumed a zero rate of pure time preference? How might a patient agent provide incentives for an impatient government to implement policy consistent with placing a higher valuation on the future? How might an unusually patient government provide incentives for future (possibly impatient) governments to continue to make future-oriented investments?

Global catastrophe - How should we evaluate the risk of civilisational collapse, or human extinction? Under what conditions do these risks become the dominant factor in cost-benefit analysis?

Trajectory change - As well as via extinction risk mitigation (e.g. preventing nuclear war), we can influence the future via ‘trajectory change’ (e.g. persistent shocks to growth). What are the most promising interventions in this latter category? How does its cost-effectiveness compare to extinction risk mitigation?

Very long-term growth - How, concretely, should we adapt (endogenous) growth models to account for the risks and benefits that growth may pose for the long term? How should indices of economic development (such as GDP) be adjusted to incorporate these risks?

Long-term beneficial institutions – Certain institutions, such as ‘inclusive’ governments, appear to be associated both with substantial increases in economic growth, across many generations, and with decreases in the probability of events that may be associated with catastrophic risk. How can we estimate the effectiveness of various institution-building efforts on the long term?

Philosophy

Concern for the very long-term - Under what moral theories (e.g. of population ethics) is concern for the very long-term future warranted? How does this answer change if we take moral uncertainty into account, and attempt to find a compromise among competing moral views?