Inquest into Jason Arday’s death opened in London
An inquest into the death of Jason Arday, a former professor of sociology of education at the University of Cambridge, has been opened at the Inner South London Coroner’s Court. According to ABC News Australia, the 41-year-old academic was found dead at an address in south London on August 13, several days after his resignation from the university.
The first hearing was brief. Senior coroner Julian Morris said that the available reports had given him reason to suspect that Arday’s death was unnatural, and therefore he had to open an investigation. At the time of his death, police said they were treating it as unexpected but not suspicious.
Resignation and public allegations
Arday was appointed a professor at the University of Cambridge in 2023. At the time, he became the youngest Black professor in the institution’s history. On August 5, he left his post amid increased media scrutiny of his academic qualifications and claims about achievements outside academia.
Last month, former Cambridge philosophy researcher Nathan Cofnas publicly raised questions about Arday’s qualifications. Newspapers subsequently published reports claiming that more than 100 passages of Arday’s 2015 doctoral dissertation were identical or nearly identical to the text of an earlier work by another researcher.
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Arday denied plagiarism, but acknowledged individual errors made while working on his doctoral dissertation. Media outlets also questioned some of his claims about charitable fundraising and sporting achievements; he later revised those claims.
Release of memoir
The formal opening of the inquest took place one day before the UK release of Arday’s memoir, Great and Unfortunate Things, by Simon & Schuster. According to the publisher’s description, the book tells the story of an autistic boy who did not speak in childhood and was illiterate until late adolescence, and his journey to becoming the youngest Black professor in the history of the University of Cambridge. The memoir was released in the United States earlier in August.
Following Arday’s death, a fundraiser was organized in his memory, raising nearly £225,000 from 7,900 donors. The money is intended for financial and practical support for his family, as well as funeral and memorial expenses.
