We’re really happy to start 2023 with a new career path profile! This time, we look at prioritization researchers, a type of researcher who uses tools from a range of disciplines – spanning economics, philosophy, and mathematics – to help make decisions about how we can best utilize our resources to do good.
Our overall impression is that this path is likely to be a high impact option for those who are a good fit, particularly if you stand a reasonable chance at getting into one of the most promising organizations that conduct prioritization research. We think this is a career path that readers of the forum might be particularly interested in exploring.
Test tasks
One of the things we’re most excited about in this profile are the inclusion of two test tasks created in collaboration with GiveWell. These tasks involve creating an intervention report and a cost-effectiveness analysis of a drug to reduce child mortality, and we think they’re a great way to test your fit for more quantitative, details-oriented prioritization research (though we also discuss other types of prioritization research in the profile).
We link to instructions in the full path profile, or you can access them separately here.
We estimate the tasks will take a combined total of 15-20 hours to complete, though this can be made shorter by just completing one or taking a less thorough approach.
Feedback
As always, we’d love to hear from you. We have exciting plans for this year, including an expansion of our team and lots of new content. As such, we’re eager to hear what types of content would be useful to the broader community and/or to specific groups.
If you have any thoughts, let us know by leaving a comment below or emailing contact@probablygood.org.
I think people with an OR background would be especially qualified for this type of role!