BiosecurityA few weeksIntermediate
Disease forecasting project ideas
Help forecasters do better: document past model failures, port useful tools, teach the maths, or build early-warning datasets.
CodeDataReading & writingView project
BiosecurityA few weeksIntermediateFree
Build an open dataset or API for biosecurity
Researchers keep re-collecting the same numbers. Turn one of them into a clean, open dataset or API.
Download PDFCodeData
Why it matters
Shared data infrastructure speeds up every project that depends on it.
Output: A documented dataset or API.
Possible directions
- Far-UVC susceptibility constants (z-values) for pathogens
- The cost of every biosecurity measure
- The cost and performance of air filters
- A usable UK infrastructure database
- A compilation of historical biosecurity policy outcomes
Getting started
0 of 5 done-
Read the README and contributing guide, and get the project running locally.
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Pick one small, well-defined piece of work (look for “good first issue”).
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Say on the issue that you are working on it, then open a draft pull request early.
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Ask for feedback while it is still small; respond to review quickly.
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Write a short post about what you built and learned.
All steps done
Share what you made, then try another project. The PDF version has room for notes.
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Measure flattery with code
Automate the flattery test: run hundreds of questions through a model’s API, with and without the user’s (wrong) opinion, and chart how often it caves.
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Further reading
- A hundred project ideas in biosecurity (opens in a new tab)Idea listHatta and Bazarragchaa, 2025. Aimed at independent, part-time researchers.
- List of lists of concrete biosecurity project ideas (opens in a new tab)Idea listTessa Alexanian.
- Concrete biosecurity projects (some of which could be big) (opens in a new tab)Idea listLarger, organisation-sized projects.
- Epoch AI data (opens in a new tab)ReadingFree datasets on models, compute, hardware and data centres.
- BlueDot: Biosecurity course (opens in a new tab)CourseFree 30-hour course. No biology background required.
Related mentored projects
- Attribution Across the Biological Threat Pipeline (opens in a new tab)SPARAnemone Franz · University of Notre Dame
- Identifying function-relevant signatures in protein models for biosecurity screening (opens in a new tab)SPARIsha Harris, Gary Abel · Fourth Eon Biosecurity Institute / Fourth Eon Biosecurity Institute; the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security
- Epistemic security in the age of AI (opens in a new tab)SPARNatalie Linton, Sarah Lucioni · Independent / GovAI, Google