Interview
#16 - Dr Hutchinson on global priorities research & shaping the ideas of intellectuals
- The Global Priorities Institute aims to guide resources toward high-impact areas, with research fellow and senior research fellow roles expected to elevate effective altruism in academia, alongside two new administrator positions opening soon at the Institute and the Future of Humanity Institute.
- Recruitment applications for the research roles close strictly on 4 January 2018, while Andreas Mohensen is scheduled to join as a researcher in January and a replacement is needed to cover for Michelle Hutchinson during her maternity leave from March to September.
- The Institute plans to separate from the Future of Humanity Institute in January, targeting a sustainable growth rate of two to three new researchers annually, though the optimal expansion model—whether expanding university centers or establishing separate hubs with a dozen researchers each—remains uncertain.
- Short-term strategic focus prioritizes philosophy and economics, with long-term ambitions to include psychology, while immediate operational plans include a March workshop on causal inference and the publication of work on population ethics and the long-term future.
- Growth within the university system faces significant constraints, including strict hiring rules, an estimated five million-pound endowment required for indefinite salaries, and a 1,000-year institutional history that prevents name changes or rapid adaptation.
- Funding challenges are anticipated due to the high cost of university-based hiring, difficulty persuading donors of cost-effectiveness, a lack of feedback on rejected grant applications, and a one-year lead time for academic grants, leading to a strategy that prioritizes securing posts that already exist.
- Success metrics are initially defined by the volume of articles published in top academic journals, the quantity of informal write-ups convertible to articles, the number of courses offered on global priorities at universities, and the count of response papers citing the Institute's work.
- Operational bottlenecks include the university's failure to recognize the Institute as a distinct entity, making it difficult to justify new positions, with the primary constraint identified as the scarcity of excellent researchers rather than access to funding.
- Career prospects in the field are limited, with a small fraction of interested individuals able to secure academic roles, prompting a focus on high-quality hires and highlighting research-adjacent positions like project management as high-impact opportunities.
- The Institute intends to leverage external engagement by encouraging other researchers to critique or build upon its work, though it acknowledges that the current university environment imposes longer time scales for growth compared to typical startups.