SenseMaking Summer School 2025, September 17-24th

Join us this September for the Sensemaking Summer School: a week-long residential program for researchers, strategists, and changemakers.

This is a program for those interested or actively working on existential risk,  particularly those concerned with AI, bioweapons, and catastrophic futures, who recognise that things aren’t going well. AI risk is accelerating, governance efforts are faltering (e.g. the failed California bill), and collective action is becoming vital. There’s rising interest in better cooperation and governance, yet limited tools for enabling it.

This summer school offers a new, complementary approach. Whilst still grounded in rationality, it takes an enlarged perspective — drawing on complexity science, the inner dimension (informed by cognitive science and developmental psychology), and the growing field of cultural evolution.

We’ll explore the concept of the Metacrisis as a frame for understanding why our current challenges, including the AI arms race, are so difficult to address. We’ll introduce the idea of a Second Renaissance, a paradigm of deep renewal and systemic transformation that integrates cultural, institutional, and individual change.

Participants will learn how humanity has scaled cooperation in the past, and how we can do so again. You’ll gain practical tools and conceptual frameworks that can be directly applied to cause prioritisation, governance strategy, and cooperation theory.

Applications are open. Learn more about the program and apply here.