Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: On-Ramps for Biosecurity - A Model, published by Sofya Lebedeva on December 14, 2023 on The Effective Altruism Forum.

Thank you to the following people for reviewing: @Lin BL @Tessa @Max Görlitz @Gregory Lewis @James Smith, Sandy Hickson & @Alix Pham

TL:DR

Getting a full-time role in biosecurity is hard

Seeing a path to get there can be even harder

I propose a model to think about on-ramps into biosecurity & provide a few use cases for it depending on the background you are coming in with.

I provide an overview of how different organisations in this space fit into the model.

If you are an undergrad start here.

A common problem

When I first heard about biosecurity I was excited by the

80,000 hours podcast and impressed by the work of Kevin Esvelt, RAND and NTI. Even though I was studying molecular biology, a seemingly relevant subject I couldn't see a way for me to get involved and to find a full-time role in this field. The gap between hearing about biosecurity and working full-time in biosecurity felt huge.

Figure 1: The gap between hearing about biosecurity and working full-time in the field.

A proposed on-ramp model

Through my experiences with reading groups, UC Berkeley EA, SERI BITS and now the Oxford Biosecurity Group I have found that working on short, object-level, scalable projects fills this gap. And since I get questions of how to fill the gap from others new to the field I made a model to explain my thoughts.

Figure 2: Proposed model for On-Ramps into Biosecurity.

Using the model

Below I outline some touch points that people have with various organisations in the biosecurity space. It's important to note that this model is not always linear. It's important to question your assumptions at every stage and the "stages" themselves can be more fluid.

Hear about it (0 - 10 hours)

This stage can be passive or active depending on your timeline. Note that a lot of the 'hear about it' resources can also be 'learn about it' resources if they are used for more in-depth research at a later stage.

80,000 Hours

EA Forum (hehe)

GCBR Organization Updates Newsletter

Biosecurity newsletters you should subscribe to

University Groups

Your local EA Group

Learn about it (10 - 40 hours)

This stage usually takes around 1-2 months and is more passive.

List of Short-Term (<15 hours) Biosecurity Projects to Test Your Fit

Reading groups at your university

Reading groups at your local EA Group

Find peers (at a similar career stage to you and you can exchange ideas with)

Find mentors (who can help you deliberate between next steps in your career)

Find experts (who can help you deliberate on technical differences between projects and provide insights into specific sub-fields)

Taking to relevant people in the field, building a network

BlueDot Impact

Biosecurity Fundamentals

Project Work (40 - 100 hours)

This stage usually takes around 2-3 months and is more active. You are encouraged to continue building out your network of peers, mentors and experts and possibly to form your working group to think about these concepts. However my suggestion would be to do project work as a part of some formal group/institution if possible, to make sure that you work on something valuable.

Biosecurity Working Groups

Oxford Biosecurity Group

Wisconsin Biosecurity Initiative

Cambridge Biosecurity Group (contact:

[email protected])

Nordic Biosecurity Group (contact: Johan Täng)

Next Generation for Biosecurity Competition

BlueDot Impact

Biosecurity Fundamentals (second part of the course)

Mentorship Programs

Magnify Mentoring

IFBA Global Mentorship Program

UNODA Biosecurity Diplomacy Workshops

Short-term, full-time fellowships

Stanford Existential Risks Initiative (SERI)

Existential Risk Alliance (ERA) Cambridge Fellowship

Swiss Existential Risk Initiative (CHERI)

Full-Time Work (100 hours +)

A more extensiv...