Kristaps Zilgalvis

individual

BiosecurityAI safety fieldbuilding

Grants over time

Long-Term Future FundEA Infrastructure Fund

Long-Term Future Fund	$250,000	99%	1
EA Infrastructure Fund	$3,000	1%	1

Asya Bergal · Long-Term Future Fund · full post · Aug 18, 2022

$250,000 · Funding for a degree in the Biological Sciences at UCSD (University of California San Diego).

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Kristaps, who was based in Belgium, applied for funding to cover 4 years of tuition, housing, and dining fees at UCSD in the U.S., with the ultimate goal of reducing biological existential risk. Kristaps had worked previously with a long-term-future-focused biosecurity researcher, who gave him a positive reference, and demonstrated reasonable understanding of long-term biorisk considerations in my conversation with him.
It’s generally very difficult for international students to find support for degrees in the U.S., and Kristaps had indicated in his application that his counterfactual would be to either work for a few years to make money to pay for his degree, or to take out a substantial student loan.
In general, my guess is that going to a good US or UK university increases future impact in expectation, both by boosting someone’s career, and by putting them in closer proximity for longer with other people working on the long-term future. I think this case is stronger the better the university, the closer the university is to a key geographic hub, and the more students at the university itself are thinking seriously about the long-term future. I made the call to fund here partially by referencing this ranking site, which put UCSD 10th in Biological Sciences degrees worldwide.
I’m somewhat worried that funding undergraduate degrees is unusually likely to attract applicants who feign interest in a priority cause.

Date ↓	Funder	Via	Amount	Cause	Source	Purpose
Oct 2022	EA Infrastructure Fund	EA Funds	$3,000	Local groups	ea_funds	Funding to establish a branch of EA in San Diego beginning at UCSD and expanding into research institutes in the area
Oct 2021	Long-Term Future Fund	EA Funds	$250,000	Biosecurity	ea_funds	Funding for a degree in the Biological Sciences at UCSD (University of California San Diego)