The chief executive of the British Academy has resigned after an investigation into alleged breaches of the scholarly society’s harassment and bullying policy.
The academy, the UK’s national body for the humanities and social sciences, said that Alun Evans had stepped down with immediate effect.
“This follows allegations of breaches of the academy’s harassment and bullying policy which prompted the trustees to commission an independent investigation as soon as the matters were raised,” the academy said in a statement. “The investigation has now reported its findings and these will be passed to the trustees for them to consider.
“The trustees are committed to reviewing the report to see what lessons can be learned and whether any further actions are required.”
Robin Jackson, chief executive of the academy between 2006 and 2015, has been appointed interim chief executive.
Mr Evans, formerly a senior civil servant who was director of the Scotland Office until he joined the academy in 2015, is a Gwilym Gibbon Fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford, and a visiting professor at King’s College London. He was working towards a PhD in political history at Queen Mary University of London, according to the British Academy website.
Sir David Cannadine, the academy’s president, said: “The academy is committed to providing a respectful and enabling working environment and our trustees will review the report and these events carefully to see what lessons can be learned.”
