Jason Arday, the former University of Cambridge professor at the centre of a plagiarism row, has been found dead.
Emergency services said a man was found “unresponsive” at an address in Battersea, south London, on Friday afternoon.
Arday resigned as a Cambridge professor of sociology of education last week after allegations of plagiarism and questions about some of his achievements. He had denied the claims.
Arday’s family said in a statement that they were “in shock to have lost this amazing father, partner, brother, uncle and son”.
They added: “The campaign of misinformation was too much for Jason, who was a gentle man and who always wanted to see the best in everyone.”
Earlier on Friday, police officers were called to an in Battersea by the London Ambulance address Service.
In a statement, the Metropolitan Police said: “At this time his death is being treated as unexpected, but is not believed to be suspicious.”
Cambridge University vice-chancellor Prof Deborah Prentice said: “We are desperately saddened to hear this tragic news.”
“Our heartfelt sympathies go to Jason Arday’s family and friends at this incredibly difficult time,” she said.
Education Secretary Lucy Powell said she was “deeply shocked and saddened” to hear about the death and she urged people to “remember there are real people with loved ones involved”.
Arday, 41, had denied any plagiarism – but admitted errors in his work – and last week said the recent controversy about his work had led to “an unrelenting level of public scrutiny and personal attack”.
The row first erupted after another academic – self-defined “race realist” Nathan Cofnas, who was sacked from his Cambridge role in 2024 – said he found numerous instances of plagiarism in the professor’s work.
Arday said some errors in his early academic work arose because of his autism, as he relied on using mimicry to make sense of information. Similar scrutiny would find similar errors in work by other academics, he said.
“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,” he told the Times newspaper earlier this month.
Arday’s appointment as Cambridge’s youngest ever black professor at the age of 37 in 2023 was hailed at the time as a progressive moment.
Announcing his resignation last week, Arday said the “personal cost” of the scrutiny of him had become “too great”.
He said: “While criticism is an inevitable part of academic life, what I have experienced has gone far beyond scholarly disagreement.
“The relentless accusations, speculation and public commentary have taken a profound toll on me and on those I love.”
He stressed that his resignation should not “be mistaken for an acceptance of the narratives that have surrounded me”.
Cambridge initially said claims of plagiarism regarding Arday’s thesis and some journal publications had been investigated by Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) and the journals in question.
LJMU – which awarded Arday his PhD in 2015 – concluded that he had not plagiarised work.
Earlier this week, Cambridge announced an independent investigation into his appointment.
In a letter to university staff at the time, Prof Prentice said: “I fully understand the concerns being raised across the university and well beyond it, regarding Jason Arday’s appointment and I share them.
“That investigation, as you say, should be thorough and transparent, and will be carried out independently by senior academics from within and beyond Cambridge.”
Cambridge celebrated Arday’s appointment as a young black professor, one of a tiny and visible minority in academia. Only one per cent of professors in UK universities are black, making each appointment hugely significant.
The university will have to answer bigger questions including about its duty of care after it put him into a very prominent position.
It may also find itself the lightning rod for anger from several different quarters, including those who feel Arday was persecuted publicly and those who question whether he should ever have been appointed.
Jolyon Maugham from campaign group Good Law Project said Arday’s death was “a tragedy”.
“I do not understand what the public interest was in continuing to hound him after he resigned as a professor and I do not understand what risk assessments media outlets did,” Maugham added.
Speaking to BBC Newsnight, Professor of Black Studies Kehinde Andrews and friend of Arday described him as “very down” after resigning from Cambridge.
“He was very upset. He felt that there was no way out. He effectively wasn’t leaving the house. He had lost a lost of weight,” Andrews said.
“There should be a wakeup call to just how bad black academics actually have it in academia,” he added.
Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy told the programme “the idea that an academic would be dragged through this amount of media scrutiny is unheard of”.
Arday originally worked as a PE teacher before earning his doctorate at LJMU and going on to become an associate professor at Durham University and professor of sociology of education at the University of Glasgow.
Glasgow university also announced a review into Arday’s previous academic work.
When news of his death emerged, the university said in a statement it was “shocked and saddened” by the death of a former colleague.
“Our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with his friends and family at this desperately sad time,” it added.
Durham University, another of Arday’s former employers, described him as “a kind and warm person, who actively sought to promote opportunities for PhD students”.
Last weekend, Arday cancelled an event promoting his memoir.
Publisher Simon & Schuster previously said that the book, Great And Unfortunate Things, would be published in the UK on 27 August. It was released in the US earlier this week.
The book tells the story of his life from being non-verbal until the age of 11 and unable to read or write until 18, then going through a series of “improbable triumphs and heartbreaking setbacks”, before being appointed professor of sociology of education at Cambridge.
Source: BBC
