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Published On 14 Aug 2026
A British academic and former University of Cambridge professor has been found dead just weeks after resigning his prestigious post amid a high-profile plagiarism scandal.
Jason Arday, 41, was found unresponsive at a south London address on Friday, according to British media reports citing authorities.
The news comes just nine days after Arday resigned as a professor and fellow of Jesus College at the University of Cambridge, having been the youngest Black professor in the school’s history when he was appointed in 2023.
His resignation followed several investigative articles into his academic work and personal life, as well as allegations that he plagiarised some of his doctoral thesis.
Arday had admitted to making mistakes, but he said he was being wrongly “portrayed to be a liar and a fantasist and an academic fraud”.
The university announced last week that it would continue to investigate Arday’s appointment.
Arday’s new memoir, “Great and Unfortunate Things”, was recently released in the United States and is set to be published in the United Kingdom later this month. The book, which details Arday’s childhood difficulties with autism and his later success, has also attracted scrutiny, but the British publisher has insisted that “no allegations of plagiarism have been made with respect to” it.
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