Jason to Become Cambridge’s Youngest Black Professor

News Desk

Glasgow: A well-known sociologist who was illiterate until the age of 18 and was working part-time at Sainsbury’s less than eight years ago is about to become the University of Cambridge’s youngest black professor in history.

37-year-old Prof. Jason Arday is a well-known scholar on race, inequality and education. Nevertheless, he was diagnosed with global developmental delay and autistic spectrum disorder at age three and did not acquire speech until he was eleven years old.

Jason will be building on his earlier work at the universities of Durham and Glasgow, addressing the lack of black and minority ethnic students in higher education, their underrepresentation in academic careers, and the difficulty of ensuring more equitable educational experiences and outcomes for all.

“My work focuses primarily on how we can open doors to more people from disadvantaged backgrounds and truly democratise higher education. Hopefully being in a place like Cambridge will provide me with the leverage to lead that agenda nationally and globally,”Arday stated.

He added that “talking about it is one thing; doing it is what matters. Cambridge is already making significant changes and has achieved some notable gains in attempting to diversify the landscape, but there is so much more to be done – here and across the sector.”

Early Life

Ardaywas born and reared in Clapham, a neighbourhood in south London. He utilised sign language up until the age of 11, and he worked with speech and language therapists a lot as a child. Though it was predicted that he would require lifelong care, he surprised everyone.

Jason studied for a Business and Technology Education Council (BTEC) at college after earning two General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSEs) in physical education (PE) and textiles. He then finished his first degree in PE and education studies, after which he did two master’s qualifications, a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) to become a PE teacher, and a PhD at Liverpool John Moores University. He worked part-time jobs at Sainsbury’s and Boots to pay for his studies.

On his mother’s bedroom wall ten years ago, he scrawled a list of personal objectives while pursuing his PhD. He wrote, “One day, I’ll work at Oxford or Cambridge,” as the third item on his list. That aspiration will come true on March 6. “Even though I’m optimistic, there’s no way I could have anticipated that would have occurred. The odds on it were so long, if I were a gambler. It’s simply crazy,” he said.

Message of His Story

For other young people from underrepresented backgrounds, my tale serves as a reminder that “anything is possible,” said Arday, adding that “although I was aware that I didn’t necessarily possess a lot of talent, I was also aware of how much I wanted it and was willing to work hard for it.”

But it shouldn’t just be up to each person to work hard, the system also needed to change;Prof. Jason argued. There have been some incredibly effective and powerful pockets of good practise in Cambridge. Yet, there are still many areas that need improvement, as they are throughout the industry.

Arday further stated that the sector’s major issue is that it operates in a very unsustainable manner. It frequently relies on the unpaid and underappreciated work of professionals and academics who identify as black and other ethnic minorities. Instead, there should be collective responsibility, and those working to advance equality, diversity and inclusion should be properly supported and paid.

University of Cambridge Pro-Vice Chancellor for Education Prof Bhaskar Vira said that Arday is a distinguished expert on racial disparity, education, and other topics. He will make a substantial contribution to Cambridge’s research in this field and to efforts to address the underrepresentation of individuals from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds, particularly those from Black, Asian, and other Minority Ethnic Communities.

His experiences serve as a reminder of the difficulties many underrepresented groups encounter in higher education, particularly at prestigious institutions. Cambridge has a duty to take all possible measures to remedy this by developing academic settings where everyone feels welcome, Bhaskar Vira added.