Josh Greene

Joshua Greene is a professor in the Harvard Department of Psychology where he runs the Moral Cognition Lab. He received his bachelor’s degree from Harvard and then a PhD in philosophy at Princeton where he was mentored by many bright lights of analytical philosophy, including Peter Singer, who served on his committee. After doing a post-doc in a a cognitive neuroscience lab, Greene returned to Harvard to begin his own lab, the Moral Cognition Lab, which studies both descriptive and normative psychology and philosophy.

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PAF: Climate Change

We analyzed climate change from a high-level perspective, exploring various potential philanthropic interventions: Direct emissions reductions, adaptation, R&D,  advocacy/litigation, and climate finance. We recommend fighting coal power in asia, building capacity in the US at local levels, and investing in innovative climate finance models.  

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PAF: Scientific Reproducibility

In this report, we considered four broad interventions: post-publication peer review, quantitative metrics for transparency (e.g. “transparency index”), tenure criteria, and characterizing dependency relationships between pieces of research. All of these categories can be implemented in different ways, and can improve reproducibility through multiple channels.

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PAF: Mental Health in Sub-Saharan Africa

Although traditionally mental health has not been considered an immediate cause for concern in Sub-Saharan Africa, it is increasingly receiving more attention as the extent in which people suffer from various disorders has become apparent. Within this report, our team seeks to quantify and analyze the burden of mental health disorders in the region, estimate the cost-effectiveness of various interventions, recommend local organizations that are taking a scientifically-sound, scalable approach, and recommend promising research opportunities to develop new, highly cost-effective and scalable interventions.

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PAF: Off to a Good Start

The Philanthropy Advisory Fellowship (PAF) recruits Harvard graduate students from across the University to form multidisciplinary teams that advise philanthropists or foundations on how to achieve the most impact with their charitable dollars in a given cause area. Although we just started last semester, we have gotten off to a good start with major donors on board as clients and a competitive application process attracting talented Fellows.

 

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PAF: Gene Drive Report

This is the Executive Summary of the final report from a Philanthropy Advisory Fellowship project on Gene Drive research. The purpose of this report is to provide recommendations to philanthropists interested in funding a new genetic technology called “CRISPR gene drive.” This synthetic biology technology allows scientists to design genetically modified animals that can rapidly spread particular genes through wild populations.

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