University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge was founded in 1209 when scholars migrated from Oxford following disputes with local townsfolk, making it the fourth-oldest university in the world. It received formal papal recognition as a studium generale in 1318 and was incorporated by Act of Parliament in 1571. Today it comprises 31 semi-autonomous colleges and employs 13,113 members of staff in academic, research, technical, and administrative roles, serving approximately 24,912 students (2024-25). Cambridge's alumni include 126 Nobel Prize Laureates, 47 Heads of State, and 217 Olympic medallists. Its total group income for the fiscal year ending July 2025 was £2,660 million, of which £605 million came from research grants and contracts. Net assets totalled £8,263 million. In the context of AI safety and existential risk, Cambridge is home to several leading research institutions. The Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER), co-founded in 2012 by Huw Price, Jaan Tallinn, and Lord Martin Rees, researches possible extinction-level threats from technology including AI, biotechnology, and environmental change. In 2016, CSER spun off the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence (CFI), which focuses on the opportunities and challenges of artificial intelligence. Cambridge also hosts the ERA Cambridge fellowship program, an 8-week program for technical AI safety research training. Note: This database record is a duplicate of the primary University of Cambridge record (ID: 0f99aa5e).