Odyssean Institute
The Odyssean Institute is a research, advocacy, and experimental think tank founded in 2022 to address existential and catastrophic risks to civilisation. The institute develops and advocates for the Odyssean Process, an innovative methodology that combines expert elicitation, computational foresight using Decision Making Under Deep Uncertainty (DMDU), and participatory democratic deliberation through citizen assemblies. Key initiatives include the GRAIN (Global Resilient Anticipatory Infrastructure Network) initiative, which builds capacity between nations that could serve as recovery nodes after catastrophic events, and the AI Foresight Assembly project, which brings foresight methods and public deliberation to bear on AI governance and emerging technology policy.
Funding Details
- Annual Budget
- $68,000
- Monthly Burn Rate
- -
- Current Runway
- -
- Funding Goal
- -
- Funding Raised to Date
- -
- Fiscal Sponsor
- -
Theory of Change
The Odyssean Institute believes that the only robust, effective, and sustainable solutions to civilisational risk are those that are empirically guided, expert informed, and democratically legitimate. Their theory of change operates through three interconnected mechanisms: first, systematic expert elicitation through horizon scanning brings together multiple scientific disciplines to pragmatically identify emerging risks in the policy-making process. Second, computational foresight using DMDU methods explores multiple possible futures rather than relying on single-point forecasts, enabling the development of robust adaptive policies. Third, democratic deliberation through citizen assemblies ensures that the values and perspectives of the public are incorporated, creating legitimacy and buy-in for the resulting policies. By combining these three approaches into the Odyssean Process, the institute aims to address the democratic deficit in civilisational risk mitigation, trigger beneficial social tipping points, and build institutional capacity to navigate complex problems during times of crisis. Their GRAIN initiative extends this logic internationally by identifying and strengthening critical nodes in global systems where resilience investments can have the greatest impact on civilisational recovery potential.
Grants Received
from Survival and Flourishing Fund
Projects
No linked projects.
People
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Details
- Last Updated
- Apr 2, 2026, 9:49 PM UTC
- Created
- Mar 18, 2026, 11:18 PM UTC