centre for the study of existential risk
The Centre for the Study of Existential Risk is a non-profit interdisciplinary research centre within the University of Cambridge that studies and mitigates existential and global catastrophic risks from AI, biotechnology, climate, and geopolitics, serving policymakers, academics, technologists, and graduate students.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2012
- HeadquartersCambridge, United Kingdom
- Headcount—
- GTM typeB2B and B2C
- OfferingServices
What centre for the study of existential risk does
The Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER) is a non-profit interdisciplinary research centre within the University of Cambridge's Institute for Technology and Humanity, founded in 2012 by Lord Martin Rees (Astronomer Royal), Jaan Tallinn (co-founder of Skype), and Huw Price (Bertrand Russell Professor of Philosophy). It conducts research on existential and global catastrophic risks arising from artificial intelligence, biotechnology, climate change, and geopolitical conflict, with a stated methodology of integrating philosophy, science, technology policy, and futures studies to develop methods for research under uncertainty, governance templates, and risk communication strategies.
CSER's product portfolio comprises academic research outputs (1,373 listed publications, news items, and events), a one-year MPhil in Global Risk and Resilience (inaugural cohort October 2025), a forthcoming PhD in Global Risk and Resilience (first cohort 2027), an open online course on nuclear weapons (February 2026), a five-day summer programme on AI and catastrophic risk (2026), and the annual Cambridge Conference on Catastrophic Risk (CCCR). Revenue is generated through four streams: recurring institutional funding from the University of Cambridge, competitive research grants from bodies including UKRI, ESRC, and the Academy of Medical Sciences, MPhil tuition, and conference registration fees (£60-£120 per ticket). Its 14 full-time staff serve academic researchers, policymakers (UK Parliament, UNDRR, IPCC), technologists, and graduate students.
centre for the study of existential risk firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- centre for the study of existential risk
- Legal name
- Centre for the Study of Existential Risk
- Website
- https://cser.ac.uk
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2012
- Operating status
- Operating
- Short description
- The Centre for the Study of Existential Risk is a non-profit interdisciplinary research centre within the University of Cambridge that studies and mitigates existential and global catastrophic risks from AI, biotechnology, climate, and geopolitics, serving policymakers, academics, technologists, and graduate students.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
centre for the study of existential risk industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Existential Risk Research
- NAICS
- Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (54172), Scientific Research and Development Services (5417), Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (541), Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services (54169)
- SIC
- Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731), Services-Educational Services (8200)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Disaster Risk Reduction & Climate Risk Management (BPADALAK)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Disaster Preparedness, Risk Reduction & Early Warning (DRR) (BPAGAAAB), Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) & Preparedness (BPADADAK), Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus & Resilience Programming (BPADAEAK)
Keywords
Where centre for the study of existential risk is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Cambridge
- HQ country
- United Kingdom
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
centre for the study of existential risk business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B and B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others
Revenue model
- University of Cambridge Core Funding: CSER receives institutional funding as an interdisciplinary research centre within the Institute for Technology and Humanity at the University of Cambridge
- Research Grants and Contracts: CSER researchers secure external funding from UKRI, Academy of Medical Sciences, and other research councils for specific research projects
- MPhil Programme Tuition: Revenue from the MPhil in Global Risk and Resilience taught Master's programme
- Conference Registration Fees: Cambridge Conference on Catastrophic Risk tickets sold at £60-£120 for attendance
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | Standard conference ticket for CCCR 2026 |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels6 records
centre for the study of existential risk product offering
Product offeringCore offering
CSER is an interdisciplinary research centre within the University of Cambridge's Institute for Technology and Humanity that conducts rigorous academic research on existential and global catastrophic risks arising from AI, biotechnology, climate change, and geopolitical conflict. It delivers this research through taught graduate programmes (MPhil and PhD in Global Risk and Resilience), an annual Cambridge Conference on Catastrophic Risk, open online courses, summer programmes, peer-reviewed publications, policy briefs, and direct advisory work for governments and international organizations such as UK Parliament and the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction.
