Effective Altruism Delft
Effective Altruism (EA) is a global network of people who care deeply about the world, make helping others a significant part of their lives, and use evidence and reason to figure out how best to do so. We, EA Delft, act as a bridge between TU Delft students & staff and the wider EA community.
The Delft University of Technology has put forth a mission for their students and staff from all faculties: “Impact for a better society”. This is a mission that many students have an innate interest in, and want to contribute towards in their lifetime. Being part of a top ranked technical university with access to high quality resources and education, these students could have a disproportionately large positive impact in their fields. However, turning this potential into action can be challenging: many students may not be aware of the extent of global societal issues and why it is imperative to act now. On the contrary, for those who do want to do something about it, the grand scale and complexity of the issues can make it seem overwhelming. There is often a lack of clarity on how to best contribute as an individual, to actually have a tangible impact. We strive to make students aware of their potential and ambitious to act accordingly. Through a community of like minded people, students are provided with the resources, network, and mindset essential to making high impact decisions in life.
We aim to achieve this through the following ways:
- Educating students on the ideas of the EA community through informative events such as inviting speakers, fellowships and discussion sessions.
- Creating an open, diverse and supportive community of students, enabling them to safely explore ideas, concerns and opportunities for positive impact. Additionally, establishing a sense of community through organizing social events in addition to the informative ones.
- Providing students with resources, connections and (potentially) training/coaching in order to pursue projects on EA aligned cause areas, such as a course project, thesis or career.
- Acting as a bridge between students and other members of the global EA community to grow a network, by running joint events with other (inter)national EA student groups.
Effective Altruism Delft
Type:
International/Fraternity/Career
Target audience:
Bachelor/Master/PhD/PD Eng
Activities
Fellowships
For roughly five weeks, we learn in small groups about the most pressing problems and what we can do to solve them. We discuss why we should look at the scale, neglectedness and tractability of problems and why using evidence and careful reasoning is so important. This program is an introduction to the ideas of Effective Altruism which enables us to have more in-depth conversations afterwards.
Discussions
In discussion evenings, we go in-depth into a diverse range of topics. These range from for example if we can compare animal welfare to human welfare, the risks from Artificial Intelligence, to how we can personally shape our career to be impactful.
Talks & Interviews
Together with the broader Effective Altruism community, we invite well-known speakers and interview them about their view of the world. These are sometimes collaborations with other Dutch university groups, allowing you to meet and network with other students afterwards.