Tom Barnes
Currently: Junior Researcher at Founders Pledge.
Previously: Visiting Fellow at Rethink Priorities, PPE student at Warwick, EA Warwick Fellowship co-ordinator.
This is super helpful, thank you!
Which departments/roles do you think are most important to work in from an EA perspective? The Cabinet Office, HM Treasury and FCDO seem particularly impactful, but are also the most crowded and competitive. Are there lesser known departments doing neglected but important work? (e.g. my impression is DEFRA would be this for animal welfare policy - are there similar opportunities in other cause areas?). Thanks!
Thanks for writing this Lizka! I agree with many of the points in this [I was also a visiting fellow on the longtermist team this summer]. I'll throw my two cents in about my own reflections (I broadly share Lizka's experience, so here I just highlight the upsides/downsides things that especially resonated with me, or things unique to my own situation):
Vague background:
Upsides:
Downsides:
If it's helpful, I might write-up a shortform on some of these points in more depth, especially the things I learnt about being a better researcher, if that's helpful for others.
Overall, I also really enjoyed my time at RP, and would highly recommend :)
(I did not speak to anyone at RP before writing this).