Together, we’ll evolve CEEALAR from a residency into a fully equipped impact incubator, nurturing not just EA and AI Safety research, but also the whole person behind every project, at every stage of their journey.
Excited to see what happens here!
We are pleased to announce that our new Executive Director, Attila Ujvari, has started work.
Up until now, CEEALAR has been led by Greg Colbourn, our Founder. Greg has been in the role of Executive Director in a part-time*, unpaid capacity from the start. Since being founded in 2018 as the EA Hotel, CEEALAR has grown into a grant-supported charity and increased in capacity by 70%, expanding to the adjoining building, and facing many trials and tribulations along the way. We have hosted hundreds of grantees, a significant number of whom have gone on to work at established organisations in the EA and AI Safety spaces; and hosted numerous events, unconferences, and retreats.
With the hiring of Attila, the role of Executive Director has become a paid, full-time position. Greg will remain Chair of the Trustees of CEEALAR.
Attila grew up in Hungary, spent 16 years in the US, and then returned to Hungary for the last 7 years. His experience includes leading healthcare and HR teams for the US Army, followed by roles in operations, product management, a youth development nonprofit, and startup mentorship. Nurturing people and organizations is where he thrives. You can find more about him on his LinkedIn profile. Feel free to connect with him!
Why is Attila a good fit? He’s obsessed with building ecosystems where people can do the hard, important work the world needs. CEEALAR can become exactly that kind of launchpad: a place where people can come, find the best version of themselves, and, through the necessary support, resources, and collaboration, bring their brilliance to life. Building on our achievements as a welcoming residency, Attila has joined to evolve CEEALAR into an even more dynamic, outcome-driven ecosystem where collaboration, mentorship, and strategic access to resources catalyze meaningful contributions to global challenges. We will strengthen our legacy of nurturing EA and AI Safety talent while expanding into a widely recognized incubator and launchpad for impactful research, ventures, and scalable initiatives.
Over the coming months, Attila will focus on professionalizing and streamlining CEEALAR’s core systems, including finance, HR, IT, and guest experience, while deepening its roots in the Blackpool community and fostering a culture of mutual support and holistic growth. He’ll also be cultivating new partnerships and broadening our funding base, enabling us to scale responsibly and sustainably. Together, we’ll evolve CEEALAR from a residency into a fully equipped impact incubator, nurturing not just EA and AI Safety research, but also the whole person behind every project, at every stage of their journey.
If you are newly starting out in EA, embarking on a career change, or starting a new project with potential for scaling, please apply to stay with us as a Grantee. Or, if you just want to hang out in person with a bunch of EAs, come and visit as a Patron!
*It was closer to full-time for the first year or so - lots of work involved in setting up (much more than anticipated!)
This is excellent!
I've always been happy about CEEALAR existing - it's a great piece of community infrastructure near me - but really good to see its current direction.
Everyone in EA is always complaining that either a) they can't hire the right talent for their org or b) they can't find an EA job, which seems to jointly imply that the problem bottleneck is upskilling: taking dedicated and motivated EAs and turning them into the kind of people who can succeed in EA jobs.
And also, I think EA stuff can sometimes try overly hard to be slick and flashy, and drop huge amounts of cash on London and the Bay Area, and it comes off elitist. I think having well-run EA infrastructure in Blackpool is a great way to counter this narrative.
(as in, I solidly believe that CEEALAR being well-funded and well-advertised is a direct way to address EA's UK-based reputational risks. Every single person I have ever talked to outside of EA about CEEALAR thinks that setting up shop in Blackpool for cost-effectiveness reasons is an extremely genuine signal of commitment.)