DEI Cambridge Professor Found Dead Amid Plagiarism Investigation

BREAKING: Jason Arday has been found dead at an address in Battersea pic.twitter.com/NuzfcmDDcm

— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) August 14, 2026

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BREAKING: Former Cambridge University professor Jason Arday has been found dead at an address in South London pic.twitter.com/IzQt31VHOS

— GB Politics (@GBPolitcs) August 14, 2026

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A former Cambridge professor was found dead at his London home on Friday, one week after he resigned from his position at the esteemed university following accusations of plagiarism.

Jason Arday, 41, became the youngest Black professor at Cambridge when he was appointed to professor of sociology of education in 2023.

London’s Metropolitan Police said it responded to a report of a man found unresponsive inside a property at 3:12 p.m. on Friday, and the man was pronounced dead at the scene. His next of kin have been notified and are being supported by officers, police told NBC News, without naming Arday.

Authorities said his death is being treated as “unexpected, but is not believed to be suspicious.”

The case is under investigation.

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Arday had faced allegations that he lifted more than 100 passages in his dissertation from another academic, Brunel University student Paula Zwozdiak-Myers.

Nathan Cofnas, a postdoctoral researcher at Ghent University in Belgium, published a Substack article last month detailing several examples in which Arday’s doctoral dissertation appeared to be plagiarized.

An analysis later showed more than 100 passages in his thesis reportedly appeared to be similar to or lifted from the thesis of Zwozdiak-Myers.

Arday then came under fire for allegedly falsely claiming to have held three positions at academic institutions — Ohio State University, University of Glasgow and Durham University — on his official biography page for Cambridge University.

Before launching an investigation, the school initially stood behind the professor, claiming he was a victim of a “vile campaign to undermine his credibility.”

Arday — who said he was autistic, epileptic and a former pro soccer player — had admitted to a series of errors in his work, but insisted he was not a “liar and fantasist.”

Arday had also been accused of lying about his seemingly unbelievable list of personal accomplishments, including “running 30 marathons in just 35 days,” raising millions of dollars for charity, and playing professional snooker.

Arday, who became Cambridge’s youngest black professor at age 37, also said he had autism spectrum disorder and was nonverbal until age 11.

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