Your next steps

In this unit, you'll create an action plan for how you could start contributing. This is only the beginning. You're not expected to have a perfect answer right now.


Choose your focus

Based on everything you've learnt about so far during this course, pick a single biosecurity intervention.
To help you prioritise, consider which interventions you think would be most effective against large-scale pandemics, and where your existing skillset gives you an edge to contribute.


Prioritise a single intervention

- What does success look like with this intervention? How does it _actually_ help make the world more pandemic-proof?
- What's the current status of this intervention? Are governments, companies or other actors already working on it? If not, why not?
- Which organisations are working on this which you can contribute to or join?
- Are there any concrete project ideas that you could pick up?

We've included a few resources with orgs, jobs and projects on the following pages.


Do your own research

The biosecurity landscape

Biosecurity project ideas

We don't expect this to be super detailed or a perfect plan - treat this as a first draft, and something that's good enough to help you get started.


Make a plan

Once you're finished, 1) make the Google Doc shareable, 2) paste it below, and 3) share it with your group in Slack!


Write your personal action plan

We hope you've had a great time on the course, and we're excited to see how you contribute to making the world more pandemic-proof :)


Thank you!

Biosecurity

Map the biosecurity landscape and identify where your specific skills can contribute: organisations hiring across policy and technology, concrete projects seeking talent, and pathways into the field.

Contributing to Biosecurity

Building biodefences is both urgent and achievable: pandemics have killed millions, AI and synthetic biology are creating new threats, but a radically more pandemic-proof world is possible.

Building a Pandemic-Proof World

Examine upstream interventions that stop threats before they emerge: AI safeguards, DNA synthesis screening, the Biological Weapons Convention, lab biosafety standards, and governance of risky research.

Preventing Engineered Pandemics

Learn how metagenomic sequencing can detect novel pathogens, how to rapidly characterise emerging threats, and how swift containment can stop transmission before widespread outbreaks.

Detecting Early Infections

Discover pathogen-agnostic defences deployable within hours: next-generation PPE, far-UVC air treatment, and biohardening strategies that protect people before we know what we're facing.

Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions

Explore how to accelerate vaccine development, and how broad-spectrum antivirals can treat multiple threats before pathogen-specific treatments exist.

Biosecurity

Your next steps

Resources