Partnering with academic colleagues to understand where philanthropy can drive excellence is essential to success.
Spotlight on cultivation
An effective collaboration between former and current Directors of the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, Development and Alumni Relations, and Cambridge in America led to a gift from philanthropist Carl Feinberg to establish a new endowed professorship to advance research in the field of Global Catastrophic Risk.
It was his deep respect for Professor Lord Martin Rees, a distinguished Cambridge scientist and the fifteenth Astronomer Royal from 1995 to 2025, that introduced Carl to the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER), which Professor Rees co-founded 10 years ago. Carl’s appreciation for Professor Rees and CSER’s focus on understanding, predicting and mitigating global threats led him to want to support the Centre’s work.
Carl began discussions with previous CSER Director Matt Connelly and Professor Rees about the best way to support CSER, and this close working relationship has continued with an effective transition to the incoming director, Sonja Amadae.
The new endowed post within CSER in the School of Arts and Humanities contributes to the University’s capacity to accelerate research into understanding and mitigating the existential and catastrophic risks that threaten our world. Carl’s request to include Professor Lord Martin Rees in the name of this prestigious professorship was particularly meaningful; it is named The Rees Feinberg Professorship of Global Risk.
Carl believes that disasters are inevitable, but that supporting science is one of the best lines of defence and says:
Academic luminaries are often brilliant, some almost magically so.