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 titled ‘Philanthropic Grant Agreements’, are considered to be donation agreements by the University (and are managed by Development and Alumni Relations), rather than research grant contracts, which are managed by a separate office. The provided document covers mostly where the money is going but not the details of the work: a. Ten Million United States Dollars (10,000,000 USD) in expendable funds (the ("Operating Fund") to be used to establish and develop a new research centre (the "Centre") within, and to support research projects at, the Autism Research Centre in the University's Department of Psychiatry ("ARC"). The research projects will be determined at the discretion of ARC's director. [emphasis added - The ARC director is Professor Simon Baron-Cohen] b. Eight Million United States Dollars (8,000,000 USD) to establish an endowment fund to support fellowships in autism research in the Department of Psychiatry at the University on the terms set out in Appendix 1 (the "Fellows Fund"). c. Ten Million United States Dollars (10,000,000 USD) to establish an endowment fund on the terms set out in Appendix 2 (the "Endowed Fund"). [...] [T]o support the development of the K. Lisa Yang Autism Clinical Centre within the proposed Cambridge Children's Hospital [...] The parties agree [...] a philanthropic grant of Six Million Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars (6,500,000 USD) The redactions were justified on the grounds of protecting personal data (exemption s40) and that disclosure ‘would be likely to prejudice the University’s capacity to attract future philanthropic donations’ (exemption s43(2)). The internal review added that ‘the redactions were made because the text reflected bespoke negotiated clauses that reflect the donor’s confidential financial circumstances and/or the specific payment arrangements for the donation.’ The Guardian’s article Pioneer of ‘extreme male brain’ theory of autism now says phrase unhelpful includes some comments about what the work will be about: ’Speaking to the Guardian before the announcement of a £26m ($34.5m) gift to Cambridge University from the US philanthropist Lisa Yang, Baron-Cohen said the funding would be used for research guided by the priorities of the autistic community. It is one of the largest ever donations to a UK university for autism research and will be used to create the K Lisa Yang Centre for Autism Research, and a clinical autism centre in a future Cambridge children’s hospital, both of which Baron-Cohen will oversee. The research centre is expected to focus on improving life expectancy and health outcomes for autistic people, earlier diagnosis and practical solutions to improve quality of life. The physical health of autistic people, in particular, is an area that has been overlooked, according to Baron-Cohen.' The rather open contractual obligation ‘The research projects will be determined at the discretion of ARC's director’ does allow, but gives no assurance whatsoever, that this ‘research [will be] guided by the priorities of the autistic community’ and ‘focus on improving life expectancy and health outcomes for autistic people, earlier diagnosis and practical solutions to improve quality of life’. That such large donation does not require input or better control over the determination of the research projects is not encouraging.