Guides
Key ideas Understand how to have more impact with your career.
Foundations
A definition of impact
Effective altruism
Moral uncertainty
Why problem selection is crucial
Future generations & their moral significance
Existential risks as a global priority
Strategy
Determine your personal fit
Career capital
How much to explore
Community & coordination
Avoiding accidental harm
How much risk to take
Impact & personal wellbeing
Read the full guide →
Join our newsletter to get weekly updates on research, events, and high-impact job openings.

Problem profiles Find out about the world's biggest and most neglected problems.
Top areas to work on
Positively shaping the development of AI
Global priorities research
Building effective altruism
Reducing the risk of catastrophic pandemics
Nuclear security
Improving institutional decision making
Extreme climate change
Other promising areas
Mitigating great power conflict
Global governance
Space governance
See all →
Go to problems hub →
Join our newsletter to get weekly updates on research, events, and high-impact job openings.

Career reviews Learn about high-impact career paths.
Key categories of high-impact careers
Research in relevant areas
Government & policy
Working at effective non-profits
Applying an unusual strength to a needed niche
Earning to give
Recommended paths
The highest-impact career paths we know about
More promising career ideas
How to apply your existing skills
Making the most of your current job
Doing good in any career
How to invest in yourself
See all our career reviews →
Join our newsletter to get weekly updates on research, events, and high-impact job openings.

Planning & decision making Use our tools to make concrete plans.
Create a high-impact career plan
8-week career planning course
Summary
Career plan template
Annual career check-up
Make good career decisions
Make an immediate decision
Improve your decision-making skills
See all planning resources →
Join our newsletter to get weekly updates on research, events, and high-impact job openings.
Foundations
A definition of impact
Effective altruism
Moral uncertainty
Why problem selection is crucial
Future generations & their moral significance
Existential risks as a global priority
Strategy
Determine your personal fit
Career capital
How much to explore
Community & coordination
Avoiding accidental harm
How much risk to take
Impact & personal wellbeing
Read the full guide →
Join our newsletter to get weekly updates on research, events, and high-impact job openings.

Top areas to work on
Positively shaping the development of AI
Global priorities research
Building effective altruism
Reducing the risk of catastrophic pandemics
Nuclear security
Improving institutional decision making
Extreme climate change
Other promising areas
Mitigating great power conflict
Global governance
Space governance
See all →
Go to problems hub →
Join our newsletter to get weekly updates on research, events, and high-impact job openings.

Key categories of high-impact careers
Research in relevant areas
Government & policy
Working at effective non-profits
Applying an unusual strength to a needed niche
Earning to give
Recommended paths
The highest-impact career paths we know about
More promising career ideas
How to apply your existing skills
Making the most of your current job
Doing good in any career
How to invest in yourself
See all our career reviews →
Join our newsletter to get weekly updates on research, events, and high-impact job openings.

Create a high-impact career plan
8-week career planning course
Summary
Career plan template
Annual career check-up
Make good career decisions
Make an immediate decision
Improve your decision-making skills
See all planning resources →
Join our newsletter to get weekly updates on research, events, and high-impact job openings.
Key ideas Understand how to have more impact with your career.
Foundations
A definition of impact
Effective altruism
Moral uncertainty
Why problem selection is crucial
Future generations & their moral significance
Existential risks as a global priority
Strategy
Determine your personal fit
Career capital
How much to explore
Community & coordination
Avoiding accidental harm
How much risk to take
Impact & personal wellbeing
Read the full guide →
Problem profiles Find out about the world's biggest and most neglected problems.
Top areas to work on
Positively shaping the development of AI
Global priorities research
Building effective altruism
Reducing the risk of catastrophic pandemics
Nuclear security
Improving institutional decision making
Extreme climate change
Other promising areas
Mitigating great power conflict
Global governance
Space governance
See all →
Go to problems hub →
Career reviews Learn about high-impact career paths.
Key categories of high-impact careers
Research in relevant areas
Government & policy
Working at effective non-profits
Applying an unusual strength to a needed niche
Earning to give
Recommended paths
The highest-impact career paths we know about
More promising career ideas
How to apply your existing skills
Making the most of your current job
Doing good in any career
How to invest in yourself
See all our career reviews →
Planning & decision making Use our tools to make concrete plans.
Create a high-impact career plan
8-week career planning course
Summary
Career plan template
Annual career check-up
Make good career decisions
Make an immediate decision
Improve your decision-making skills
See all planning resources →
Foundations
A definition of impact
Effective altruism
Moral uncertainty
Why problem selection is crucial
Future generations & their moral significance
Existential risks as a global priority
Strategy
Determine your personal fit
Career capital
How much to explore
Community & coordination
Avoiding accidental harm
How much risk to take
Impact & personal wellbeing
Read the full guide →
Top areas to work on
Positively shaping the development of AI
Global priorities research
Building effective altruism
Reducing the risk of catastrophic pandemics
Nuclear security
Improving institutional decision making
Extreme climate change
Other promising areas
Mitigating great power conflict
Global governance
Space governance
See all →
Go to problems hub →
Key categories of high-impact careers
Research in relevant areas
Government & policy
Working at effective non-profits
Applying an unusual strength to a needed niche
Earning to give
Recommended paths
The highest-impact career paths we know about
More promising career ideas
How to apply your existing skills
Making the most of your current job
Doing good in any career
How to invest in yourself
See all our career reviews →
Create a high-impact career plan
8-week career planning course
Summary
Career plan template
Annual career check-up
Make good career decisions
Make an immediate decision
Improve your decision-making skills
See all planning resources →
Job board
Podcast
Get 1-1 advice

