View this email in your browser ([link removed])
[link removed]
Recent Updates
* Longtime grantee David Baker won a Nobel Prize! Read more about the work of Baker and his colleague Neil King in our grantee spotlight on their use of computational protein design to advance vaccine technology ([link removed]) ([link removed]).
* We announced the launch of a new focus area: accelerating economic growth in low- and middle-income countries ([link removed]).
* We wrote about five exciting grants from our Scientific Research portfolio ([link removed]).
* We published a list of giving opportunities suggested by Open Phil program staff, as well as notes from program and operations staff on where they personally donated in 2024 ([link removed]) ([link removed]).
* We published a compilation of key writings on AI development from Open Phil staff ([link removed]).
* As part of our “Day in the Life” series, People Operations Associate Nick Ravazzolo wrote about his day-to-day work ([link removed]) ([link removed]).
* Research Fellow Luca Righetti published an essay on Planned Obsolescence arguing that OpenAI hasn’t clearly established that its o1-preview model can’t help novices make chemical and biological weapons ([link removed]).
* Matt Clancy, who leads our Innovation Policy program, co-wrote a piece with Caroline Fry on whether training scientists in low- and middle-income countries helps to build local research capacity ([link removed]) ([link removed]).
* Lewis Bollard, our Program Director for Farm Animal Welfare, wrote about major wins for farmed animals in 2024. He also wrote about how the U.S. election results will impact ([link removed]) ([link removed]) farmed animals.
* Senior Research Analyst Joe Carlsmith published a response to the recent Anthropic report on alignment faking in large language models ([link removed]) ([link removed]).
* Global Health and Wellbeing Chief of Staff Deena Mousa has two new posts on her newsletter, Under Development: “Iodine deficiency is making a comeback” and “How anemia may be beneficial.” ([link removed]) ([link removed]) ([link removed])
* Our grantee the Coalition for Global Hepatitis Elimination announced the launch of the Center for Operational Research for Hepatitis B (COR-HEPB) — the first global center dedicated to coordinating investments and research on hep B ([link removed]) ([link removed]).

In the News
* Senior Program Officer Ajeya Cotra participated in a panel discussion about AI at the New York Times DealBook Summit. The full panel is available here ([link removed]) ([link removed]).
* The World Bank mentioned Open Phil’s contributions to the Partnership for a Lead-Free Future (which the Bank has also joined) ([link removed]).
* Open Phil’s grantmaking was briefly mentioned in a Vox piece about effective giving ([link removed]).
* Inside Philanthropy published a profile of Open Phil. It focuses primarily on lead work, but also covers tuberculosis research and our Global Health and Wellbeing portfolio more broadly. [paywalled] ([link removed])
* Santosh Harish, who leads our work on South Asian air quality, published a piece in Economic & Political Weekly about India’s National Clean Air Programme ([link removed]). [paywalled]
* Deena Mousa appeared on The Economist’s “The Intelligence” podcast to discuss why iodine deficiency is on the rise in the U.S. ([link removed]).
* Program Associate Abhi Kumar is quoted in a Forbes article about the regulatory challenges facing alternative protein company Solar Foods — he argues that both EU and U.S. regulators are moving too slowly on novel protein approvals ([link removed]).
* Research Fellow Oliver Kim appeared on The Atlantic’s “Good on Paper” podcast to discuss the effects of Taiwan’s 1950s land reforms. He also appeared on “Ideas Untrapped” to discuss African economic growth and the challenges of industrialization. Oliver often writes about related topics on his Substack, Global Developments ([link removed]) ([link removed]).
* More than a dozen of our grantees were featured on Vox’s “Future Perfect 50” list ([link removed]).
* Shortly after the launch of the Lead Exposure Action Fund (LEAF), Nicholas Kristof wrote a piece on lead exposure for the New York Times. Kristof discusses Pure Earth, one of LEAF’s first grantees ([link removed]).
* Inside Philanthropy also wrote bout the work of our grantee, Cures Within Reach ([link removed]) ([link removed]). [paywalled]
* Our grantee Epoch AI was recently featured on the New York Times’ “2024 Good Tech Awards” list. “Epoch AI’s work has brought much-needed rigor and empiricism to an industry that often runs on hype and vibes,” wrote columnist Kevin Roose ([link removed]) ([link removed]).
* The Times reported on research by our grantee Dr. Michael Fischbach to develop vaccines that can be applied as a cream rather than administered through needles ([link removed]) ([link removed]).
* The New York Times covered snakebite therapeutics research by professors at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM); we’re currently supporting some of that research ([link removed]) ([link removed]).

