Existential Risks to Humanity (Launch 2026)
Course Overview
In light of the growing importance of global risk assessment, Jun-Prof Weitzdörfer and Dr Beard (Cambridge University) have developed 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, online-accessible course is unprecedented in Germany.
The course is set to launch in April 2026 and run for three 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. We would like to acknowledge contributions by Leon Ritter, Nathaniel Cooke, Shahar Avin and Rick Davies.
Literature
mehr Infos
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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).
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