Former Cambridge University academic Jason Arday has been found dead at his home in London. Metropolitan Police said they were called by the London Ambulance Service at 3.12pm today. Arday was found ‘unresponsive’ at the property in Battersea, as first reported by The Telegraph.
Police statement on the death
A spokesperson for the Met said: ‘Sadly, a 41-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene. ‘His next-of-kin have been informed and are being supported by officers. ‘At this time, his death is being treated as unexpected but is not believed to be suspicious. ‘The case is being investigated by officers from the Met’s Central South Command Unit. A file will be prepared for the coroner.’
Resignation amid plagiarism allegations
Arday’s death comes after he resigned from his role as a professor at Cambridge last week, one he took on in 2023 as its youngest-ever Black professor. His academic work focused on areas including race, education, and social inequality. On August 5, he stepped down from his department in sociology of education amid accusations of plagiarism, with an investigation launched into his ‘appointment and tenure’. He denied the claims against him but admitted he had made mistakes and cited an ‘unrelenting level of public scrutiny’ as his reasons for resigning. Describing the circumstances as a ‘personal attack’, he said that stepping away was the ‘only way to bring this chapter to an end’.
Controversy over claims
The academic came under review due to allegations concerning his PhD thesis, other work, and accounts of his personal achievements. Controversy also swarmed his claims about his life and fundraising, such as how he previously said he completed a 600-mile endurance challenge in six days but later said it had taken 12 days. He also clarified a widely reported claim that he had raised £5.5million for charity, explaining that the fundraising was a group effort and not carried out by him alone.
In an interview with The Times before his resignation, Arday shared: ‘I am accountable for the mistakes I’ve made. I hold myself accountable, and other people should hold me accountable. ‘We’re talking about academia here. I didn’t murder somebody. ‘I think the cruelty that I’ve experienced and the positioning of me as this kind of liar and fantasist is totally unacceptable.’
