The MPhil in Global Risk and Resilience is a one year taught Master’s course which is designed to provide students with a thorough grounding in Global Catastrophic and Existential Risk, how this can be managed and mitigated, and its relationship with transformative sociotechnological trends. It aims to:
- Provide students with a rigorous understanding of the emerging transdisciplinary field of ERS, with a focus both on training future researchers in its methods and approaches and producing a cohort of well-informed partners in relevant positions across policy and industry to help mitigate global risk;
- Develop students’ ability to critically engage with a wide range of interdisciplinary research on risk drivers, multipliers, and mitigation challenges, the core skills required to study unprecedented and extreme future risk, and the opportunity to put these to work in both a focused individual study of specific global challenges and a participatory foresight exercise;
- Introduce students to a variety of mitigation opportunities and challenges, focusing on the reality of policymaking in relevant areas (such as AI, biosecurity, climate change, and nuclear policy) and the different impact strategies and theories of change that can influence these.
- Establish and promote standards of rigorous and responsible research in this area, highlighting both the need for high quality research and the pitfalls of irresponsible practises, drawing on a rich history of research, policy, and activism.
- Equip student to apply insights from this area of research to related disciplines such as Science and Technology Studies, Disaster Studies, Philosophy, Economics, International Relations, Biosecurity, and AI and for risk or technology focused careers across government, industry, and civil society.
Applications
Applications are now open for the academic year commencing October 2025.
Open Days
The Postgraduate Virtual Open Day usually takes place at the end of October/early November. It’s a great opportunity to ask questions to admissions staff and academics, explore the Colleges virtually, and to find out more about courses, the application process and funding opportunities. Visit the Postgraduate Open Day page for more details.
See further the Postgraduate Admissions Events pages for other events relating to Postgraduate study, including study fairs, visits and international events.
The Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER) runs online webinars for applicants throughout the year. Please see the CSER website for information on how to register for these events.
If you have any questions about the MPhil, please contact the team on education@cser.cam.ac.uk.