Agreement for the Recording of Lectures, Seminars and Supervisions
The University of Cambridge works to support the access requirements of disabled
students, and to this end, such students (for whom there is an evidenced disability-related
reason why taking notes is difficult or problematic) may record lectures, seminars and
supervisions provided they agree to comply with the procedures outlined below:
Permission to Record Lectures
1. Inform the Disability Resource Centre of your particular circumstances. This will assist
the University in making an appropriate adjustment to improve your learning experience
and will also help the University to facilitate the recording of lectures.
2. The lecturer may be told that the lecture is being recorded, but the lecturer will not be
told the specific reason for this. It is courteous to check at the start of the session that the
lecturer is aware of your need to record.
Permission to Record Supervisions or Seminars
The conditions which relate to lectures continue to apply, but in addition for supervisions
and seminars: All students in the supervision/seminar are to be advised by the supervisor/seminar
leader that the supervision/seminar is to be recorded and that their written consent to
this is requested. If any student does not give consent then the disabled student will
not be permitted to record the supervision/seminar and will be advised to liaise with
the Disability Resource Centre about appropriate alternatives. Disabled students are
to be advised in advance of this procedure. In the case of supervisions, the disabled
student should be offered a one to one supervision which can then be recorded.
 The student requesting permission to record should provide the supervisor/seminar
leader with at least 48 hours’ notice to allow sufficient time for all participants to be
consulted in advance.
 For seminars, students should be aware that they may record the lecture element
but not any subsequent discussion.
If all parties agree that the supervision/seminar may be recorded then: All students in the supervision/seminar are to be informed by the supervisor/ seminar
leader that the recording is solely for the student’s personal private study, and must
not be reproduced or passed on or made available to anyone else other than for
transcription purposes, including by any electronic means such as email, attachment
or posting on any website or social media on any platform;
 In any situation where sensitive issues or personal experiences are being discussed
(or where data protection/copyright legislation could be contravened), supervisors
can insist that recording stops;
 Where a supervisor/seminar leader feels that a recording is negatively affecting the
quality of the students’ discussion then he/she has the right to stop the recording;
 Recorded lectures and/or supervisions/seminars or seminar discussions may not be
used in any way that brings into disrepute or intends to bring into disrepute the
academic staff member, other academic staff, or students whose comments are
recorded as a part of the supervision/seminar activity.
 It is agreed that the nature of the student’s disability will not be disclosed to other
students in the seminar/supervision.
Adherence to these procedures will ensure that the University is able to make a reasonable
adjustment under the terms of the Equality Act (2010)1 in respect of providing equal
treatment and equal access to educational opportunity for all students regardless of any
disability, whilst respecting matters of intellectual property and copyright. The University’s
‘Code of Practice: Reasonable Adjustments for disabled students’, recognises recording of
lectures, seminars and supervisions on this basis as a reasonable adjustment.
Please confirm that you agree to follow the procedures by signing below:
I hereby agree that the recordings of any lectures, seminars or supervisions by me, or on
my behalf, must be used only for my personal private study, and must not be reproduced or
passed on or made available to anyone else other than for transcription purposes, including
by any electronic means such as email, attachment or posting on any website or social
media on any platform.
I acknowledge that the content of the lectures and the Lecturer’s delivery of the lectures
remain the intellectual property of the Lecturer delivering them, and that the Lecturer retains
the copyright in the lectures and the recording of them in any form.
The permission to record agreements are to be held by the Disability Resource Centre and
communicated to Colleges and Departments/Faculties via the existing cohort summary and
student support document process. If a student has not signed the agreement, then no
recording will be permitted.
Although this policy relates to voice recording equipment specifically, other visual
recording equipment, cameras etc., used in lectures and supervisions/seminars shall
be subject to the same restrictions of usage.
Consent
I confirm my agreement to follow the procedures as stated above and consent to my name
being passed on to the lecturer/supervisor/seminar leader for the purposes of informing
them that I will be recording the lecture/seminar/supervision (delete as appropriate).
Name: __________________________________________________________________
Signed: ________________________________________
Date: ___________________
You must return this form to the Disability Resource Centre to ensure that the
University and your College are aware of your need to record
lectures/seminars/supervisions. We also recommend retaining a copy for your
records.
1
The recording of lectures/seminars/supervisions is generally considered to be a "reasonable adjustment"
under the Equality Act (2010), for those students who are unable otherwise to take handwritten notes because
of the nature of any disability.