00:00My name is Jason Beer. I'm a barrister and I've been appointed to conduct the second part
00:04of the independent review established by the University of Cambridge
00:08following the death of Professor Jason Arday in August this year.
00:13First I should like to acknowledge the profound loss suffered by Professor Arday's family,
00:17friends, colleagues and the wider academic community. I recognise that these events occurred
00:23recently, that people are still grieving and distressed and also there are many people who
00:29want answers. My task is to conduct an independent thorough and searching examination of the
00:37University's institutional arrangements and how they operated in Professor Arday's case.
00:42The barrister Jason Beer will examine Cambridge University's response to allegations of research
00:48misconduct following the death of its former academic professor Jason Arday. 41-year-old
00:55Professor Arday resigned from his post as Professor of Sociology of Education at the university after
01:02he faced intense scrutiny over accusations of plagiarism. He was found unresponsive by family
01:09members at his home in Battersea on the afternoon of the 14th of August. The first part of the review,
01:17led by Nazir Abzal, is examining the support and welfare protections available to Professor Arday in the
01:23period before his death. My part of the review has a broader remit. I will investigate and report on
01:30the University's institutional policies, procedures, decision making and oversight and how these operated
01:37in practice during Professor Arday's recruitment, appointment and subsequent time at Cambridge.
01:42This includes the University's response to allegations of research and other misconduct in the
01:48case of Professor Arday and more generally. I will also examine how it supports academics who find
01:54themselves facing intense public and media scrutiny and how the University's arrangements recognise and
02:00respond to questions of race, disability and neurodiversity, including the experiences of Black academics.
02:08In each of these areas, I will look at what the University's policies require,
02:13whether those policies were appropriate and how they actually worked in practice. I will ask who
02:19was responsible for making decisions in Professor Arday's case, what information was available to them,
02:26whether concerns were properly addressed and whether different parts of the University worked together
02:31effectively. These may be difficult and uncomfortable issues, but they are questions that need to be addressed
02:39and I am used to asking difficult and uncomfortable questions. Let me be clear about my approach.
02:46I will begin this review with an entirely open mind. I have no preconceived conclusions about what
02:54happened, whether anything went wrong or who, if anyone, was responsible.
