Invitation to Collaborate: Existential Risk InfoHub

The World Academy of Arts and Science taskforce on ‘Existential Threats and Risks to All’ ('EXTRA') has recently launched a very useful new InfoHub.

This EXTRA InfoHub is designed to be a one-stop information service for busy leaders around the world who need to understand and address the full range of pressing and interlocking issues confronting humanity today.

The EXTRA team has curated what they assess as the best available materials from around 100 leading organisations across the globe to create a concise, comprehensive and constantly up-dated overview of major existential threats and risks to enable the strategic foresight needed to create pathways towards human security and wellbeing for all.

This London Futurists webinar features members of the EXTRA Working Group explaining:

• Their vision for the EXTRA InfoHub
• How organisations and individuals can become involved
• Preliminary findings from a study of what the Working Group describes as "20 Notable Reports on Existential Threats and Risks".

The webinar will include plenty of time for audience questions and feedback.

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This event will be hosted on Zoom. To register, click here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_WQBzZqp_TxeEZWsdldjJFA.

There will be no charge to attend the webinar.

The webinar will start broadcasting at 12 noon UK time on Sat 20th September. To find this time in other timezones, you can use this conversion page.

Note that this webinar is starting FOUR HOURS EARLIER than most of our other webinars. That's because one of the panellists is located in Melbourne Australia.

Please log into Zoom up to 10 minutes ahead of the start time of the event, so you won't miss the start of the live broadcast.

As the discussion proceeds, attendees will be welcome to raise questions and vote to prioritise questions raised by others.

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About the panellists:

Thomas Reuter is an anthropologist at the University of Melbourne with a research focus on transformative social change, food systems, and transitions to sustainability in Asia and beyond. He is on the board of the World Academy (WAAS), a fellow of two European Academies, past chair of the World Council of Anthropological Associations, and is a former executive of IUAES and the International Science Council and board member of Future Earth (Asia RC).

Prof Reuter's research and consultancy work in Asia and beyond has focused on indigenous people, social movements, religion, political elites, ecology, climate change, food system security, strategic policy design, diplomacy, and globalisation. He has published 17 books and over 150 articles.

Ortwin Renn is a social scientist focusing on risk governance. He retired as scientific director at the International Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) in Potsdam (Germany) in 2023 and serves as a professor emeritus for environmental sociology and technology assessment at the University of Stuttgart. He directs the non-profit company DIALOGIK, a research institute for the investigation of communication and participation processes.

Prof Renn's career includes teaching and research positions at Clark University (Worcester, USA), the Swiss Institute of Technology (Zurich), and the Center of Technology Assessment (Stuttgart). He holds a doctoral degree in social psychology from the University of Cologne, and has published 250 peer-reviewed articles.

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To stay informed about EXTRA, please subscribe to their newsletter.

Organisations involved in existential risk assessment and policy making are cordially invited to share new publications and event info with EXTRA. They will promote your work, and collaborate with you by hosting joint events on key issues and through other activities.

Individuals with expertise in major risk categories, as listed in the Directory Of Reports, EXTRA would like to hear from you! Please use this contact form to state how you might contribute. Opportunities include writing or distributing articles, interviews or reviews for their newsletter, and speaking at their events.

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About the World Academy of Art & Science (WAAS)

The World Academy of Art & Science was founded in 1960 by eminent intellectuals including Robert Oppenheimer, Father of Manhattan Project; Bertrand Russell; Joseph Needham, co-Founder of UNESCO; Lord Boyd Orr, first Director General of FAO; Brock Chisholm, first Director General of WHO and many others.

The Academy serves as a forum for reflective scientists, artists, and scholars dedicated to addressing the pressing challenges confronting humanity today independent of political boundaries or limits, whether spiritual or physical — a forum where these problems can be discussed objectively, scientifically, globally, and free from vested interests or regional attachments to arrive at solutions that affirm universal human rights and serve the common good of all humanity.

WAAS is founded on faith in the power of original and creative ideas — real ideas with effective power — to change the world.

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To register on Zoom for this event, click here.