By South China Morning Post | Created at 2026-08-14 21:09:18 | Updated at 2026-08-14 22:00:42
1 hour ago
British academic Jason Arday, who resigned from the University of Cambridge last week amid a high-profile plagiarism storm that featured racism claims, was found dead on Friday, UK media outlets reported.
Arday, 41, died after being found unresponsive at an address in south London on Friday afternoon, Sky News and other media said, citing a statement from the capital’s Metropolitan Police Service.
The scandal erupted after some academics and media reports accused Arday, who became Cambridge’s youngest black professor in 2023, of plagiarising parts of his doctoral thesis.
The allegations have been seized on by British right-wing newspapers and commentators, who claim that he unfairly benefited from diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) policies.
Arday resigned from his Cambridge posts on August 5, shortly after the prestigious British institution announced a probe into the various accusations against him.
In a letter posted online, he said that quitting was “the only way” to end a “difficult period”, but insisted the decision should not be “mistaken for an acceptance of the narratives that have surrounded me”.
