A British sociologist who resigned last week from the University of Cambridge following weeks of public accusations of plagiarism and media scrutiny was found dead Friday.
Jason Arday, who was 37 when he became Cambridge’s youngest Black professor in 2023, resigned after he came under intense media pressure, with weeks of allegations about plagiarism in his academic work and questions surrounding claims about his athletic and fundraising accomplishments.
The controversy initially focused on his PhD thesis, which he completed at Liverpool John Moores University. Academic critics and investigations alleged that substantial sections of the dissertation had been copied from the work of other scholars without proper attribution.
Further scrutiny, including reporting by Retraction Watch, raised allegations that Arday had reused qualitative interview quotations from other researchers’ studies and presented them as original data.
Arday was found dead just days after his resignation. His death is being treated as unexpected but not suspicious by the police.
