The Nordic Biosecurity Group (NBG) is a network of students and professionals interested in the Nordic Biosecurity field. We believe emerging infectious diseases and future pandemics pose a significant threat to human lives and societal well-being and that there are tractable ways to minimize these risks. The Nordic countries are a small part of the global population but have a long history of progressive policy and a thriving life science field.
The group was officially launched in November 2023 by Swedish MDs Johan and Johannes in collaboration with partners from the other Nordic countries. Our main platform is our WhatsApp Community that anyone interested is welcome to join!
If you are a professional already working in biosecurity/biosafety, or a highly related field, we also recommend joining the Nordic Biosafety Network, a 150+ member network of biosecurity(-related) professionals (from university, government, corporate, veterinary, vaccine developers etc.) in the Nordics. They have annual meeting and in between there is a forum that their members can join.
Start here
- 80,000 Hours Profile on Preventing catastrophic pandemics, read this first if you haven’t already.
- Then read The biggest misconceptions about biosecurity/pandemics and listen to Kevin Esvelt on cults that want to kill everyone, stealth vs wildfire pandemics, and how he felt inventing gene drives (3 hr podcast episode)
- If you have a medical background, also check out High Impact Medicine’s Introduction to Health Security
- If you’re an engineer, please continue here, High Impact Engineers will help you think clear
What you can do as an individual
- You can research and start testing if biosecurity is a good career fit for you and/or help in building and promoting the field. We especially recommend the post On-Ramps Into Biosecurity – A Model.
- You can donate to effective charities that tackle GCBRs. The Founders Pledge site on GCBRs is a great starting point.
- You can sign up to be a volunteer in vaccine challenge trials:
- Individual lifestyle changes will not be the most important things you can do but it might inspire you and others to contribute more in other ways. Some examples of changes include:
- Eating less animal products as the animal industry is poses a major risk of zoonotic spillover and drives antibiotic resistance.
- Taking relevant vaccines (Covid, flu, etc.)
- When having an infection: practicing good safety measures (hygiene, distancing, etc.)
Going Further?
The most important resources to propel you in the right direction:
Learn more 🧠
- Test yourself with the Biosafety Quiz
- Effective Altruism Sweden‘s page on Catastrophic Pandemics
- Including Johan’s story
- Biosecurity Reading+ List by Tessa
- Biosecurity Fundamentals, 8-week course syllabus, live course cancelled
- Pandemic Interventions Course, a 4-week course syllabus by Lin Bowker-Lonnecker
- Germ Warfare: A Very Graphic History, graphic novel (or 26 min video)
Resources 💎
- Impactful Connections, connecting biosecurity professionals with promising students
- Aron’s Resource Hub and Review on Key Aspects of Biosecurity (Global, long list)
- List of AI x Biosecurity Resources
- Similar groups:
Jobs 👩💼
- The 80,000 hours guide to Biorisk research, strategy, and policy jobs is a great place to start
- Early Career Positions for Building Biosecurity-relevant Skills (Global)
- The 80,000 hours job board filtered on Biosecurity in the Nordics
- Same as above + remote jobs
- Jobs at national public health agencies
- Vacancies at The Public Health Agency of Sweden (FoHM) (only in Swedish)
- Vacancies at The Norwegian Institute of Public Health (FHI) (also in Norwegian)
- Vacancies at The Danish Health Authority (SST) (only in Danish)
- Vacancies at The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) (also in Finnish)
- The Iceland The Directorate of Health (has no vacancy list as of Feb 2024)
Organizations 🏢
- Biosecurity.world, Map/Database of the global Biosecurity landscape
- Key Biosecurity and Pandemic Preparedness Organisations (Global)
- Langsikt, a Norwegian center for long-term policy which includes biosecurity
- Pandemifonden, a Swedish foundation to combat viral diseases, including future pandemics
- Nordic Biosafety Network, a 150+ member network with people working in sectors related to biosecurity and biosafety in the Nordics
- Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), works on vaccines and has one of their offices in Oslo, Norway
Useful tools / websites
- Epidemic Calculator
- Viruskollen, about different viruses (in Swedish)
Podcasts 🎙️
- 80,000 hours podcast episodes about catastrophic pandemics (20+ episodes)
- Viruspodden, in Swedish about viral diseases (launch post)
Newsletters 📰
- Biosecurity newsletters you should subscribe to (Global)
- GCBR Organization Updates (Global)
- The Biosecurity section of Monthly Overload of Effective Altruism (Global)
- The Public Health Agency of Sweden (FoHM) newsletter (in Swedish)
- ECDC Newsletter
- The Pandora Report
Blog series
- 80,000 Hours Anonymous answers
- Reflective Altruism on Exaggerating the risks, parts 9-17 are on Biosecurity
- Also Epistemics: (Part 2: Examples), is about biosecurity
Contact
You can reach out to us at [email protected] or use the contact form. Our main communication platform is our WhatsApp Community.
Feedback (things to add/remove/change, new ideas, new links) for our group and this website is highly appreciated and can be sent to our email or contact form as per above.
You can like our Nordic Biosecurity Group Facebook page to spread awareness, though it will not be our main channel of communication.
Which are the Nordic countries exactly?
The Nordic countries are (in order of decreasing population): Sweden🇸🇪, Denmark🇩🇰, Finland🇫🇮, Norway🇳🇴 and Iceland🇮🇸 as well as the autonomous territories/region of the Faroe Islands🇫🇴, Greenland🇬🇱 and Åland🇦🇽. The Baltic states, Estonia🇪🇪, Latvia🇱🇻 and Lithuania🇱🇹, are not considered to be Nordic countries but are often included in intergovernmental cooperation, such as the Nordic Council of Ministers having offices in all Baltic states.