Effective Altruism Foundation
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Jonas Vollmer
Co-Executive Director
Jonas is responsible for the strategic direction and management of EAF as well as communications with the effective altruism community. He studied medicine and economics with a focus on health and development economics, during which time he acquired expertise central to charity evaluation. He previously served on the boards of several charities.
Stefan Torges
Stefan is responsible for all philanthropic activities and donor relations as well as representing the organization to the general public. In addition, he manages Raising for Effective Giving, one of our projects. He regularly gives talks and workshops on effective altruism. Previously, Stefan studied philosophy, neuroscience, and cognitive science at the University of Magdeburg.
Lukas Gloor
Lukas is responsible for EAF big picture thinking and approach. Working at the Foundational Research Institute (FRI), he developed important considerations from the perspective of suffering-focused ethics. He is currently researching how to mitigate risks from emerging technologies.
Daniel Kestenholz
Daniel coordinates the Operations department. Previously he acquired experience in civil engineering and development cooperation and studied economics and philosophy.
Alfredo Parra
Alfredo supports EAF in Operations. He holds a bachelor's degree in Engineering Physics as well as a master's degree and a PhD in Computational Science from the Technical University of Munich.
Anni Leskelä
Anni's research interests include the philosophy of simulations, AI policy and strategy, and the evolution of suffering. She studies philosophy and neuroscience at the University of Helsinki, and has previously published material on bioethics as well as blogged about topics related to AI risk and suffering-focused altruism.
Johannes Treutlein
Johannes researches decision theory and studies mathematics at the Technical University of Berlin. Before learning about Effective Altruism, Johannes studied the double bass in Stuttgart and Nuremberg and played with the Munich Philharmonic.
David Althaus
David runs empirical studies on decision theory and descriptive ethics. He studied psychology at the Universities of Innsbruck, Cologne, and Basel.
Tobias Pulver
Tobias does research on AI strategy. He currently investigates the influence of epistemic communities on international policy coordination. Previously he led Raising for Effective Giving (REG). Tobias studied political science at the University of Zurich.
Ruairí Donnelly
Director of Growth
Ruairí defines EAF's growth plan and coordinates fundraising for EAF projects. Previously, he led our high net worth philanthropy project, Raising for Effective Giving.
Brian Tomasik
Brian is the author of over 100 pieces on his website, "Essays on Reducing Suffering", as well as several published papers. He has worked at Microsoft and FlyHomes as a data scientist and web developer. He studied computer science, mathematics, and statistics at Swarthmore College.
Prof. Dr. Thomas Metzinger
Thomas K. Metzinger is professor and director of the theoretical philosophy group and the research group on neuroethics/neurophilosophy in the department of philosophy at the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Germany. From 2014 to 2019 he is a Fellow at the Gutenberg Research College. He is the founder and director of the MIND group and Adjunct Fellow at the Frankfurt Institute of Advanced Studies, Germany. His research centers on analytic philosophy of mind, applied ethics, and philosophy of cognitive science.
Prof. Dr. Melinda Lohmann
Melinda F. Lohmann is an Assistant Professor of Business Law with a specialization in Information Law and is Director of the Research Center for Information Law at the University of St. Gallen. In her research she deals with legal questions concerning artificial intelligence, robotics and self-driving cars.
Prof. Dr. Rajshri Jayaraman
Rajshri (Raji) Jayaraman is an economics professor at the European School of Management and Technology (ESMT) in Berlin whose research examines the role of incentives and networks in fostering student, worker, and company performance. The primary aim of her research is to bring empirical evidence to bear on policy design and effectiveness. She received a PhD in economics from Cornell University and a Master's from Yale University. Her publications have appeared in top economics journals including the American Economic Review and the Journal of Political Economics.
Prof. Dr. Dina Pomeranz
Dina is an assistant professor of microeconomics at the University of Zurich. Her research focuses on public policies in developing countries, in particular in the areas of taxation and public procurement. She aims to contribute to the movement towards more evidence-based policy making, in countries with both developing and emerging economies. She previously taught at the Harvard Business School and was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at MIT's Poverty Action Lab, where she is still an affiliate professor. Besides her academic interests, she also serves on the advisory board of a number of social enterprise ventures committed to translating research into practice, including Evidence Action, TamTam-Together Against Malaria and IDinsight.
Prof. Dr. Klaus Wälde
After having held full professorships at Universities in Dresden, Würzburg and Glasgow, Klaus Wälde has been Professor of Economics at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz since May 2009. Since finishing his PhD in 1994 he has been thinking about how to reduce poverty, unemployment or inequalities of income and wealth. His work includes the analysis of labor markets and their reforms, especially the Hartz Reforms in Germany. His work has appeared in leading international academic journals. Having understood standard approaches to economic thinking, he turned to 'Emotional Economics' in an attempt to understand how standard approaches can be overcome. He has worked for the World Bank and as an adviser at the European Commission. The birth of his two daughters revealed to him that acting altruistically can badly harm one's own career plans and be strongly rewarding at the same time.
Prof. Dr. Stefan Klein
Stefan Klein, born 1965 in Munich, is the most successful science author in German. He studied physics and analytical philosophy in Munich, Grenoble, and Freiburg, and did research in theoretical biophysics. He turned to writing because he "wanted to excite people about a reality that's more thrilling than any mystery novel". His book "Die Glücksformel" (2002, engl. "The Science of Happiness") was at the top of German bestseller lists for over a year and led to international renown. In the following years he published more bestsellers like "The Secret Pulse of Time", "Survival of the Nicest", and most recently "On the Edge of Infinity". His works have received numerous awards and have been translated into 25 languages. Stefan Klein lives in Berlin and teaches at the University of the Arts.
Jun.-Prof. Dr. Sascha Fink
Sascha Benjamin Fink is a junior professor of neurophilosophy and member of the Center for Brains and Behavioral Sciences at the Otto-von-Guericke Universität in Magdeburg. His work focuses on the philosophical foundations of consciousness research, specifically on the question of whether and how we can know which experiences are had by minds other than our own, and what role neuroscience can play in answering this question. His goal is to elucidate how we can reliably detect pain and suffering in other humans and nonhuman animals.
Sarah Dörpinghaus, Catering
Thomas Moispointner, Operations
Anne Wissemann, Operations
Naoki Peter, IT
Daniel Rüthemann, Design
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