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EA Spain Retreat

DIRECTORY

Welcome to the EA Spain Retreat Directory!

✨ To help us all get to know each other better and make it easier to plan meaningful 1:1s, please complete one page about yourself. These slides will be shared in the retreat WhatsApp group so everyone can browse them before and during the event.

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This is completely optional but we encourage you to fill it out to help others connect with you more easily!

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¡Bienvenid@s al Directorio del Retiro EA España!

✨ Para ayudarnos a conocernos mejor y a organizar encuentros 1:1 más significativos, por favor completa una página sobre ti. Estas diapositivas se compartirán en el grupo de WhatsApp del retiro para que todos puedan verlas antes y durante el evento.

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Es completamente opcional ¡pero te animamos a hacerlo para que a los demás les sea más fácil conectar contigo!

Name / Nombre

(Pronouns / Pronombres)

• Where you live / Dónde vives:
• What you hope to get out of the retreat / ¿Qué esperas del retiro?:

(e.g. connections, new ideas, relaxing, exploring collaborations)

• What you’re working on or interested in / En qué trabajas o qué te interesa: (brief summary of your work, studies, or EA interests)
• Fun fact or random thing you love / Algo curioso o que te encante:

(e.g. “I love climbing,” “my dog’s name is Pancake,” “I play the ukulele”)

• Anything you’d like others to know / Algo más que quieras contar: (open for quirks, offers, or how you’d like to connect!)

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Community Building

Melanie Brennan

(She / Her)

• Please call me Mel
• I live in Barcelona but I come from Ballarat (near Melbourne) in Australia.
• I’ve been the lead community builder for EA Barcelona since 2023. My background is in linguistics & adult education.
• My goals/intentions for the retreat are to help create a more cohesive network of EAs in Spain, and find out how I can better support you all from Barcelona.
• My superpower is to keep following up with people until they agree to whatever I ask them :D
• Outside of EA, I like writing & producing songs.

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Anthony Lara

(He/Him)

• Please call me Anthony (An-Tuh-nee) like you’re at a fancy dinner party.
• I live in Barcelona
• My goals/intentions for the retreat is to get to know people with similar interests and learn more about projects and people trying to have a positive impact around Spain.
• Summary of my current situation: I’m currently working as Assistant Community Builder for EA Barcelona, where I help design events, support local members, and explore ways to grow a healthy, high-impact EA community in Spain. I also work part-time as an English teacher and psychologist, with a focus on accessible mental health which I believe is aligned with EA’s broader goal of improving lives in cost-effective and scalable ways. I’m still exploring how to best combine community building and mental health to increase my impact, and I’m excited to learn from others doing similar work.
• My superpower is to push through tough times and finishing what I start. Just like Dory from Finding Nemo, just keep swimming!

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Tristan Williams

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• Calendly
• Hey all :) I’m Tristan, an EA convert since 2020 who’s been passionately thinking about what I can do to contribute since. In the last two years that's looked like working on AI policy and community building here in Madrid, and in the future that will probably look like an even further deep dive into US policy.
• Outside of EA, I moved here to Spain because I wanted to learn to speak Spanish and immerse myself in a different culture, and life thinking about differences between how we lead our lives and why that is. I've got a background in psychology and philosophy, love to debate things, and just generally love good conversation and learning more about the world. Please feel free to say hi whenever!

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Bienestar Animal / Animal Welfare

Koke (José Ramón Mallén)

(Pronouns / Pronombres)

• José is a long-time animal advocate focused on helping connect researchers, advocates and funders to build an ever-expanding knowledge base. A generalist, he is interested in movement-centric approaches to R&D and in near-term and long-term theories of change. He has worked in animal advocacy organisations since the late 90s. Before joining Animal Ask, he helped growth Animal Welfare Observatory (AWO) by leading and developing the communications, farmed fish welfare and fundraising areas.

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Wasseem Emam

(He/him)

https://calendly.com/wasseem-emam

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Hi! I’m Wasseem, originally from Egypt/Canada/the UK and now living in the Spanish Basque Country with my wife and son. In 2021, I founded Ethical Seafood Research, an EA-aligned nonprofit focused on improving the welfare of farmed fish, particularly in Africa and other neglected parts of the Global South.

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I came to EA through my research on farmed aquatic animal welfare during my PhD in Scotland, and I’m always curious about the practical and philosophical challenges of doing good in complex systems (such as in the Global South). At the retreat, I’d love to connect with others working on animals, food systems or neglected cause areas, and I’m always up for a late-night strategy chat or a casual stroll.

Pablo Rosado

(he / his)

I'm the Principal Data Scientist at Our World in Data, and I work on making data and research on important topics available to the general public.

