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The Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER) is an interdisciplinary research centre within the Institute for Technology and Humanity at the University of Cambridge, dedicated to the study and mitigation of existential and global catastrophic risks. It was founded in 2012 by three prominent figures: Huw Price (then the Bertrand Russell Professor of Philosophy at Cambridge), Martin Rees (the Astronomer Royal and former President of the Royal Society), and Jaan Tallinn (co-founder of Skype). The founding was publicly announced in November 2012, with the centre initially hosted by Cambridge's Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH). Initial funding came primarily from a seed donation by Jaan Tallinn.
CSER's research is organized around four main themes: risks from artificial intelligence, global catastrophic biological risks, extreme risks and the global environment, and managing extreme technological risk. The centre takes an interdisciplinary approach, bringing together researchers from fields including computer science, philosophy, biology, climate science, international relations, and policy…
CSER's theory of change rests on bringing rigorous, interdisciplinary academic research to bear on existential and global catastrophic risks that have historically received insufficient scientific attention. By situating itself within a world-leading university, CSER can attract top researchers across disciplines to study how emerging technologies (particularly AI, biotechnology, and environmental disruption) could pose catastrophic threats, and to develop frameworks for mitigating those risks. CSER translates this research into policy impact by advising governments, international bodies like the UN and EU, and other institutions on evidence-based approaches to managing extreme technological risks. The centre also builds the next generation of risk researchers through its MPhil programme and hosts conferences and public events to raise awareness. The causal chain runs from foundational research on risk identification and assessment, through policy engagement and institutional capacity building, to improved governance frameworks that reduce the probability and severity of existential catastrophes.
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View on grantmaking.aiThe Existential Risk Research Assessment (TERRA) is a semi-automated process developed at CSER that from 2020 to 2025 used crowdsourcing and machine learning to create an open-access bibliography of publications about existential and global catastrophic risk, providing a shared evidence base for research, policy and risk analysis.
The MPhil in Global Risk and Resilience is a one-year taught Master’s course that provides a thorough grounding in global catastrophic and existential risk, how such risks can be managed and mitigated, and their relationship with transformative sociotechnological trends.