(As mentioned in the original post, I’m not a Fund manager, but I sometimes advise the LTFF as part of my role as Head of EA Funds.)
I agree with Adam and Asya. Some quick further ideas off the top of my head:
More academic teaching buy-outs. I think there are likely many longtermist academics who could get a teaching buy-out but aren’t even considering it.
Research into the long-term risks (and potential benefits) of genetic engineering.
Research aimed at improving cause prioritization methodology. (This might be a better fit for the EA Infrastructure Fund, but it’s also relevant to the LTFF.)
Open access fees for research publications relevant to longtermism, such that this work is available to anyone on the internet without any obstacles, plausibly increasing readership and citations.
Research assistants for academic researchers (and for independent researchers if they have a track record and there’s no good organization for them).
Open access fees for research publications relevant to longtermism, such that this work is available to anyone on the internet without any obstacles, plausibly increasing readership and citations.
How important is this in the context of eg scihub existing?
Not everyone uses sci-hub, and even if they do, it still removes trivial inconveniences. But yeah, sci-hub and the fact that PDFs (often preprints) are usually easy to find even if it’s not open access makes me a bit less excited.
(As mentioned in the original post, I’m not a Fund manager, but I sometimes advise the LTFF as part of my role as Head of EA Funds.)
I agree with Adam and Asya. Some quick further ideas off the top of my head:
More academic teaching buy-outs. I think there are likely many longtermist academics who could get a teaching buy-out but aren’t even considering it.
Research into the long-term risks (and potential benefits) of genetic engineering.
Research aimed at improving cause prioritization methodology. (This might be a better fit for the EA Infrastructure Fund, but it’s also relevant to the LTFF.)
Open access fees for research publications relevant to longtermism, such that this work is available to anyone on the internet without any obstacles, plausibly increasing readership and citations.
Research assistants for academic researchers (and for independent researchers if they have a track record and there’s no good organization for them).
Books about longtermism-relevant topics.
How important is this in the context of eg scihub existing?
Not everyone uses sci-hub, and even if they do, it still removes trivial inconveniences. But yeah, sci-hub and the fact that PDFs (often preprints) are usually easy to find even if it’s not open access makes me a bit less excited.