• Where you live / Dónde vives: Barcelona
• What you hope to get out of the retreat / ¿Qué esperas del retiro?:

I'd like to get to know other people in the community better, get feedback on some ideas for OWID (en | es) and AltruFísica, my youtube channel, have deep philosophical conversations, brainstorm any potential collaborations, and ways in which I could help you.

• What you’re working on or interested in / En qué trabajas o qué te interesa: My background is in astrophysics, but I moved to data science in 2017. Music and science communications have always been big passions. I'm interested in many EA areas, but at the moment I'm slightly more actively involved in reducing animal suffering. In fact, I'm preparing a very special YouTube video on this topic, and I'd be happy to show it to you and get feedback (and maybe film you!).
• Fun fact or random thing you love / Algo curioso o que te encante:

My hair was 110cm long at some point in my life.

• Anything you’d like others to know / Algo más que quieras contar: Please reach out if you think we can collaborate in any way, if you need some help with data science/engineering, music (or other ways to use creativity to communicate important topics), video/audio editing... or astrophysics? Also happy to chill and play Love Letter.

I’d be happy to discuss in my 1-on-1s (but happy to discuss other things):

- Philosophy: Linear aggregation in population ethics

- Comms: Ideas for youtube shorts/videos, esp. on animals / AI safety (I could either film you, or we write the script and I do it).

- ⁠Comms: I’d love to get feedback on a very special draft video on farmed animal suffering

- Community building: Collaboration with other emerging groups, e.g. Moral Ambition & Hope! (on climate change)

- ⁠Data: Is there anything I could (or Our World in Data could) help you or your project, in terms of content or technical data work?

Inteligencia Artificial / Artificial Intelligence

Pablo Villalobos

(He / Him)

• I'm Pablo, from Madrid. I've been involved in EA for over 8 years, mostly co-organizing the EA group in Madrid, donating, and working full-time on AI.
• I’m currently deciding what the next step in my career should look like.
• I'm excited to meet EAs in Spain I don't know already and help each other have more impact, either through advice, collaboration or connections.

Isabel Johnson

(she/her // they/them)

• Hi, I'm Isabel; I more-or-less moved to Spain a couple years ago and since then I've been increasingly concerned with global conflict, the rise of fascism, AI capabilities, and how we can prepare for an increasingly rapidly changing world. I also love meeting new people, which is why I work in recruiting! Happy to give feedback on career plans or just chat.

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Andres Martin Angulo 🔸

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• Based in Avila (previously Madrid)
• Working as an AI engineer for AiKit. I’ve been developing software systems since I was 13. I love tech.
• Interested in AI politics, although lately I don’t have much time to keep up.
• My goal for the retreat is to just chill with mindful people and have fun.
• I love a deep conversation, calisthenics, cooking and learning random stuff. I recently moved to my village in search for peace and slow living.
• I’m that guy with limitless energy and no time to develop all my passions. Hopefully, I might retire soon :P
• Open to collaborate with anyone!

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Darcy Thomas Robertson

(He / Him)

• I'm a Belgian-Australian student doing a BSc Data Science in Barcelona. I'm interested in AI safety (primarily), but also animal ethics, and global health. I'd love to get to know the Spanish community better! hope there is coffee idk if I could go without it.
• Currently doing a summer internship at UB to apply AI techniques to Protein-Protein interaction screening, and a small time AI safety research side project online.
• A Fun Fact about me is that I love cooking meals FAST and being bad at yoga 😼

Chengheng Li Chen

(He/Him)

• I live in Barcelona, but I grew up in a small city in Alicante called Alcoy.
• My objective for this retreat is to connect with like-minded people, explore collaborations, and exchange new ideas in the AI Safety and Effective Altruism space.
• I'm a graduated dual-degree student in Math & Computer Science at the University of Barcelona, specializing in AI Safety.
• My research at the Spanish AI Research Institute (IIIA-CSIC) focuses on developing novel AI alignment methods inspired by psychology.
• I'm building a multi-agent system to generate educational materials with LLMs, supported by a Spanish Research Innovation Grant.
• I co-founded and organize AI Safety Barcelona (aisafetybcn.org).
• Fun Fact: I got involved in EA during my exchange year at UCLA, thousands of kilometers from here!
• I'll be moving to Lausanne next year for an MSc in Data Science at EPFL!
• I'm always open to discussing AI alignment, the future of education, or building projects with a positive societal impact. Let's connect!

Feel free to book a 1-on-1 with me during the retreat at: cal.com/chenghengli/earetreat

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You can also reach me on WhatsApp!

