Hi there!
My name is Edo, from the EA group in Israel. You are welcome to join our facebook group :)
We have begun a prelimenary mapping of relevant researchers in the Israeli Academia, to see who can advise on EA-related projects. And we are very interested in seeing more Israeli academics interested in global priorities research, AI governance and any research related to effectively doing good.
It’s hard for me to give answers to your first question. It seems that in order to work effectively in Israel you would need
To get a position.
To have local collaborators from related fields. (though, students and collaborators abroad are also great)
Regarding the second, my impression is that:
HUJI and some other universities in Israel are generally considered to be very good.
That depends a lot on your advisor.
It seems that the most important thing is to produce high quality research. People at GPI and FHI could possibly give you some metrics, but that could change by the time you are done.
Currently these fields are growing, and they seek more researchers. You need to be good to get in, but I do not think that you need to publish previous work on the precise topics (though, that would be helpful).
I think that a good advice for the short term would be to go to one of the intership programs at a relevant EA institution.
Also, we are looking at ways to work on small scale research problems and do some work that does not require expertise but can aid researchers. This can also help you understand the field better, and to show that you are capaple and motivated in doing relevant research.
I have recently joined the FB group, though I have yet to explore it.
You mention in relation to my first question that I would need to have local collaborators from related fields. Do such potential collaborators exist in Israel? It would be a number of years before I finished my PhD, so hopefully the community in Israel will expand by then.
From your answer to my second question it seem that you think that getting my PhD at HUJI (or potentially TLV U) would not put me at a significant disadvantage. Am I understanding that correctly?
How difficult would it be to find an advisor that would allow me to work in one of those two fields (Global Priorities or AI policy) or in something similar that could serve as a springboard to working in one of those fields in the future?
At the moment I am doing an internship at an Israeli foreign policy think tank, and I committed to work with them for a year. That plus mandatory volunteer work for a scholarship plus getting good grades seems to be enough on my plate right now. Next year I was planning to work as a research assistant in the economics department to get a taste of real research, plus hopefully help get some recommendations. Does that sound like a good plan?
Yes, I think that HUJI and TAU are good universities that should probably not put you at a disadvantage.
Regarding the other questions, I have some guesses but I’m really not sure and I am wary of miscommunication. In general by the way, I’d recommend to take internet advice cautiously (including this one, but excluding this).
I highly recommend applying for coaching at http://​​effectivethesis.com for questions about advancing academically in these fields.
I’ll clarify a bit regarding the first question. I will be pleasantly surprised if there will be senior academic researchers in Israel doing AI governance or global priorities research in 5 years (for the sake of it, very uncertain and around 25%). And I was thinking of your question as doing a postdoc. In this case, you will probably need to find a researcher whos interested in your work and can understand what you want to accomplish. It is possible to collaborate with people remotely, but less fun/​productive.
I’d be happy to talk about strategies regarding how to infiltrate the academia 😉
I certainly agree with 80,000 hours that it is counterproductive to overthink career plans (something I am prone to doing). I don’t need all of the answers now, I just need to know that it’s possible and that I am not barking up the wrong tree. It seems to me that your answers are ambiguous. It’s possible, but not easy? I already messaged Effective Thesis about the topic.
I’d love to talk to you over the phone if you would be interested. I’ll send you my number in a PM.
Hi there! My name is Edo, from the EA group in Israel. You are welcome to join our facebook group :) We have begun a prelimenary mapping of relevant researchers in the Israeli Academia, to see who can advise on EA-related projects. And we are very interested in seeing more Israeli academics interested in global priorities research, AI governance and any research related to effectively doing good.
It’s hard for me to give answers to your first question. It seems that in order to work effectively in Israel you would need
To get a position.
To have local collaborators from related fields. (though, students and collaborators abroad are also great)
Regarding the second, my impression is that:
HUJI and some other universities in Israel are generally considered to be very good.
That depends a lot on your advisor.
It seems that the most important thing is to produce high quality research. People at GPI and FHI could possibly give you some metrics, but that could change by the time you are done.
Currently these fields are growing, and they seek more researchers. You need to be good to get in, but I do not think that you need to publish previous work on the precise topics (though, that would be helpful).
I think that a good advice for the short term would be to go to one of the intership programs at a relevant EA institution. Also, we are looking at ways to work on small scale research problems and do some work that does not require expertise but can aid researchers. This can also help you understand the field better, and to show that you are capaple and motivated in doing relevant research.
You are welcome to get in touch!
Edo, thank you so much for your reply!
I have recently joined the FB group, though I have yet to explore it.
You mention in relation to my first question that I would need to have local collaborators from related fields. Do such potential collaborators exist in Israel? It would be a number of years before I finished my PhD, so hopefully the community in Israel will expand by then.
From your answer to my second question it seem that you think that getting my PhD at HUJI (or potentially TLV U) would not put me at a significant disadvantage. Am I understanding that correctly?
How difficult would it be to find an advisor that would allow me to work in one of those two fields (Global Priorities or AI policy) or in something similar that could serve as a springboard to working in one of those fields in the future?
At the moment I am doing an internship at an Israeli foreign policy think tank, and I committed to work with them for a year. That plus mandatory volunteer work for a scholarship plus getting good grades seems to be enough on my plate right now. Next year I was planning to work as a research assistant in the economics department to get a taste of real research, plus hopefully help get some recommendations. Does that sound like a good plan?
Thank you again so much!
Lev
Yes, I think that HUJI and TAU are good universities that should probably not put you at a disadvantage.
Regarding the other questions, I have some guesses but I’m really not sure and I am wary of miscommunication. In general by the way, I’d recommend to take internet advice cautiously (including this one, but excluding this).
I highly recommend applying for coaching at http://​​effectivethesis.com for questions about advancing academically in these fields.
I’ll clarify a bit regarding the first question. I will be pleasantly surprised if there will be senior academic researchers in Israel doing AI governance or global priorities research in 5 years (for the sake of it, very uncertain and around 25%). And I was thinking of your question as doing a postdoc. In this case, you will probably need to find a researcher whos interested in your work and can understand what you want to accomplish. It is possible to collaborate with people remotely, but less fun/​productive.
I’d be happy to talk about strategies regarding how to infiltrate the academia 😉
I certainly agree with 80,000 hours that it is counterproductive to overthink career plans (something I am prone to doing). I don’t need all of the answers now, I just need to know that it’s possible and that I am not barking up the wrong tree. It seems to me that your answers are ambiguous. It’s possible, but not easy? I already messaged Effective Thesis about the topic.
I’d love to talk to you over the phone if you would be interested. I’ll send you my number in a PM.