Research Associate (Fixed Term) (EXPIRED)

The Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER) at CRASSH is seeking to appoint a Research Associate to join the project Managing Extreme Technological Risk, to work on the evaluation of extreme technological risk. Nuclear power, bioengineering, geoengineering and artificial intelligence are all examples of dual-use technology: technology that gives us power to bring great benefits to the world, but that may also pose great risks, whether from accidents or from deliberate misuse. Any reasonable policy regarding these new technologies has to weigh up those benefits against those risks.

This subproject proposes to examine issues such as:

* the use and limitations of approaches such as cost-benefit analysis when evaluating extreme technological risk;

* the importance of mitigating extreme technological risk compared to other global priorities;

* issues in population ethics as they relate to future generations;

* challenges associated with evaluating small probabilities of large payoffs;

* challenges associated with moral and evaluative uncertainty as they relate to the long-term future of humanity.

Relevant disciplines include: Philosophy (especially moral philosophy, applied ethics, and formal decision theory) and Economics (e.g., the economics of sustainability, the theory of future discounting), although suitable candidates outside these fields are welcomed.

Candidates will normally have a PhD in a relevant field or an equivalent level of research experience and accomplishment. The research associate will join a team of researchers developing a general methodology for the management of extreme technological risk. The RA will report to the Centre's Academic Director, Professor Huw Price, and will work under the direction and guidance of Professor Partha Dasgupta.

Post-holders will be expected to:

• Conduct independent and collaborative research to be published as papers in leading academic journals;
• Organise, participate in, and speak at workshops, lectures and conferences;
• Develop collaborations with leading research groups;
• Lead and collaborate on further funding applications relevant to the project and CSER's broader research aims.

Fixed-term: The funds for this post are available until 30 September 2018 in the first instance.

To apply online for this vacancy, please visit http://www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/8287/.  This will route you to the University's Web Recruitment System, where you will need to register an account (if you have not already) and log in before completing the online application form.

The application process involves a two-stage registration (applicants must complete and submit both stages of the application process). Applicants should also register/log-on to the CRASSH Application system on the CRASSH website, www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/applications and follow the detailed instructions there.

Please quote reference VM07248 on your application and in any correspondence about this vacancy. This role is one of a set of positions we are currently recruiting for.  For more information visit http://cser.org/vacancies/.

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