I learned about utilitarianism at my university, because it was founded by Jeremy Bentham. I decided the best way to reduce suffering for the greatest number at that point was to work to prevent genocide, crimes against humanity and similar violations of international law.
I worked in human rights organisations. Our small teams achieved legal precedents such as the abolition of the death penalty in nearly all of Europe, or the designation of rape by prison guards as a form of torture in Europe. Later I co-founded a legal aid fund to provide access to justice for victims of crimes against humanity. That small team provided evidence to a landmark UNHRC investigation into war crimes, and achieved an arrest warrant against a world leader for war crimes. I have experience of entrepreneurship, litigation, advocacy, communications, campaigning and fundraising.
A friend told me about EA in 2013. This roughly coincided with me developing a disability, so I developed skills in marketing and recruitment that better enabled flexible working.
Since then I’ve explored all cause areas at different times and participated in EA London, EA Global, EA Operations Forum and a CFAR workshop.
I moved to rural Scotland and completed a Fellowship, an Animal Advocacy Careers course and volunteered with No More Pandemics. I’m also participating in a book group on ‘The Precipice’ and a ‘Policy for Good’ training course.
I manage two social media channels, the ‘Effective Altruism’ group on LinkedIn and ‘Women and Non-Binary People in EA’ group on Facebook, which I co-moderate.
I am exploring the best way to use my skills to help AI Safety. This may include an AI Safety Governance course in 2023, alongside my writing courses.
I list “social media manager” for Effective Altruism on LinkedIn—but I highlight that it’s a voluntary role, not a job. I have done this for over 10 years, maintaining the “effective altruism” page amongst others, as well as other volunteering for EA.