Jason Arday, ex-Cambridge professor at centre of plagiarism scandal, found dead

UK academic Jason Arday, who resigned from the University of Cambridge last week amid a high-profile plagiarism storm that featured racism claims, was found dead on Friday, the prestigious British institution confirmed.

Arday, 41, was found unresponsive on Friday afternoon at an address in south London, according to the capital’s Metropolitan Police Service, which did not confirm the identity of the deceased person discovered.

“We are desperately saddened to hear this tragic news,” Cambridge University’s top administrator, Vice-Chancellor Deborah Prentice, said in a brief statement.

“Our heartfelt sympathies go to Jason Arday’s family and friends at this incredibly difficult time.”

The scandal erupted after some academics and media reports accused Arday, who became Cambridge’s youngest black professor in 2023, of plagiarising parts of his doctoral thesis.

The allegations have been seized on by British right-wing newspapers and commentators, who claim that he unfairly benefited from diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) policies.