centre for the study of existential risk

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.

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

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

• Existential risk research
• Global catastrophic risk
• Interdisciplinary research centre
• Policy advisory services
• Graduate risk education

Headquarters

HQ city

Cambridge

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. 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
2. Research Grants and Contracts: CSER researchers secure external funding from UKRI, Academy of Medical Sciences, and other research councils for specific research projects
3. MPhil Programme Tuition: Revenue from the MPhil in Global Risk and Resilience taught Master's programme
4. Conference Registration Fees: Cambridge Conference on Catastrophic Risk tickets sold at £60-£120 for attendance

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core 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.

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.

• Institute for Technology and Humanity (ITH)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCSER 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) ConsortiumcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLed 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)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMajor 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 ParliamentmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCSER 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)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAlex 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)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerKennedy 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

Direct 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

• Xtwitter.com/CSERCambridge
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/CSER
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/cser-cambridge

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles19 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about centre for the study of existential risk