Project summary

The Cambridge Biosecurity Hub and Cambridge Infectious Diseases are organizing a one-day symposium on 'Avoiding Worst-case Pandemics' to encourage researchers to focus on mitigating major pandemics. The event, tentatively scheduled for October 3rd, will feature a range of speakers and sessions covering topics such as naturally occurring pandemics, deliberate misuse of biotechnologies, and preventative countermeasures.

What are this project's goals and how will you achieve them?

The main goal of this project is to run a one-day symposium on 'Avoiding Worst-case Pandemics' in collaboration with Cambridge Infectious Diseases. The symposium aims to encourage more researchers to focus their work on mitigating major pandemics. The event is expected to have around 100-150 attendees, primarily academics within the UK. The symposium will be achieved through careful planning, inviting relevant speakers, and promoting the event to the target audience.

How will this funding be used?

The funding will be used to cover the expenses related to organizing the symposium, such as venue rental, catering, promotional materials, and travel expenses for speakers within England.

Who is on your team and what's your track record on similar projects?

The project is being led by the co-founders of the Cambridge Biosecurity Hub (CBH), Sandy Hickson and Dr Grace Braithwaite. 

Alongside co-founding CBH, Grace works at Meridian Impact. In this role, she has organised two residential retreats over the past year for up to 30 people. The logistics involved (e.g., arranging venues and speakers) overlap heavily with organising this symposium. In her spare time, she works as a medical doctor in the NHS, giving her an extensive network with relevant clinicians.

Sandy is a PhD student in genetics in genetics at the University of Cambridge. His research gives him contacts with many speakers in relevant fields for this conference; CBH’s extensive network among academic researchers and relevant NGOs will supplement this.

Dr Maria Bargues-Ribera, the manager of Cambridge Infectious Diseases (CID), is also assisting with the organisation. CID is the centre for infectious diseases researchers at the University of Cambridge and affiliated institutes; its members are one of the primary audiences for this symposium. Maria regularly organises their symposiums, which are of the same format as the proposal.

Caleb Parikh submitted the application, but they are not involved in running or organizing the project (but they are excited about it).

What are the most likely causes and outcomes if this project fails? (premortem)

The most likely causes of project failure could be:

1. Low attendance due to insufficient promotion or competing events.

2. Difficulty securing high-quality speakers.

3. Logistical issues with the venue or scheduling.

If the project fails, the outcomes could include:

1. Wasted resources (time, money, effort).

2. Missed opportunity to raise awareness and encourage research on pandemic prevention.

3. Damage to the reputation of the Cambridge Biosecurity Hub and Cambridge Infectious Diseases.

What other funding are you or your project getting?

We are applying to traditional academic funders as well as Open Philanthropy. If we get funding from traditional funders to cover the whole project, then we will return all Manifund funding. We are trying to move quickly and organising this conference will run more smoothly if we have a guarantee of funding and don't need to wait for decisions from other funders.

Edit 2024-Jun-3: This project's minimum funding amount might be very low (e.g. <$2k). The team is currently assessing venues which are surprisingly cheap in Cambridge.

Cambridge Biosecurity Hub has previously received a grant from Open Philanthropy, but the grant did not cover this project.