In brief

What: 1.5 workshop focusing on making connections across causes for those focusing on accelerating the growth of impact-focused academic & scientific fields.

When: February 12-13

Where: San Francisco, CA

How: Apply here by January 8th.

Thanks to a generous grant we are able to cover attendee travel and hotel costs for this event.

A little more context

Effective charity depends on solid research. As a result, many nonprofits work to accelerate research in emerging fields. But these organizations typically focus within their own domains. Strategists working in different areas don't often compare approaches, and they have limited access to insights from scholars who study how research fields develop and succeed. This means each field may be reinventing solutions that others have already discovered.

The Field Work Forum addresses this gap. We're bringing together research strategists from different disciplines to compare notes. The Forum is itself an experiment, addressing the question of whether organizers from different fields have enough in common to benefit from the shared discussion. Hopefully, by exchanging experiences and lessons across domains, participants will learn more about what works and how to avoid common pitfalls, and build a community for those working on field-growth strategy. 

Who should apply?

We’re seeking participants who are actively working on or thinking about strategy for growing research fields, primarily those associated with EA cause areas. Currently, registrants represent:

• AI safety & governance
• Wild animal welfare
• Alternative proteins
• Digital minds
• Insect sentience & welfare
• Aquatic animal welfare

We would particularly welcome additional associated with progress studies, biosecurity, or metascience.

Generally, attendees should actively work on or think about about strategy, instead of or in addition to implementation. Content will skew more towards asking questions like “are fellowships a highly cost effective modality” and less towards “what’s the best way to run a fellowship program” (although we expect some of the latter as well).

You can apply to attend via the website. If we can’t tell from your LinkedIn/org website/etc. that you work on relevant issues, we may reach out to discuss.

Attendance is limited. Please apply by January 8th.

More details

The Field Work Forum is organized by Mal Graham (Wild Animal Initiative), Amy Huang (Good Food Institute), and Agustín Covarrubias (Kairos)

For more, see the website, or feel free to email Mal with any questions.