New releases
Community
About

Home Topics Problem areas Catastrophic Risks

Search for:

New releases
Community
About

Explore our archive by topic...

Big picture (70)
- Longtermism (32)
- Moral philosophy (30)
- Now vs. Later (5)
- True Impact (10)

Problem areas (232)
- Animal Welfare (21)
  - Factory Farming (13)
- Catastrophic Risks (89)
  - Artificial Intelligence (27)
  - Biorisk reduction (18)
  - Climate change (5)
    - Geoengineering (2)
  - Nuclear security (8)
- COVID-19 (10)
- Developed world education (1)
- Future Generations (30)
- Global Poverty (39)
  - Appropriate Technology (2)
  - Biomedical Research (12)
  - Developing World Education (2)
  - Global Health (9)
  - Immigration Reform (3)
  - Microcredit (2)
  - School Building (1)
- Meta-causes (88)
  - Global Priorities Research (25)
  - Improving Decision Making (20)
  - Promoting Effective Altruism (53)
- Other causes (13)
  - Charter Cities (1)
  - Ending Ageing (1)
  - Gun Control (3)
  - Philosophy (5)
- Scientific research (16)
  - Biomedical Research (7)
  - Science policy and infrastructure (2)

Priority paths (106)
- AI policy (18)
- AI technical safety (19)
- Biorisk strategy & policy (15)
- China specialists (4)
- Earning to give in quant trading (4)
- Forecasting & related research and implementation (11)
- Grantmaker (8)
- Operations at high impact organisations (9)
- Global priorities research (30)
- Roles at effective altruism organisations (13)

Careers (296)
- Arts and Entertainment (4)
- Business (44)
  - Entrepreneurship (38)
    - Social entrepreneurship (6)
    - Startup early employee (2)
    - Tech Entrepreneurship (21)
  - Sales and marketing (2)
- Consulting (4)
- Data science (8)
- Design (2)
- Education (3)
- Engineering (21)
  - Software Engineering (18)
- Finance (15)
  - Asset Management (6)
    - Quantitative hedge funds (3)
  - Investment Banking (6)
- Freelance (1)
- Government (36)
  - Party Politics (5)
- Journalism (12)
  - Journalist (6)
- Law (8)
  - Lawyer (6)
- Medicine (18)
  - Doctor (11)
  - Medical Researcher (5)
- Non-Profit (49)
  - Foundations (11)
    - Foundation Program Management (8)
  - Founding Effective Non-profits (25)
  - Fundraising (7)
  - Philanthropic Advising (3)
- Politics (32)
  - Civil Service (7)
  - Party Politics (12)
- Remote (1)
- Research (104)
  - Academic Research (69)
    - Recommended Academic Research (6)
  - Graduate study (28)
    - PhDs (24)
      - Computer science PhD (4)
      - Economics PhD (12)
  - Research manager (5)
- Resources (4)
Frameworks and planning (157)
- Career capital (39)
  - Skills (21)
    - Judgement (3)
- Career trends (4)
- Decision making (20)
- Decision Tools (28)
- Frameworks (25)
  - Cause selection (3)
- Keeping options open (9)
- Personal fit (46)
  - Ability (18)
  - Job Satisfaction (22)
- Rules of Thumb (12)
- Your Plan (24)
Other topics (142)
- Anonymous advice (18)
- Best Resources (13)
- Effective Altruism (27)
- High Impact People (4)
- Job opportunities (11)
- Mental health (1)
- Motivation (2)
- Research principles (4)
- Unconventional Advice (60)
- Volunteering (7)
- What to study (10)
Strategies (99)
- Advocacy (16)
- Earning to Give (76)
  - Donation effectiveness (9)
  - EtG advice (6)
  - EtG pros and cons (13)
  - Income (16)
- Influencing budgets (4)
Updates (39)