Grantmaking
Photo courtesy of Jeffrey Klausner
We announced a number of grants, including:

In Farm Animal Welfare:
* Sinergia Animal to support its work on corporate campaigns to improve the welfare of farm animals in Southeast Asia and Latin America ([link removed]).
* Humane Society International to support cage-free pledge implementation and help egg producers transition to cage-free systems in Mexico ([link removed]).
* Innovate Animal Ag to support its work to facilitate the implementation of in-ovo egg sexing, which prevents the culling of male chicks in the egg industry ([link removed]).

In Scientific Research:
* Novartis to support a Phase IIa challenge trial of a new drug, ED1048, for the treatment of cryptosporidiosis ([link removed]) ([link removed]) ([link removed].).
* Massachusetts General Hospital to support a trial of a novel method for diagnosing sepsis in children, led by Dr. Daniel Irimia ([link removed]) ([link removed]).
* The University of Southern California to support a clinical trial of combination supplements that have been shown to significantly reduce pre-term birth in low- and middle-income countries ([link removed]).

In Global Aid Policy:
* Langsikt to support its work on aid policy in Norway ([link removed]).
* The Global Health Innovative Technology Fund to support fundraising efforts focused on Japan’s private sector ([link removed]).

In Potential Risks from Advanced AI:
* Friedrich Schiller University Jena to support the development of a benchmark assessing whether LLM agents can solve organic structural analysis problems in chemistry ([link removed]).
* The Forecasting Research Initiative to support the creation of a panel of AI experts who will forecast the likelihood of potentially harmful AI capabilities and developmental benchmarks ([link removed]).
* The University of Maryland to support work led by Professor Yizheng Chen to develop a benchmark to assess the cybersecurity capabilities of large language models ([link removed]) ([link removed]).

In Biosecurity & Pandemic Preparedness:
* The Council on Strategic Risks to support its work on biosecurity fellowships and policy, as well as general operations ([link removed]).

In Global Health R&D:
* The Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine to support a Phase II clinical trial investigating the potential of two oral drugs, unithiol and marimastat, to act as new therapies against snakebites from the common lancehead (Brazil) and the West African carpet viper (Ghana) ([link removed]) ([link removed]) ([link removed]) ([link removed]) ([link removed]).
* The Clinton Health Access Initiative to support market shaping for sickle cell disease, with the goal of lowering prices and expanding access to diagnostics and treatments ([link removed]) ([link removed].).
* The Coalition for Global Hepatitis Elimination to support the establishment of a coordination center focused on hepatitis B in low- and middle-income countries ([link removed]).

In Global Catastrophic Risks Capacity Building:
* Pivotal Research to support its fellowship programs, which provide guidance for undergraduate and graduate students as they research topics related to global catastrophic risks ([link removed]).
* Carreras con Impacto to support a mentorship program and Spanish-language online courses focused on global catastrophic risks ([link removed]).

In Innovation Policy:
* Various individuals to support living literature reviews: collections of articles written by one person that synthesize academic research and are updated as the literature evolves ([link removed]) ([link removed]).
* Speculative Technologies to support its Brains program, which trains individuals to lead ambitious coordinated research programs ([link removed]) ([link removed]).

In Global Public Health Policy:
* The University of Chicago to establish an Air Quality Fund at EPIC (the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago), and to support the fund’s first round of regranting ([link removed]).
* The Centre for Pesticide Suicide Prevention (CPSP) for general support. CPSP aims to reduce deaths from deliberate ingestion of pesticides by identifying the most frequently used pesticides in suicide attempts and advocating for their deregistration ([link removed]).

To see more grants we've awarded, visit our grants page ([link removed]).
Jobs and other opportunities
* A Director of Government Relations to build and lead our engagement with policymakers and help shape how Open Philanthropy is understood in DC (deadline 1/19) ([link removed]).
* A Policy Advisor/Senior Policy Advisor to lead our U.S. AI policy engagement and advocacy work (deadline 2/2) ([link removed]).
* Operations roles based in either SF or DC (rolling deadline) ([link removed]).
* A variety of funding opportunities, including fellowships, scholarships, support for group organizers, and funding for career development and transition ([link removed])([link removed]).
* A general application to let us know you'd be interested in working at Open Philanthropy ([link removed]).
* And as always, please consider referring candidates to these roles — if we hire someone you referred, we’ll give you $5,000 ([link removed]) ([link removed]).

Best,
Jeremy Klemin
Content Editor

============================================================
** Twitter ([link removed])
** Facebook ([link removed])
** LinkedIn ([link removed])
** www,openphilanthropy.org ([link removed])

Contact Us
Copyright © 2024 Open Philanthropy, All rights reserved.

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])
.