Photo: The Guardian
Jason Arday, a Professor at Cambridge University, has died at the age of 41. Following weeks of widespread media coverage over alleged plagiarism in his work, including his PhD thesis, he had resigned as a Professor nine days beforehand. This article aims to cover what had happened, and what different people are saying on the matter.
Jason Arday was born in London to Ghanaian parents. Having autism, he claims he could not speak until the age of 11, and was illiterate until the age of 18. Becoming Cambridge’s youngest Black professor in 2023, he was part of a mere 1% of Black professors in the United Kingdom. 1 Whilst we could talk about Mr. Arday’s successes, achievements and research more, we will be focusing on what put him in the limelight in the first place.
A few months after he was appointed as a Professor, he reported David Harris, another professor, to the police on accounts of harassment, after Harris emailed Arday with an enquiry about possible plagiarism claims on an article. In September 2025, Mr. Arday would report Jack Grove to the police, who was due to publish a report via the Times Higher Education on Arday’s alleged plagiarism. 2 It was in July 2026 that the issue went fully public, as Nathan Cofnas, an American postdoctoral researcher and self-described “race-realist,” published a Substack post widely publicising the allegations. Mr. Cofnas was previously dismissed by Emmanuel College for arguing that Black people are not as intelligent, and in 2024 he claimed that without Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, black people would disappear from most high-profile professions. 3
Jason Arday’s autobiography has since become a prominent point of discussion too, as it includes many questionable and debunked claims, including him going to Brazil to install water pumps, which the charity WaterAid responded they would not allow people to do. 4 Other claims outside of the biography include running 30 marathons in 35 days to raise money for charity, and that a masked man with a knife had followed him in his workplace, which The Guardian found there was no evidence for. The Metropolitan Police also rejected his claim that they investigated a pig’s head that was sent to his parents’ home. 5
Following the recent allegations, Liverpool John Moores University, where he had received his PhD degree, reviewed his doctoral thesis and found that he had in fact not plagiarised it. 5 Cambridge, however, later announced its own investigation into his appointment and tenure following further allegations. According to UK Fact Check Politics, 249 articles were published about Jason Arday in the span of 22 days, with The Times and The Telegraph reportedly publishing the most, at just over 40 articles each. 6 Following Mr. Arday’s resignation announcement on the 5th of August, in which he made it clear it was not him taking accountability and admitting to plagiarism, a further 188 articles were still published about him. Despite the resignation, it did not stop the public scrutiny and hounding. Then, on the 14th of August, he was found dead at his home.
A question I would like to raise for the British media and public is: why did we care so much to begin with? A high-ranking academic who was a professor at a high-ranking university, with so many false or sceptical claims surrounding him, should have rightly been investigated or not given a pass. The fact he resigned absolutely should not have ended the investigation too. But the fact that the posts continued, articles continued, and public interest continued is surprising. When was the last time the British public cared so much about a professor who may have plagiarised?
Comparisons have been drawn to William O’Reilly, another Cambridge Professor, who was accused of plagiarising his own students’ work and publishing it as part of his own works. 7 The lack of media coverage, public outcry, and how he was not forced to resign have made people question whether the fact Jason Arday was Black had played a part in the outrage. Not to mention Nathan Cofnas, who brought the initial widespread attention to the issue, being known for controversial and racist remarks about black people.
Many voices exist on the matter. Some feel that this case was used to bring down and question the legitimacy of Black and minority scholars and high-ranking academics. These voices are a counter to those who have taken this opportunity to question whether DEI initiatives have been taken too far, to include minority people when they are not as high-ranking just for diversity points. Needless to say, this has sparked an uncomfortable conversation on whether Mr. Arday should have been hired to begin with, and whether the British media and public outcry have a hint of racism and scepticism towards a Black man.
Rest in peace, Jason Arday. Regardless of what he may have done, whether the plagiarism is eventually proved right or wrong, no one deserved this amount of public outcry from a field that most of the people involved are not even a part of.
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