Over the half term break, Dr Shola Apena Rogers, Director of the ACEN (African Caribbean Education Network), Justice A. (Doctoral Researcher at Durham University) and Aisha Sanusi (Co-director of the ACEN) and members of their Young People Advisory Group (YPAG) visited Emanuel to record their first ever podcast.
Their guest was Jason Arday, Cambridge University’s youngest Black professor. He joined his Faculty of Education in March 2023, at 37. Before then, he had been a professor at Glasgow and Durham universities; published three books of academic work, mainly focusing on race and education; and, most importantly to him, raised more than £5m through charity work.
All of this he has squeezed into a time period in which he was learning to navigate the world with neurodivergence; Arday didn’t speak until he was 11 and couldn’t read or write until the age of 18. He found his voice through speech therapy and his mother’s unflagging support. Now he is using it with the same tenacity that saw him run 30 marathons in 35 days. The podcast, which will be released later this term, promises to be both hugely enlightening and entertaining.
Mr Shaun Andrews, Senior Tutor