ACADEMIC Jason Arday has been found dead, according to reports.
The Telegraph have reported that Arday was found “unresponsive” at an address in Battersea, south London, on Friday afternoon and was later pronounced dead at the scene.
A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police confirmed officers had responded to the incident after being called by the London Ambulance Service at 3.12pm on Friday.
He said: “Sadly, a 41-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene. His next-of-kin have been informed and are being supported by officers.
“At this time his death is being treated as unexpected, but is not believed to be suspicious. The case is being investigated by officers from the Met’s Central South Command Unit.
"A file will be prepared for the coroner."
A London Ambulance Service spokesperson said: “We were called at 3.06pm on Friday 14 August to reports of an incident on Daley Thompson Way, SW8.
“We sent a number of resources to the scene, including an ambulance crew, an advanced paramedic in a fast response car and members of our Hazardous Area Response Team.
“Sadly, a person was pronounced dead at the scene.”
Arday, a professor of sociology of education who became Cambridge’s youngest black professor in 2023, quit following a series of media reports alleging he plagiarised his PhD thesis – completed at Liverpool John Moores University – and other research.
Further questions were asked in the press about the truth of other claims he made, including saying he ran 600 miles in six days and that he had raised £5.5 million for charity.
An investigation at Liverpool John Moores University cleared Arday of wrongdoing.
Durham and Glasgow universities are investigating the circumstances around Arday’s appointment to academic posts there and Cambridge’s Jesus College had accepted his resignation from his fellowship.
He said in his open resignation letter that the “only way to bring this chapter to an end is to step away”.
In the letter, addressed to colleagues and published on the Good Law Project’s website, he said: “This decision should not be interpreted as a loss of faith in scholarship or in the values that first brought me to Cambridge.
“Nor should it 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.”
This week, Arday had cancelled events promoting his forthcoming memoir.
A bookshop event in Edinburgh and a conference speech featuring the former Cambridge University professor were called off.
His memoir, Great And Unfortunate Things, is to be published in the UK on August 27.
