Oxford Global Priorities Fellowship

We expect the next Oxford Global Priorities Fellowship Programme to take place in 2025 (with applications opening in late 2024). There was no Fellowship Programme in 2024.

Note that the text below describes the 2023 Fellowship Programme. Details for the 2025 programme are still to be confirmed.

Overview

The Oxford Global Priorities Fellowship is a combination of the former Forethought Foundation Global Priorities Fellowship and the Early Career Conference Programme. It exists to create a community of early-career researchers interested in global priorities research and to support their career development.

The Oxford Global Priorities Fellowship

The fellowship aims to support graduate students (Master and PhD) and early-career post-doctoral researchers in philosophy and economics in contributing to global priorities research, with a particular focus on issues of relevance to improving the well-being of future generations over the very long term. We will also consider applications from psychology, but we expect to only accept a limited number.

Fellows will participate in the Global Priorities Fellowship Programme. The programme takes place in Oxford for four weeks in the summer (expected dates for 2025 are 15 June to 10 July) and participants will have the opportunity to develop a new research project under the guidance of a supervisor and to learn more about global priorities research in the course of developing their project. Each participant will focus on developing a research proposal, outlining a plan for a research project on a topic of central importance to the question of how to do good effectively. Topics for these research projects may be taken from GPI’s research agenda, although participants are also encouraged to pursue other projects that are consistent with GPI’s vision and mission. (See this document on Research Prioritisation for information about how to select a project.)

The programme will end with a workshop at which participants present these proposals to one another and receive feedback on their plans. Participants are encouraged to continue their proposed course of research following the programme's end and to meet with their supervisor sometime during the course of the next year. Participants who complete their research project or a closely related research project inspired by their experience in the programme will have the opportunity to present their research at GPI’s June workshop the following year. A prize will be awarded for the best such paper. All participants will be invited to a reunion event to coincide with the June workshop in the following year. This will give participants a chance to reconnect with GPI staff and their Fellowship cohort, see and discuss the research that has been done over the past year, and meet the next Oxford Global Priorities Fellows cohort.

Unless they are no longer pursuing graduate study, all fellows will also receive a stipend of GBP 5,000 (to be confirmed).

What you get

  • A stipend of GBP 5,000 provided by the Forethought Foundation for Global Priorities Research (usually not for postdocs, to be confirmed)
  • A four-week visit to the Global Priorities Institute with research supervision by GPI researchers
  • Travel to and accommodation in Oxford for the duration of the programme* 
  • Invitation to a reunion event, expected to be one year after the programme, and the opportunity to present your research project at a larger workshop coinciding with the reunion event. 
  • Being part of a community of fellows excited about doing global priorities research.

What former Early Career Conference Programme participants said:

Petra Kosenen

"The ECCP was a great opportunity to meet others working on the same topics as me. I also really enjoyed the social activities such as punting and dinners."

Aidan Penn

"The ECCP provided a supportive environment that fast-tracked my research, expanded my understanding of global priorities issues, and encouraged collaboration with other early-career researchers. I highly recommend the program to any early-career academics interested in global priorities issues."

Leah Pierson

"Participating in the ECCP was one of the best experiences I have had during my PhD. I received excellent mentorship during the program, and as a result, am planning to turn my ECCP project into one of my dissertation papers. I also really enjoyed getting to know the other participants, and found that the interdisciplinary nature of the program facilitated interesting and productive conversations. I would strongly recommend the ECCP to anyone interested in global priorities research."

Firat Akova

"Bringing enthusiastic, committed, and visionary researchers together, the Programme provides a fantastic hub for sharing research, giving and receiving feedback, and laying the foundations of new projects. The Programme fosters openness, experimentality, and non-hierarchical collaboration."

Charlotte Unruh

"ECCP 2021 was a fantastic opportunity to explore new research topics in a stimulating atmosphere. I found the conversations with fellow participants and GPI staff extremely valuable and inspiring. I have no doubts that participating in ECCP 2021 will benefit my research trajectory in the years to come."

Zach Groff

"The ECCP introduced me to research ideas and collaborators that continue to drive my agenda over two years later. The program was a turning point in my career as a grad student and helped me to see how I could get traction on the world's most pressing problems using the tools of economics."

Kevin Kuruc

"My interactions with GPI - the Early Career Conference Programme, in particular - has led to many productive friendships. As an early career academic, building this network of colleagues interested in global priorities research has been invaluable. In fact, my most exciting new project is a collaboration sparked by conversations about the Atkinson lecture!"

Foivos Savva

"ECCP was a unique opportunity to interact with brilliant people, in an inspiring, creative and supportive environment. The dialogue between the two groups, Philosophy and Economics, was vibrant and exciting."

Ben Grodeck

"The ECCP program provided me with the opportunity to meet other like minded PhD students and researchers, who wanted to do the most good with their research. The program not only inspired my own research program, but also led to a number of collaborations. The plethora of events put on by GPI and the University of Oxford made this both an intellectually engaging and socially enjoyable experience. I would do it again."

David Bernard

"The ECCP program helped inspire a big part of my PhD, including my job market paper. I came up with the idea for my paper on long-term effect estimation using surrogate outcomes while reading research ideas and research summaries written by GPI researchers, and receiving regular, high-quality feedback at the weekly meetings allowed me to make quick progress on the project. There was an awesome cohort of visitors in both philosophy and economics and I made some great lifelong friends."

Application

Application requirements

To be eligible for the Oxford Global Priorities Fellowship, you should:

  • Be a current Master's or PhD student in philosophy or economics (or an early career postdoc/faculty),
  • Be available to visit Oxford for the duration of the programme,
  • Be able and willing to develop a new research project related to global priorities research during that time,
  • Have some experience/expertise/interest in global priorities research (desirable).

Note for previous ECCP and fellowship participants: While we do not take reapplications, if you are interested in visiting GPI again during the fellowship programme, please get in touch with us informally and we are happy to consider this (depending on capacity). If you previously were a Forethought Global Priorities Fellow but not an ECCP participant, you can apply for the Oxford Global Priorities Fellowship. However, you will usually not receive another stipend payment.

How to apply?

Applications for the next Oxford Global Priorities Fellowship are expected to open in autumn/winter 2025

To apply, you will be asked to submit:

  • A current curriculum vitae (maximum 4 pages)
  • A short statement outlining your reasons for wishing to take part in the programme(s), and the nature of your interest in and experience of global priorities research and/or effective altruism.
  • A research agenda (up to 1 page). Please give a brief overview of 2-3 ideas that you might explore while at GPI. Please explain their relevance to GPR or GPI's research agenda and why you think they are important topics. We understand that these ideas will likely be very rough.
  • A reference
  • Optional: A writing sample. If you wish, you may submit a piece of work that looks most representative of your research quality. 

If you have any questions regarding the fellowship, please contact [email protected].