Topic archive: Catastrophic Risks

Subtopics in "Catastrophic Risks":

Artificial Intelligence (27)
Biorisk reduction (18)
Climate change (5)
- Geoengineering (2)
Nuclear security (8)

Filter by content type:
All89
Podcasts52
Blog posts18
Key articles12
Problem profiles4
Career reviews3

Remove the "blog posts" filter to see all 89 items on this topic.

All blog posts tagged "Catastrophic Risks"

2020

August

Global issues beyond 80,000 Hours’ current priorities
Blog post

April

Good news about COVID-19
Blog post

March

The coronavirus crisis and our new review of how to prevent the worst possible pandemics
Blog post

2018

September

American with a science PhD? Get a fast-track into AI and STEM policy by applying for the acclaimed AAAS Science & Technology Fellowship by Nov 1.
Blog post

2016

April

How and why to use your career to make artificial intelligence safer
Blog post
Why and how to use your career to work on biosecurity
Blog post

January

Is now the time to do something about AI?
Blog post

2015

December

Even if we can’t lower catastrophic risks now, we should do something now so we can do more later
Blog post
How to pursue a career in research to lower the risks from superintelligent machines: a new career review.
Blog post

April

Get paid to do existential risk reduction research
Blog post

2014

October

Want to do something about the risks of artificial intelligence?
Blog post

January

Interview with leading HIV vaccine researcher – Prof. Sir Andrew McMichael
Blog post
Which cause is most effective?
Blog post

2013

November

What should you do with a very large amount of money?
Blog post

October

Influencing the Far Future
Blog post

August

How important are future generations?
Blog post

2012

February

26th of September: Petrov Day
Blog post

January

High impact interview 1: Existential risk research at SIAI
Blog post

Filter by content type:
All89
Podcasts52
Blog posts18
Key articles12
Problem profiles4
Career reviews3

Remove the "blog posts" filter to see all 89 items on this topic.

Join our newsletter to get notified when we release new content on this topic.

Join our newsletter

Get twice-monthly updates featuring our latest research, events near you, and high-impact career opportunities.

Get 1-1 advice

Want to tackle a pressing global problem with your career?

Speak to an advisor

Our research

Overview: Key ideas
Especially pressing world problems
Effective altruism
Future generations
List of careers
Career guide (2017)
All our research

Take action

Plan your career
Find a job
Get 1-1 advice
Join our community

Follow us

Subscribe to our podcast
Join our newsletter
Follow us on Twitter
Join our LinkedIn group
Follow us on Facebook
Follow us on YouTube

About us

Why 80,000 Hours?
Meet the team
Our donors
Media coverage
Our mistakes

We're affiliated with the Future of Humanity Institute and the Global Priorities Institute at the University of Oxford.

1aA

We're affiliated with the Future of Humanity Institute and the Global Priorities Institute at the University of Oxford.

We're part of the Centre for Effective Altruism, and work closely with Giving What We Can.

80,000 Hours is part of the Centre for Effective Altruism, a registered charity in England and Wales (Charity Number 1149828) and a registered 501(c)(3) Exempt Organization in the USA (EIN 47-1988398).

Please contact us to suggest ideas, improvements, or corrections.

We do our best to provide useful information, but how you use the information is up to you. We don’t take responsibility for any loss that results from the use of information on the site. Please consult our full legal disclaimer and privacy policy.

© 2021 – all rights reserved. Please contact us if you wish to redistribute, translate, or adapt this work.

80,000 Hours is part of the Centre for Effective Altruism, a registered charity in England and Wales (Charity Number 1149828) and a registered 501(c)(3) Exempt Organization in the USA (EIN 47-1988398).

Please contact us to suggest ideas, improvements, or corrections.

We do our best to provide useful information, but how you use the information is up to you. We don’t take responsibility for any loss that results from the use of information on the site. Please consult our full legal disclaimer and privacy policy.

© 2021 – all rights reserved. Please contact us if you wish to redistribute, translate, or adapt this work.