Existential Risks to Humanity (Launch 2026)
Course Overview
In light of the growing importance of global risk assessment, Jun-Prof Weitzdörfer (Hagen profile / Cambridge profile/ Harvard profile) and Dr Beard have developed a concept for an interdisciplinary course on existential risk. The project builds on previous work at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER), to which both are still affiliated.
The course will take a holistic and intersectional approach to existential and global catastrophic risk and associated extreme events, based on the understanding that we are living in a world in which environmental risk drivers, technological risk drivers, and political risk drivers are all interacting. The course will also take an interdisciplinary approach to understanding and mitigating risk, drawing on key insights from Philosophy, Law, Economics, Political Science, Psychology, Disaster Studies, and Existential Risk Studies.
In addition to gaining theoretical knowledge, students will have the opportunity to participate in two interactive simulation exercises, Intelligence Rising and ParEvo.This English-language, credited university course covering the breadth of extinction-level threats to the human species and their mitigation will be the first of its kind to be taught fully online, not only in Germany.
The project to implement, launch, evaluate and further develop the course is set to launch in April 2026 and will run for two years. Up to three pre-doctoral/post-doctoral positions will be filled for this project.
Acknowledgements
We are very grateful to the Foundation for Innovation in Higher Education for the generous support of € 361.549. We would like to acknowledge helpful conversations with Leon Ritter, Nathaniel Cooke, Shahar Avin and Rick Davies in preparation for the grant propsal.
Foto: FernuniLiterature
mehr Infos
S. Avin, B.C. Wintle, J. Weitzdörfer, Seán S. Ó hÉigeartaigh et al. (2018): Classifying Global Catastrophic Risks, in: Futures 102 (September 2018), p. 20-26.
S.J. Beard, M. Rees, C. Richards, C.R. Rojas (Ed.) (2023), The Era of Global Risk. An Introduction to Existential Risk Studies, Open Book Publishers.
S.J. Beard, T. Hobson (Ed.) (2024), An Anthology of Global Risks, Open Book Publishers.
S.J. Beard, N. Cooke, S. Dryhurst, J. Weitzdörfer et al. (2025), Exploring Futures for the Science of Global Risk, in: Futures 168 (April 2025).
N. Bostrom, M.M. Cirkovic (Ed.) (2011), Global Catastrophic Risks, Oxford University Press.
R. Davies, T. Hobson, L. Mani, S.J. Beard (2023): ParEvo. A Methodology for the Exploration and Evaluation of Alternative Futures, Evaluation 30 (1), p. 27-49.
R. Gruetzemacher, S. Avin, J. Fox, A.K. Saeri (2025): Strategic Insights from Simulation Gaming of AI Race Dynamics, Futures 167 (March 2025).
L. Kemp, H. Belfield, S.J. Beard, J. Weitzdörfer et al. (2024): Financing Our Final Hour, in: S.J. Beard, T. Hobson (Ed.), An Anthology of Global Risks, Open Book Publishers, p. 641-694.
D. Needham, J. Weitzdörfer (Ed.) (2019), Extremes, Cambridge University Press.
G.E. Shackelford, L. Kemp, S.J. Beard, J. Weitzdörfer et al. (2020): Accumulating Evidence Using Crowdsourcing and Machine Learning: A Living Bibliography About Existential Risk and Global Catastrophic Risk, in: Futures 116 (February 2020).
J. Weitzdörfer (2020), Assessing Existential Risks, in: L. Diekmann, J. Fritsch, Crossing Boundaries in Science. The Mystery of Risks – How Can Science Help Reconcile Perception and Assessment?, Leopoldina / DFG, p. 116-117.
