Charlie T P Harrison

Future UCL Effective Altruists count. There might be a lot of them. And they can make many peoples’ lives better. So if I were elected as President of UCL EA, I would have both the honour and a responsibility to improve as many lives as possible.

I think many of us in the UCL community already share our intuitions that ensuring altruism is effective is very important. (See 'Four Ideas You Already Agree With'). Students feel that humanity must deal effectively with the huge challenges we are facing, including global poverty, extreme climate change, and engineered pandemics. We don’t need to change students’ minds; we need to reach them.

As President, I would hone in on expanding our community to guide students to truly impactful careers. I would ensure that as a committee, we organise monthly ‘research sprints’, a perfect way for new students to embed themselves in the community, and develop their interests – as I did with my first 'research sprint' in December! I would support and expand our ‘Introductory Fellowship’ program, by organising inter-group socials and recruiting more facilitators. We should ensure that any capable student who wishes to find out more about Effective Altruism can and will. In addition, I would focus on increasing co-ordination with other London groups, which our much loved outgoing President Sam Glendenning emphasised.

I hope I have communicated my passion for Effective Altruism, and how I envision I could take the Society forward as President.