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Research

Cambridge enlists former prosecutor to lead review into death of scholar Jason Arday

Cambridge University has asked former chief crown prosecutor Nazir Afzal to lead the first part of an independent review into the death of scholar Jason Arday, who died in August days after resigning.

AI News Feed · 2026-09-05 15:43

Arday died at his home in south London on 14 August, nine days after resigning as a Cambridge professor amid allegations of plagiarism and inconsistencies about his career. He had been named professor of sociology of education in 2023, with the university highlighting him as its youngest-ever black professor, aged 37.

Cambridge’s vice-chancellor, Prof Deborah Prentice, said the period since Arday’s death had been one of “profound sadness and reflection”. She said the university had worked “very hard” to support him during an “appalling period of external criticism and focus”, but that “given the devastating outcome, we are all asking ourselves whether we could have and should have done more. This review will answer that question.”

Prentice said the review would be in two parts. The first, led by Afzal, will focus on the support given to Arday in the immediate period before his death. Afzal said he was honoured to take on the work, adding: “At its heart is a person, a family and a community who have been profoundly affected by Professor Arday’s death. It is important that we approach this work with both rigour and humanity.”

Afzal, who is chancellor of the University of Manchester and previously oversaw prosecutions of child exploitation rings in Rochdale, said his responsibility would be to examine what support, interventions and protections were available to Arday before his death, and to ask difficult questions “including whether more could and should have been done”. The work would be independent and conducted with urgency, he said.

The second stage of the review will consider the wider context of Arday’s time at the university, including recruitment of senior academic staff, the university’s response to allegations of research misconduct, and support for academics subject to extraordinary public and media scrutiny. Cambridge will appoint an independent external chair and an expert panel, including individuals with lived experience, to advise that part.

The university said the first part is expected to report within three months, and the second within six months of establishing the panel. Earlier this week, Jacqui Smith, the UK minister responsible for higher education, told parliament she was “more than just keeping an eye” on Cambridge’s response, and that the Office for Students had powers to investigate further if necessary.