Jason Arday, the sociologist who resigned last week as Professor of Sociology of Education at the University of Cambridge, was found dead at an address in Battersea, south London, on Friday afternoon. He was 41.
The London Ambulance Service was called shortly after 3pm to a report of a man found unresponsive. He was pronounced dead at the scene. A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said his death is being “treated as unexpected” but is “not believed to be suspicious.” Next of kin have been informed. A file will be prepared for the coroner.
Arday resigned from Cambridge in early August, days after the university announced it would open its own investigation into his appointment. He had spent weeks under sustained public scrutiny over allegations of plagiarism in his academic work and questions about claims he had made regarding fundraising and endurance challenges, including reports that he ran thirty marathons in thirty five days and raised more than five million pounds for charity.
He denied plagiarising his work but acknowledged errors, which he attributed in part to his autism. Liverpool John Moores University, which awarded his PhD in 2015 and investigated the original allegations, concluded he had not plagiarised. Cambridge’s own review, opened after his resignation, had not concluded at the time of his death. The University of Glasgow, where he previously held a professorship, had also announced a separate review of his earlier academic work.
In his resignation statement, Arday said the “personal cost” of the scrutiny had become “too great” and that it should not “be mistaken for an acceptance of the narratives that have surrounded me.”
Cambridge Vice-Chancellor Professor Deborah Prentice said the university was “desperately saddened to hear this tragic news,” and extended sympathies to Arday’s family and friends. The University of Glasgow said it was “shocked and saddened” by the death of a former colleague. Durham University, where Arday had previously worked as an associate professor, described him as “a kind and warm person, who actively sought to promote opportunities for PhD students.”
In a statement, Arday’s family said they were “in shock to have lost this amazing father, partner, brother, uncle and son,” adding that “the campaign of misinformation was too much for Jason.”
Education Secretary Lucy Powell said she was “deeply shocked and saddened” by the news, and urged people to “remember there are real people with loved ones involved.”
Arday began his career as a PE teacher before completing his doctorate at Liverpool John Moores University. He went on to hold posts at Durham University and the University of Glasgow before his appointment at Cambridge in 2023, when, at 37, he became the university’s youngest ever Black professor. His memoir, Great and Unfortunate Things, which describes his life from being non-verbal until the age of eleven to his appointment at Cambridge, was published in the United States on 11 August. A UK edition had been scheduled for 27 August. A promotional event for the book was cancelled last weekend.
No cause of death has been given. The Metropolitan Police’s Central South Command Unit is investigating, and a coroner will determine the circumstances in due course.
