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.