S. J. Beard

S. J. (Simon) Beard examines the ethical and scientific challenges of managing existential risks, with a special focus on the risks associated with global systemic change. They are working to establish both rigorous methods for assessing global risks and alternatives to Cost-Benefit Analysis for evaluating long-term decisions that can take account of the value of future generations and the existence of existential risk.

Before joining the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER), Simon worked as a research fellow in the Future of Humanity Institute at the University of Oxford, where they conducted research in Population Ethics: Theory and Practice. They hold a PhD in Moral Philosophy from the LSE. Their work is supported by the Templeton World Charity Foundation as part of the Managing Extreme Technological Risk project at CSER. They are also a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Thinker and an adviser to the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Future Generations.