David Bravo Comas

(He / Him)

• Calendly
• Where you live / Dónde vives: Sant Cugat, near Barcelona
• What you hope to get out of the retreat / ¿Qué esperas del retiro?: A bit of everything! New connections, ways to contribute to the community, feel the energy of EA, and any career advice or even collaboration would be a very nice bonus
• What you’re working on or interested in / En qué trabajas o qué te interesa: Just finished a Bachelor's in Industrial Engineering; now exploring how to have the most impact. I was initially leaning toward biosecurity but, after conversations (80k hours...) and concern for the short AGI timelines, I might now focus on AI Safety. I can afford to spend some months doing independent work to upskill, strengthen my research skills and produce output, ideally to eventually get a job. Medium-term goal: research manager in AI Safety?
• Fun fact or random thing you love / Algo curioso o que te encante: Travelling!! Especially to far-away cultures, and even if I have to go there on my own: Tanzania (volunteering), Seoul (exchange), Kyoto
• Anything you’d like others to know / Algo más que quieras contar: Particularly interested in advice or collaboration for getting into AI Safety (maybe through technical research), or general early-career advice. And if you need a helping hand for a project, happy to help!

Paula Mesa Macias

(Pronouns / Pronombres)

• Me llamo Paula y soy emprendedora en tecnología ética. Desde hace unos años, trabajo en mi propio proyecto, Pau&Company, que es una consultoría técnica que se dedica a ayudar a personas y organizaciones a tomar decisiones tecnológicas más alineadas con valores como la privacidad digital, la ciberseguridad y la sostenibilidad ambiental. Llevo años siguiendo el movimiento de Effective Altruism, con el que siento una conexión profunda. He participado en eventos en Manchester, donde vivo parte del tiempo (la otra parte en Madrid). Creo que la tecnología puede ser una palanca poderosa para el cambio sistémico si se diseña y se utiliza con intención, y me interesa especialmente cómo aplicar principios de EA a la construcción de infraestructuras digitales responsables y al desarrollo de inteligencia artificial ética. En el retiro me gustaría hablar sobre el papel de la tecnología en el bien global, sobre cómo podemos maximizar su impacto positivo y sobre formas prácticas de incorporar la ética en los procesos técnicos.

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Ayuda Efectiva / Effective Giving

Pablo Melchor 🔸

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• I live in the outskirts of Madrid.
• I am looking forward to seeing many friends and meeting others interested in EA from different angles. I can also talk forever about how effective giving is a super impactful way of helping others 😉.
• I co-founded and run Ayuda Efectiva, the organization promoting effective giving in Spain.¹ I’ve written an EA-inspired book in Spanish: coming out in September.²
• I am pretty good at speaking backwards.
• Always looking for opportunities to spread the ideas around effective giving. Do let me know if your best friend hosts a popular podcast or if you have any other ideas :-)

¹ Soon to be joined by Karoteno.

² Subscribe to my newsletter to get notified.

Happy to share:

Anything about my experience, both professional and personal, that you may be interested in or find useful.

I’ve taken the 🔸10% pledge

Guillem Lajara Remón🔸

(cualquier pronombre / any pronoun)

• ¡Hola! Me llamo Guillem y vivo en Barcelona 👋
• Mi primer contacto con EA fue hace casi 5 años, convirtiéndose en un pilar muy importante en mi vida. Creo que el mundo sería un lugar mucho mejor si las ideas (¡y prácticas!) de EA fueran más populares.
• Con esa misión, empecé a crear Karoteno, una plataforma de donación efectiva que busca cambiar las normas culturales alrededor de la donación, apoyando a los proyectos con mayor impacto positivo.
• El lanzamiento de la plataforma está programado para agosto. ¡Me encantaría escuchar vuestras opiniones y críticas sobre esta propuesta!

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Me too! :)

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Filosofia / Philosophy

Miguel Gimeno Xipell

(He/Him)

• Where you live / Dónde vives: Barcelona
• What you hope to get out of the retreat / ¿Qué esperas del retiro?:

I’d love to gain new ideas and perspectives, as well as meeting you all

• What you’re working on or interested in / En qué trabajas o qué te interesa: I’m starting a Masters in Analytic Philosophy. I’m interested in ethical questions affecting EA, like: which causes should be prioritised and why? I later aim to work with organisations that make or affect policy, so that someday I can have some impact in this area.
• Fun fact or random thing you love / Algo curioso o que te encante:

I love debating literally anything for the sake of it

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Mejorar la Resistencia de la Sociedad /

Juan B. García Martínez

(he / him)

Juan is a chemical engineer working as Research Manager at ALLFED. His work focuses on studying the feasibility of production pilots and assessing the potential of various technologies for production of food resilient to global catastrophes, including: fermentation technology in general, single cell proteins from CO₂ or natural gas, sugars from plant fiber or CO₂, fats from microorganisms or hydrocarbons, microbial electrosynthesis, and non-biological synthesis of food. He also works on policy transfer of academic studies of global catastrophic risks to policy action. To achieve this goal, in 2021 he cofounded the Observatorio de Riesgos Catastróficos Globales with Jaime Sevilla, where he currently works as director.

