A donation of $34.5m for research projects to be determined by Simon Baron-Cohen

Following the cancellation of his Spectrum 10K project, Simon Baron-Cohen has a new research project for which the University of Cambridge has received $34.5m from the philanthropist Lisa Yang. I made a couple of freedom of information requests to the University of Cambridge to get its grant agreement, as again, it was not published. (See my page Shining some light on large controversial autism research projects for the grant agreements of Spectrum 10K and AIMS-2-Trials as well as some suggestions as to how these very large projects could be more transparent and ethical.) I received a redacted document titled ‘PHILANTHROPIC GRANT AGREEMENT’ of just fourteen pages. In my first request I had asked for the grant agreement but was explained that ‘Note this is a donation, not a “grant agreement”.’ so I was surprised to find the document titled as a grant agreement. The internal review clarified this point: To address your final point about donation/grant agreements, these agreements, while…