Ok, so the imagine you/āwe (the EA community) successfully make the case and encourage demand for RA positions. Is there supply?
I think youāre asking ā...encourage that people seekRA positions. Would there be enough demand for those aspiring RAs?ā? Is that right? (I ask because I think Iām more used to thinking of demand for a type of worker, and supply of candidates for those positions.)
I donāt have confident answers to those questions, but here are some quick, tentative thoughts:
Iāve seen some RA positions formally advertised (e.g., on the 80k job board)
I remember one for Nick Bostrom and I think one for an economics professor, and I think Iāve seen others
I also know of at least two cases where an RA positions was opened but not widely advertised, including one case where the researcher was only a couple years into their research career
I have a vague memory of someone saying that proactively reaching out to researchers to ask if theyād want you to be an RA might work surprisingly often
I also have a vague impression that this is common with university students and professors
But I think this person was saying it in relation to EA researchers
(Of course, a vague memory of someone saying this is not very strong evidence that itās true)
I do think there are a decent number of EA/ālongtermist orgs which have or could get more funding than they are currently able or willing to spend on their research efforts, e.g. due to how much time from senior people would be consumed for hiring rounds or managing and training new employees
Some of these constraints would also constrain the org from taking on RAs
But maybe there are cases where the constraint is smaller for RAs than for more independent researchers?
One could think of this in terms of the org having already identified a full researcher whose judgement, choices, output, etc. the org is happy with, and theyāve then done further work to get that researcher on the same page with the org, more trained up, etc. The RA can slot in under that researcher and help them do their work better. So there may be less need to carefully screen them up front, and they may take up less management time from the most senior staff (instead being managed by the researcher themselves).
I think this can also help answer āApart from the sense that they might accept a slightly lower salary, why would we hire an RA when we could hire a full blown researcherā? Sometimes it may be easier to find someone who would be a fit for an RA role than someone whoād be a fit for a full researcher role.
(Itās worth noting that this is partly about the extent to which the person already has credible signals of fit, already has developed good judgement and research taste, etc. So some of those RAs may then later be great fits for full researcher roles. Though also some could perhaps remain as RAs and just keep providing more and more value in such roles.)
But again, these are quick, tentative thoughts. Iāve neither worked as nor had an RA, havenāt been closely involved with any RA hiring decisions, havenāt done research into how RAing works and what value it provides in non-EA academia, etc.
I think youāre asking ā...encourage that people seek RA positions. Would there be enough demand for those aspiring RAs?ā? Is that right? (I ask because I think Iām more used to thinking of demand for a type of worker, and supply of candidates for those positions.)
I donāt have confident answers to those questions, but here are some quick, tentative thoughts:
Iāve seen some RA positions formally advertised (e.g., on the 80k job board)
I remember one for Nick Bostrom and I think one for an economics professor, and I think Iāve seen others
I also know of at least two cases where an RA positions was opened but not widely advertised, including one case where the researcher was only a couple years into their research career
I have a vague memory of someone saying that proactively reaching out to researchers to ask if theyād want you to be an RA might work surprisingly often
I also have a vague impression that this is common with university students and professors
But I think this person was saying it in relation to EA researchers
(Of course, a vague memory of someone saying this is not very strong evidence that itās true)
I do think there are a decent number of EA/ālongtermist orgs which have or could get more funding than they are currently able or willing to spend on their research efforts, e.g. due to how much time from senior people would be consumed for hiring rounds or managing and training new employees
Some of these constraints would also constrain the org from taking on RAs
But maybe there are cases where the constraint is smaller for RAs than for more independent researchers?
One could think of this in terms of the org having already identified a full researcher whose judgement, choices, output, etc. the org is happy with, and theyāve then done further work to get that researcher on the same page with the org, more trained up, etc. The RA can slot in under that researcher and help them do their work better. So there may be less need to carefully screen them up front, and they may take up less management time from the most senior staff (instead being managed by the researcher themselves).
I think this can also help answer āApart from the sense that they might accept a slightly lower salary, why would we hire an RA when we could hire a full blown researcherā? Sometimes it may be easier to find someone who would be a fit for an RA role than someone whoād be a fit for a full researcher role.
(Itās worth noting that this is partly about the extent to which the person already has credible signals of fit, already has developed good judgement and research taste, etc. So some of those RAs may then later be great fits for full researcher roles. Though also some could perhaps remain as RAs and just keep providing more and more value in such roles.)
But again, these are quick, tentative thoughts. Iāve neither worked as nor had an RA, havenāt been closely involved with any RA hiring decisions, havenāt done research into how RAing works and what value it provides in non-EA academia, etc.