I love travelling, reading, movies, and video games. Looking forward to connecting with new and known faces at the retreat.

booking schedule for 1-on-1s

Andreea Petre

She/Her

• Where you live / Dónde vives: Barcelona, since 2017
• What you hope to get out of the retreat / ¿Qué esperas del retiro?:

I hope to connect with like-minded people, relax, and explore new ideas and collaborations. I look forward to debating EA as well

• What you’re working on or interested in / En qué trabajas o qué te interesa: I work in Communications for Alliance to Feed the Earth in Disasters (ALLFED) and am also a marketer in the field of AI.
• Fun fact or random thing you love / Algo curioso o que te encante:

I love music and I can easily recognize people/actors just by listening to their voice.

• Anything you’d like others to know / Algo más que quieras contar: I am open to anything - I try to navigate life with minimal expectations so I don’t limit myself :D

Exploring / Explorando

Ágata Arias Sánchez

(She / Her)

• My Calendly
• I live in Madrid and Alicante.
• I’m interested in global health, biosecurity and any other health-related topics.
• I’m trained as a hospital pharmacist and currently working as a clinical assesor for the Spanish Medicines Agengy (infectious diseases group). I love this job, but I’m willing to explore whether there are other career options more impactful (and feasible for me).
• I first discovered EA through the rationalist community.
• I’m a cave diver and spelunker, and I’m obsessed with it.

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Julián Bermúdez Zapata

(Pronouns / Pronombres)

• Hi! I’m Julian, based in Barcelona, with a background in food systems, sustainability and social innovation, I was part of the first EA BCN introductory fellowship. I’ve been exploring EA ideas for a while now, especially those related to global development and systemic change. I'm vegetarian and have worked in food advocacy; I am always promoting resilient transition models. At the retreat, I’d love to connect with people working on community building, climate solutions, or just curious about how to make a meaningful impact. Always up for exchanging ideas, taking a walk, or sharing thoughts over a chai/matcha/mate!

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Sergio Díaz García

(He / His)

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• Calendly
• Where you live / Dónde vives: Madrid
• What you hope to get out of the retreat / ¿Qué esperas del retiro?: Meet other community members. Especially those doing community building in Barcelona, as I'm interested in doing community building work in Madrid. I'd also like to make new connections that could lead to job and collaboration opportunities aligned with the EA's causes and values (any career guidance in general would be greatly appreciated!). And of course, I'm counting on lots of interesting and stimulating nerdy talks, conversations, and debates during the retreat.
• What you’re working on or interested in / En qué trabajas o qué te interesa: My background is in theoretical physics, and I've been working in programming in the private sector for six years. I'm currently motivated/interested in pivoting my career toward something with a greater positive impact; although at the same time, I'm not sure I want to stop working in programming for the time being (So it's clear that I don't have things clear). I'm very interested in helping the community in Spain grow and strengthen, either by dedicating myself exclusively to it or combining it with another primary job.
• Fun fact or random thing you love / Algo curioso o que te encante: I am dyslexic, so any grammatical errors in all of the above must be attributed without the slightest doubt to that.

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Lukas Paul Robertson

He/him

• My → Calendly
• Where you live / Dónde vives: Barcleona🏰 (kind of ..)
• What you hope to get out of the retreat / ¿Qué esperas del retiro?:

New connections, collaboration

• What you’re working on or interested in / En qué trabajas o qué te interesa: I study genetics and CS 🔬💻
• Fun fact or random thing you love / Algo curioso o que te encante:
• Random fact: the S in Harry S. Truman doesn’t mean anything
• it’s not related to me, sorry 🙃
• Anything you’d like others to know / Algo más que quieras contar: is anyone here working in artificial sentince/phil of mind/conc. studies? Let me know!!
• currently a undergraduate student in Genetics and CS. I’ve done some things in community building and wild animal welfare. However I’m thinking more and more on going into AI. This is recent however and I haven't taken the time to make a new career plan with my new priorities, so atm I'm kind of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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Luis Fernández

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• I'm Luis, based in Madrid. I've slowly gotten involved in the EA madrid community, but I still feel I'm in the exploratory phase. In the retreat I hope to get exposed to interesting ideas and people. Some of the most active people in EA Madrid are leaving soon and the retreat could be an opportunity to coordinate with others, share ideas and try to contribute to a thriving community going forward.
• I work as an economist and have a background in physics
• I’m interested in most EA stuff: AI (medium-term possibility of AGI/ASI, timelines, alignement, sientence), poverty alleviation/effective giving, global catastrophes, animal welfare…
• 我是中文学生

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