Product overview
The Centre for the Study of Existential Risk is an interdisciplinary research centre within the University of Cambridge dedicated to the study and mitigation of existential and global catastrophic risks. The centre operates as a single unified research and education organization offering multiple interconnected products and services: the MPhil in Global Risk and Resilience (a one-year taught Master's programme) and PhD in Global Risk and Resilience (doctoral programme) as educational offerings; the Cambridge Conference on Catastrophic Risk (CCCR) as an annual convening platform; the open online course 'Nuclear Weapons: Planetary Risks and Human Consequences' for public education; summer programmes on AI and catastrophic risk; and regular research publications, newsletters, and termly reports documenting findings and policy engagement.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- MPhil in Global Risk and Resilience A one-year taught Master's programme providing graduate students from various disciplines with a thorough grounding in Global Catastrophic and Existential Risk, risk management and mitigation, and their relationship with transformative sociotechnological trends.
- PhD in Global Risk and Resilience Doctoral research programme in Global Risk and Resilience for advanced graduate researchers, with applications opening in 2026 for the first cohort in 2027.
- Cambridge Conference on Catastrophic Risk (CCCR) Annual conference bringing together the existential and catastrophic risk community, focusing on governance challenges with panels on climate, AI, nuclear weapons, and health-security risks.
- Nuclear Weapons: Planetary Risks and Human Consequences Open online course exploring how nuclear weapons shape today's security environment, covering deterrence, global power, alliances and crises, designed to support informed democratic participation in security policy.
- Summer Programme on AI and Catastrophic Risk Intensive five-day programme exploring how artificial intelligence reshapes fundamental aspects of human civilisation, bringing together perspectives from history, philosophy, economics, geopolitics, and technology.
- Research Publications and Policy Reports Academic publications, policy briefs, and research reports covering AI risk assessment, biosecurity, climate governance, and catastrophic risk mitigation strategies.
Companies that use centre for the study of existential risk
Customer profileNamed customers3 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
centre for the study of existential risk technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature2 records
centre for the study of existential risk partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.
- Institute for Technology and Humanity (ITH)coreCSER is an interdisciplinary research centre within ITH, launched in 2023 to support world-leading research investigating technological transformations. ITH also houses Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence and Centre for Human-inspired AI, combining arts, humanities and social sciences alongside natural, medical and technical sciences.
- Evidence Exchange (EvEx) ConsortiumcoreLed by Centre for Science and Policy at University of Cambridge with £3.75m ESRC grant. CSER's Alexandru Marcoci is part of consortium including King's College London, University of Edinburgh, Swansea University, Queen's University Belfast, University of Manchester and UCL to develop UK-wide infrastructure enabling civil servants to connect with research organisations.
- SCORE (Systematizing Confidence in Open Research and Evidence)majorMajor international collaboration with hundreds of researchers worldwide to evaluate reproducibility, robustness and replicability of scientific findings across social and behavioral sciences. CSER's Alexandru Marcoci contributed to human predictions of replicability.
- UK ParliamentmajorCSER researchers serve on advisory committees including Parliament's 2024 Horizon Scan and UK Government Office of Science's project on Risk and Resilience. Jessica Bland served on advisory committee for UK Parliament's 2024 Horizon Scan.
- UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)majorAlex Marcoci and Lalitha Sundaram won UKRI Policy Fellowships. Shahar Avin leads a new UK Government grant programme on systemic AI safety.
- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)majorKennedy Mbeva serving as key member of Working Groups drafting IPCC AR7 Seventh Assessment Report as lead author of Chapter 4 on Sustainable Development and Mitigation.
