The University of Glasgow has announced it will review its past appointment of Jason Arday as a professor, following controversy over alleged plagiarism and other claims made by the academic.
The move comes after the University of Cambridge confirmed it would continue its investigation into the circumstances around Mr Arday's appointment and tenure, following his resignation on Wednesday.
Resignation and Allegations
Mr Arday's resignation from Cambridge came after a series of media reports alleging he plagiarised his PhD thesis, completed at Liverpool John Moores University, and other research. Further questions were raised in the press about the truth of other claims he made, including saying he ran 600 miles in six days and that he had raised £5.5 million for charity.
A University of Glasgow spokesperson said on Friday evening: "Jason Arday was employed as Professor of Sociology of Education at the University of Glasgow, from January 2022 to March 2023. He left the University to take up his role as Professorial Chair at the University of Cambridge. The Principal has commissioned a review of the appointment with the aim of understanding all the facts and learning lessons for the future."
Calls for Independent Inquiry
Dozens of academics at the University of Cambridge have signed a letter calling for an independent inquiry into the processes around Mr Arday's appointment. This follows criticism of the Metropolitan Police over an investigation into a claim of harassment made against a Times Higher Education journalist who emailed Mr Arday with questions some months ago. Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley told LBC on Thursday that the force "dropped the ball on that one" and the report should have been "screened out earlier as not requiring investigation."
In a statement earlier on Friday, Cambridge said: "As has been widely reported, Jason Arday has resigned from his post at the university with immediate effect. Regardless of this, and for clarification, the university will continue to investigate the circumstances around Jason Arday's appointment and tenure. The findings will feed into a review of the process for the appointment of senior academic roles. In addition, and as previously stated, the university's Research Policy Committee will review the misconduct in research policy."
Arday's Response
An investigation at Liverpool John Moores University cleared Mr Arday of wrongdoing. In his open resignation letter, he said the "only way to bring this chapter to an end is to step away." The letter, addressed to colleagues and published on the Good Law Project's website, read: "This decision should not be interpreted as a loss of faith in scholarship or in the values that first brought me to Cambridge. Nor should it be mistaken for an acceptance of the narratives that have surrounded me. It is simply the decision of someone who has reached the limits of what any person should reasonably be expected to endure."
His memoir, Great And Unfortunate Things, is due to be published by Simon & Schuster later this month.
