Nick Bostrom, the Chair of the IEET, has been named to head the new The Oxford Future of Humanity Institute (OXFHI), part of Oxford’s new James Martin 21st Century School. OXFHI will assess technologies that have the potential to radically transform the human condition, such as human enhancement medicine, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence. OXFHI will also study threats to human survival and global catastrophic risk. Using multi-disciplinary scientific research and ethical analysis, the Institute will seek to identify high-leverage points where a moderate investment could bring enormous benefits for humanity. By confronting big picture issues, the OXFHI will supply an essential background that is missing from contemporary bioethical and biopolitical discussions. 

The 21st Century School is James Martin’s second major benefaction to Oxford, following the setting up of the James Martin Institute for Science and Civilization last year, bringing his total endowment for the benefit of this University to $100m (£60m). The new School will be designed on a ‘hub and spoke’ model, with a Director and small staff at the centre, and a number of institutes each undertaking leading-edge research in its own subject area. At the launch of the School, these will be: the James Martin Institute for Science and Civilization; the Environmental Change Institute; the e-Horizons Institute; the Oxford Institute of Ageing; the International Migration Institute; the Oxford Future of Humanity Institute; the Programme on Ethics of the New Biosciences; the Institute for Emergent Infections of Humans; and the Institute for the Future of the Mind.