Scale indicators4 records
Recent moves8 records
Expansion highlights6 records
centre for the study of existential risk competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Future of Life Institute: Non-profit focused on reducing existential and catastrophic risks, especially from advanced AI; co-founded by CSER co-founder Jaan Tallinn. Highly comparable in mission, founder overlap, and AI/x-risk policy advocacy.
- Centre for AI Safety: Research and field-building organisation focused on AI existential and catastrophic risk. Comparable in AI safety research agenda and convening power (e.g., the 2023 CAIS Statement on AI Risk).
- Global Priorities Institute: University of Oxford research centre studying how to best allocate limited resources to address the world's most pressing problems, including existential risk. Directly comparable academic remit and methodological approach.
- Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence: Cambridge-based sister centre within the Institute for Technology and Humanity, studying the opportunities and risks of advanced AI. Direct organisational peer given shared Cambridge embedding and overlapping AI governance research.
- Centre for Human-inspired AI: Cambridge centre under ITH focused on human-centred AI research. Shares institutional parent, physical location, and interdisciplinary research model, making it a structural peer.
- GovAI: Research organisation focused on AI governance and policy, formerly embedded at Oxford's Future of Humanity Institute. Direct overlap with CSER's AI policy and governance research.
- Stockholm Resilience Centre: Academic research centre studying social-ecological systems and planetary boundaries. Comparable in studying long-horizon global catastrophic risks and resilience, with a different geographic base.
- MIRI (Machine Intelligence Research Institute): Non-profit researching the alignment of advanced AI systems. Highly comparable in AI existential risk focus, though operating from the US and with a more technical-mathematical orientation.
Broad incumbents
- International Risk Governance Council: Multi-stakeholder organisation developing risk governance frameworks across emerging technologies, environment, and critical infrastructure. Comparable policy-advisory function but with broader portfolio than CSER's existential focus.
- RAND Corporation: Large policy research organisation producing analysis across defence, technology, and societal risk. Comparable as a policy-research outlet and global risk convener, but with vastly larger scale and a broader mandate.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
centre for the study of existential risk social profiles
Digital presencecentre for the study of existential risk financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
centre for the study of existential risk leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles19 records
centre for the study of existential risk funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
centre for the study of existential risk M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about centre for the study of existential risk
What does centre for the study of existential risk do?
CSER is an interdisciplinary research centre within the University of Cambridge's Institute for Technology and Humanity that conducts rigorous academic research on existential and global catastrophic risks arising from AI, biotechnology, climate change, and geopolitical conflict. It delivers this research through taught graduate programmes (MPhil and PhD in Global Risk and Resilience), an annual Cambridge Conference on Catastrophic Risk, open online courses, summer programmes, peer-reviewed publications, policy briefs, and direct advisory work for governments and international organizations such as UK Parliament and the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction.
Is centre for the study of existential risk a public or private company?
centre for the study of existential risk is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was centre for the study of existential risk founded?
centre for the study of existential risk was founded in 2012.
Where is centre for the study of existential risk based?
centre for the study of existential risk is headquartered in Cambridge, United Kingdom, in the Europe region.
How does centre for the study of existential risk make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. University of Cambridge Core Funding is the primary driver. The others are research Grants and Contracts, MPhil Programme Tuition and conference Registration Fees.
Who are centre for the study of existential risk's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Future of Life Institute, Centre for AI Safety, Global Priorities Institute, Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence, Centre for Human-inspired AI, GovAI, Stockholm Resilience Centre and MIRI (Machine Intelligence Research Institute). Broad incumbents are International Risk Governance Council and RAND Corporation.
Does centre for the study of existential risk have an API?
No public API is recorded for centre for the study of existential risk.
What industry is centre for the study of existential risk in?
centre for the study of existential risk's product category is Existential Risk Research. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPADALAK, Disaster Risk Reduction & Climate Risk Management, with a secondary code of BPAGAAAB, Disaster Preparedness, Risk Reduction & Early Warning (DRR). Its NAICS code is 54172 and its SIC code is 8731.