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ERA (Existential Risk Alliance) is a nonprofit organization based in Cambridge, UK, focused on reducing catastrophic and existential risks from advanced AI by building a community of highly skilled researchers and entrepreneurs. The organization grew out of the Cambridge Existential Risks Initiative (CERI), which was founded in April 2021 by Nandini Shiralkar as a student group at the University of Cambridge. In December 2022, the fellowship program previously run under CERI was spun off into ERA as an independent nonprofit project, with Rethink Priorities serving as its fiscal sponsor in the early years.
ERA's primary program is the Cambridge ERA:AI Fellowship, an intensive fully funded in-person summer fellowship held annually in Cambridge. The fellowship typically runs for 8-10 weeks and supports fellows working across three research domains: technical AI safety (developing safeguards against harmful or unpredictable behavior in advanced AI), AI governance (international cooperation, regulatory frameworks, and responsible corporate governance of frontier AI), and technical AI governance (sociotechnical approaches at the intersection of technology and policy). Fellows receive a…
ERA believes that one of the most critical bottlenecks to reducing existential risk from advanced AI is the shortage of talented, well-trained researchers working on technical safety and governance challenges. By running a highly selective, fully funded in-person fellowship in Cambridge, ERA identifies promising early-career researchers and entrepreneurs, equips them with research skills, expert mentorship, and a peer network, and places them on a trajectory toward high-impact roles at safety-focused organizations, governments, and academia. The causal chain is: attract high-potential talent from diverse backgrounds, provide intensive research experience and mentorship, build a lasting professional community, and thereby accelerate the growth and quality of the global AI safety and governance field.
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View on grantmaking.aiThe Cambridge ERA:AI Fellowship is the primary programme of the Existential Risk Alliance (ERA), a nonprofit talent organisation based in Cambridge, UK. ERA was founded in December 2022 as a spin-off from the Cambridge Existential Risks Initiative (CERI), which itself was established in April 2021 by Nandini Shiralkar during her undergraduate studies at Trinity College, Cambridge. CERI refocused to become a student society; ERA took over the fellowship programme and expanded it as an independent organisation.
The fellowship is an 8-10 week fully funded, in-person research programme held in Cambridge. Fellows receive a salary equivalent to £34,125 per year (prorated to the programme duration), complimentary accommodation and meals during working hours, visa support, and travel expense reimbursement. Each fellow works closely with a dedicated expert mentor to develop and complete a research project in technical AI safety, AI governance, or technical AI governance…
ERA believes the central bottleneck to reducing catastrophic AI risk is a shortage of skilled researchers and practitioners working on AI safety and governance. By identifying high-potential early-career individuals and immersing them in an intensive funded fellowship with expert mentorship, rigorous research projects, and a strong peer community, ERA aims to accelerate their transition into productive AI safety careers. The causal chain is: talent identification and support leads to more and better-prepared researchers working on AI safety and governance, which increases the likelihood that technical and policy solutions are developed and implemented before transformative AI systems create irreversible harm. Alumni placement at organisations like the UK AI Security Institute and RAND represents the intended direct impact pathway.