Former University of Cambridge professor Jason Arday has been found dead at the age of 41, days after resigning from the university and warning that the intense scrutiny surrounding allegations against him had taken a profound toll on his life.
Arday, a former Professor of Sociology of Education at Cambridge, was found unresponsive at an address in Battersea, south London, on Friday afternoon.
The Metropolitan Police said his death was unexpected but was not being treated as suspicious.
His death came shortly after he stepped down from his Cambridge position following weeks of controversy over allegations of plagiarism and questions surrounding aspects of his academic achievements.
Arday had denied plagiarism, although he acknowledged errors in some of his earlier academic work.
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In announcing his resignation last week, he said the personal cost of the controversy had become too great.
“While criticism is an inevitable part of academic life, what I have experienced has gone far beyond scholarly disagreement,” Arday said.
“The relentless accusations, speculation and public commentary have taken a profound toll on me and on those I love.”
He also stressed that his resignation should not be interpreted as an acceptance of the allegations made against him.
The controversy began after another Cambridge academic, Nathan Cofnas, described as a self-defined “race realist”, raised allegations of numerous instances of plagiarism in Arday’s work.
Arday rejected the allegations and said some of the errors in his early academic work were connected to his autism and his use of mimicry as a way of processing information.
Speaking to The Times earlier this month, Arday expressed frustration at the level of criticism directed at him.
“We’re talking about academia here. I didn’t murder somebody,” he said, arguing that he had been unfairly portrayed as a “liar and fantasist”.
The controversy also raised questions about the processes surrounding Arday’s academic career.
Cambridge had said allegations concerning his doctoral thesis and some journal publications had previously been investigated by Liverpool John Moores University and the journals involved.
Liverpool John Moores University, which awarded Arday his PhD in 2015, concluded that he had not plagiarised his thesis.
Despite that finding, Cambridge announced an independent investigation into the circumstances surrounding his appointment earlier this week.
Cambridge Vice-Chancellor Professor Deborah Prentice said she understood the concerns raised about Arday’s appointment and promised that the investigation would be thorough, transparent and independent.
Following his death, Arday’s family said they were “in shock” at losing an “amazing father, partner, brother, uncle and son”.
They blamed what they described as a “campaign of misinformation” for adding to the pressure he experienced.
“The campaign of misinformation was too much for Jason,” the family said, describing him as a gentle man who always wanted to see the best in everyone.
Education Secretary Lucy Powell said she was “deeply shocked and saddened” by Arday’s death, urging people to remember that “there are real people with loved ones involved” when discussing controversies involving public figures.
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Cambridge Vice-Chancellor Deborah Prentice also expressed the university’s sorrow.
“Our heartfelt sympathies go to Jason Arday’s family and friends at this incredibly difficult time,” she said.
Arday’s appointment at Cambridge in 2023 had been celebrated as a significant milestone for representation in British academia.
Only about one per cent of professors in UK universities are Black, making appointments such as his particularly significant.
His death now leaves a complicated legacy: a scholar whose rise to one of Britain’s most prestigious universities was celebrated as historic, whose academic work later came under intense public scrutiny, and who resigned while strongly disputing the narrative surrounding the allegations.
The circumstances surrounding his death remain under investigation, although police have said they do not currently believe it to be suspicious.
