I just wanted to explicitly add to this post that valuable GPR can, does, and should happen outside of an academic setting. I think this is implied in this post (e.g. the mention of OpenPhil and the link to the GPR roles on the 80k website), but is not quite explicit, so I just wanted to flag it. Researchers outside of academia face a different set of incentives to academics, and can sometimes have more freedom to work on questions that are more practically relevant but less ‘publishable’ in academic journals. The point is made quite nicely on the 80k GPR page here: https://80000hours.org/problem-profiles/global-priorities-research/#what-are-some-top-career-options-within-this-area
“That said, we expect that other centres will be established over the coming years, and you could also pursue this research in other academic positions.
One downside of academia, however, is that you need to work on topics that are publishable, and these are often not those that are most relevant to real decisions. This means it’s also important to have researchers working elsewhere on more practical questions.”
Personally, I think/hope the field of GPR will develop in a similar way to ‘impact evaluation’ in development economics over the last ~20 years—i.e. significant progress has been made in academic research (including some of the more important methodological or foundational advances), but there has also been a lot of valuable non-academic impact evaluation research (including lots that is more directly relevant for decision-makers).
I just wanted to explicitly add to this post that valuable GPR can, does, and should happen outside of an academic setting. I think this is implied in this post (e.g. the mention of OpenPhil and the link to the GPR roles on the 80k website), but is not quite explicit, so I just wanted to flag it. Researchers outside of academia face a different set of incentives to academics, and can sometimes have more freedom to work on questions that are more practically relevant but less ‘publishable’ in academic journals. The point is made quite nicely on the 80k GPR page here: https://80000hours.org/problem-profiles/global-priorities-research/#what-are-some-top-career-options-within-this-area
“That said, we expect that other centres will be established over the coming years, and you could also pursue this research in other academic positions.
One downside of academia, however, is that you need to work on topics that are publishable, and these are often not those that are most relevant to real decisions. This means it’s also important to have researchers working elsewhere on more practical questions.”
Personally, I think/hope the field of GPR will develop in a similar way to ‘impact evaluation’ in development economics over the last ~20 years—i.e. significant progress has been made in academic research (including some of the more important methodological or foundational advances), but there has also been a lot of valuable non-academic impact evaluation research (including lots that is more directly relevant for decision-makers).