Jason Arday, the University of Cambridge professor who resigned last week after being at the centre of a plagiarism row, has been found dead in his London home, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported on Saturday, August 15.
British 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 address in Battersea by the London Ambulance Service.
In a statement on the incident, 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.”
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.”
