Cambridge University has launched an independent review into the events surrounding the death of Professor Jason Arday, its youngest-ever black professor, who was found dead at his London home last month days after resigning amid a plagiarism row. Vice-chancellor Professor Deborah Prentice said the university had worked hard to support Arday but was now asking whether more could have been done, and that the review was intended to answer that question. The move comes as an inquest into the 41-year-old's death has been opened and adjourned.

The review has two parts: the first, led by former chief crown prosecutor Nazir Afzal and due within three months, will examine the support and protections available to Arday before his death; the second will look more broadly at Cambridge's recruitment and support processes for academics. It supersedes an earlier probe launched last month into allegations that sections of Arday's PhD thesis, completed at Liverpool John Moores University, were plagiarised, a claim from which Liverpool John Moores had previously cleared him. Arday resigned on 5 August, saying his departure should not be seen as accepting the "narratives" surrounding him.