Jason Beer KC has been selected to lead an independent review into circumstances surrounding the death of Jason Arday, a Cambridge professor who died while facing public allegations of plagiarism and misstatements regarding his academic credentials.
Arday, who at age 37 had become Cambridge’s youngest ever black professor, resigned from his position on 5 August after the university announced it would investigate his academic qualifications. He was found dead nine days after his resignation at his home in south London. Throughout the period preceding his death, Arday faced significant media attention and public scrutiny related to accusations of plagiarism, which he denied.
Beer stated that his examination would extend beyond simply reviewing whether Cambridge’s existing policies and procedures were followed. Instead, he indicated his investigation would assess the reasonableness of those policies themselves, how they functioned in practice, who held responsibility for decisions, what information was accessible to decision-makers, whether relevant concerns were properly identified and addressed, and whether various institutional structures operated cohesively. Beer emphasized his intention to examine both the specific circumstances of Arday’s case and broader institutional questions that may require systemic changes.
The review represents the second independent inquiry commissioned by Cambridge regarding its role in Arday’s case. The first review, announced earlier, tasked Nazir Afzal, a former chief crown prosecutor, with examining the support provided to Arday in the immediate period before his death. Beer brings extensive experience in complex inquiries, having served as lead counsel to the Post Office Horizon IT statutory inquiry that addressed wrongful criminal prosecutions affecting nearly 1,000 post office operators, in addition to work with NHS England during the Covid-19 inquiry.
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