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Cambridge academic Jason Arday has died after resigning from the university amid public scrutiny over allegations about his work and other claims. His family say a long-running campaign of abuse and misinformation left him unable to continue.
Death reported in Battersea
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Police in London said Professor Arday was found dead at an address in Battersea on Friday (August 14). The Metropolitan Police described the death as unexpected but confirmed it is not being treated as suspicious.
Family appeal and statement
Arday’s family issued a statement expressing their shock and grief at losing “this amazing father, partner, brother, uncle and son.” They said he had been the target of a “campaign of misinformation” and sustained abuse since taking up his Cambridge role more than three years ago.
“The campaign of misinformation was too much for Jason,” the family added, and asked the press for privacy while appealing for an end to what they called harassment directed at him and his relatives.
Allegations, investigations and resignation
Professor Arday, who became the youngest Black professor at Cambridge in 2023, faced accusations including claims that he had plagiarised his PhD thesis at John Moores University in Liverpool. John Moores University later cleared him of wrongdoing, according to reports.
Other questions were raised about achievements and the accuracy of certain claims he had made. Separate inquiries were under way at Durham and Glasgow universities into the circumstances of his academic appointments at those institutions.
Earlier this month Arday resigned from Cambridge. In an open letter he wrote that stepping away was “the best thing to do” and said the decision should not be read as a loss of faith in scholarship or in the values that brought him to Cambridge. He added that the move reflected reaching “the limits of what any person should reasonably be expected to endure.”
Responses from colleagues and officials
Cambridge’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Deborah Prentice, said the university was “desperately saddened” by the news and offered sympathies to Arday’s family and friends.
The UK Education Secretary, Lucy Powell, posted her condolences and urged people to give his family privacy during a difficult time, reminding the public that real people with loved ones are affected.
