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Jason Arday, who resigned as a professor at the University of Cambridge last week amid allegations of plagiarism, has been found dead.
The Metropolitan Police on Friday evening said officers had been called by the ambulance service to an address in Battersea, south London, earlier in the day “following a report that a man had been found unresponsive”.
“Sadly, a 41-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene,” the force added in a statement. “At this time his death is being treated as unexpected but is not believed to be suspicious.”
In a statement, Cambridge’s vice-chancellor Professor 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.”
Arday had for weeks been the focus of scrutiny following allegations that he plagiarised research, including a PhD thesis completed at Liverpool John Moores University, and made false and exaggerated claims in his CV.
When the claims of plagiarism first emerged, Cambridge defended Arday, who in 2023 became its youngest-ever Black professor at the age of 37, as the “victim of a vile campaign to undermine his credibility”.
But last week the university said that it had launched an investigation into his “academic qualifications and honorary appointments”, which is to be carried out by dons and external academics.
Hours later, Arday stepped down as professor of sociology of education and as a fellow of Jesus College.
On Friday evening Arday’s family said he had been “subjected to a campaign of sustained abuse for the more than three years since he accepted” the professorial chair at Cambridge.
In a statement released by Simon & Schuster, publisher of Arday’s memoir, the family 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.
“We are in shock to have lost this amazing father, partner, brother, uncle and son.”
Education secretary Lucy Powell said she was “deeply shocked and saddened” by Arday’s death. “I urge people . . . to remember there are real people with loved ones involved,” she wrote on X.
On announcing his resignation last week, Arday said in a letter posted online that his decision should not be “mistaken for an acceptance of the narratives that have surrounded me”.
“It is simply the decision of someone who has reached the limits of what any person should reasonably be expected to endure,” he added, describing an “unrelenting level of public scrutiny and personal attack” in the years since he had joined Cambridge.
“For my own wellbeing, for my family, and for those who have stood by me throughout this difficult period, I have concluded that the only way to bring this chapter to an end is to step away,” Arday added.
Liverpool John Moores University last week confirmed it had investigated and dismissed claims of plagiarism against Arday last year.
But Arday’s alleged plagiarism has fuelled questions around Cambridge’s commitment to standards in research.
Home to about 25,000 students, including undergraduates and postgraduates, the university is seen as a centre for academic excellence and has been linked to more than 120 Nobel Prize laureates.
This year it was ranked the best university in the UK by the Complete University Guide, and it came sixth globally in the 2026 QS World University Rankings.
