EAG Talks

Watch on YouTubeA human challenge model (where volunteers are deliberately infected with a pathogen) may represent the only way to advance hepatitis C vaccine development in the foreseeable future. A foundational hepatitis C challenge study will likely begin in Toronto in 2025. This session discusses the proposed hepatitis C study, participation in a high-impact medical trials more generally, and some of the career paths in academia, government, public health, and medicine that intersect with such research.

Watch on YouTubeNutrition International's Vitamin A Supplementation (VAS) program is a life-saving nutrition intervention that has reached more than 150 million children per year, with more than 10 billion capsules provided globally since 1998. It is both high impact and incredibly low cost. For the last two years, GiveWell has recommended a grant for Nutrition International's VAS program in Chad. Nutrition International is a global nutrition organization based out of Ottawa, dedicated to the fight against malnutrition.

Watch on YouTubeThis talk discusses the relationships between two important cause areas: wild animal welfare and farmed animal welfare. The talk covera various considerations relevant to cause prioritization, but does not argue that one area warrants a higher level of priority than the other. Regardless of which area you work in, what matters most is doing activism that's sensitive to the impact that work in one area can have on the other

Watch on YouTubeEveryone will be affected by increasingly powerful AI systems, so everyone should be empowered to understand AI risks. This talk explores how to make AI risk and safety ideas more accessible through the use of engaging analogies. The goal is to provide interesting ways of framing AI risk and safety for both the audience and to share with others.

Watch on YouTubeMatt from 80,000 Hours offers reflections on hundreds of career conversations he's had. He speaks to some of the core assumptions behind 80k's career recommendations that often go overlooked with special focus on the talent bar in EA direct work and how people should be orienting towards it and pushing themselves to clear it.

Watch on YouTubeWhat are the Nordic & Baltic comparative advantages to have a positive impact in the world? This talk explores the unique strengths and opportunities of the Nordic effective altruism community to do good. Drawing on insights from workshops with community builders in the Nordics & Baltic countries, Maria Bækkelie and Laura M. Kull shares patterns, challenges, and ideas for how the region can best contribute to global impact.Maria Bækkelie serves as the Community and Event Manager at Effective Altruism Norway. Her extensive involvement with the Norwegian Effective Altruism community includes co-founding both Gi Effektivt and EA Norway. Prior to her current role, Maria was a Job Board Curator and Designer at 80,000 Hours, and the Managing Director of Gi Effektivt. Additionally, she has experience as a service designer in both the private and public sectors. Maria holds a degree in Industrial Design Engineering from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.Laura Maria Kull is a board member and the introductory fellowship coordinator for Effective Altruism Estonia. She is also a community builder on a local level in Norway as well as an event organizer - currently as the Baltics Lead for the EAGxNordics 2025. Outside of the EA world, she has been working in the public sector on both a local and a European level.

Watch on YouTubeWhat if your work could help billions and still feel like a privilege? In this talk, Niklas Fjeldberg explores why animal advocacy is one of the most impactful, neglected, and purpose-driven fields you can enter today. Drawing from his own journey — going from concerned citizen to full-time campaigner at Anima International — he illustrates how accessible and meaningful this path can be, even without prior experience. Whether you're searching for purpose, scale, or neglected opportunities, this session gives you concrete reasons to consider working for animals. Niklas Fjelberg works with Anima International in Norway and has over five years of experience in the animal advocacy movement. His work spans campaigning, corporate outreach, operations, marketing, and organizational development, contributing to initiatives across multiple countries. Niklas is leading efforts to transform the broiler industry in Norway and has successfully helped improve the lives of millions of animals. He plays a central role in shaping strategy and building international capacity within the organization. Niklas holds a degree in mechanical engineering.

Watch on YouTubeJoin Einar Urdshals as he introduces how Singular Learning Theory (SLT) can help advance AI safety. As AI systems grow more powerful, we need to understand how they learn and generalize to ensure they remain aligned. Einar shares how Timaeus applies mathematical frameworks to connect training data, model structure and behavior. Discover why "you are what you eat" applies to AI systems, and how understanding learning dynamics could be key to building AI that reliably acts according to human values.Einar Urdshals is a Researcher at Timaeus where he applies Singular Learning Theory to AI safety challenges. With a background in theoretical physics and mechanistic and developmental interpretability, his recent work focuses on preventing weight exfiltration by studying theoretical limits of model compression.

Watch on YouTubeTim LeBon explores two common mental health challenges in the effective altruism community: perfectionism and imposter syndrome. Learn about their causes, what keeps them going, and practical CBT tips to overcome them.Tim is a CBT therapist, author, and speaker with a background in philosophy from Oxford. He’s worked widely with effective altruists, appeared on the 80,000 Hours Podcast, and is the author of ""Wise Therapy"", ""Achieve Your Potential with Positive Psychology"", and ""365 Ways to Be More Stoic"".

Watch on YouTubeThis session explores the ambitious global initiative to develop safe and effective vaccines within 100 days of a pandemic threat's identification. Stig Tollefsen from CEPI discusses the strategic innovations required to achieve this mission, including creating vaccine libraries, establishing global clinical trial networks, and expanding manufacturing capabilities. Learn how this paradigm shift could dramatically reduce pandemic impacts—potentially saving millions of lives and trillions in economic losses—and what scientific and logistical breakthroughs are needed to transform our pandemic response capabilities from reactive to proactive.Stig Tollefsen is Lead at Research and Development Innovations department at Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and is overseeing multiple call for proposals in CEPI, among them several rounds of COVID-19 vaccine development calls. He established and launched CEPI’s TechTalks platform as an interactive meeting platform between vaccine and technology developers and CEPI internal experts, having conducted more than 600 TechTalks since 2019. The main activity is e-scouting for innovative technologies across the globe that can enable CEPI’s 100 Days Mission for vaccine development. Stig is an immunologist with a PhD from the University of Oslo, with expertise in T-cell responses in autoimmune diseases and working with DNA vaccination, as well as working with adaptive immunity in ruminants at the Norwegian Veterinary Institute. He's held strategic roles at CEPI since 2019.