Fundraiser for late Cambridge professor Jason Arday’s family surpasses £100,000

A fundraiser for Jason Arday’s family has exceeded £100,000 after the late former Cambridge University professor was found dead in his London home.

The fund, which will go towards the cost of his funeral, was started by Sir Patrick Vernon, OBE, to support his loved ones ‘at this incredibly difficult time’, initially with a £110k target.

‘We are deeply saddened by the sudden death of Professor Jason Arday, aged just 41,’ the page reads.

‘In the period before his death, Jason was subjected to intense public scrutiny following allegations concerning aspects of his academic work and career.

‘Jason disputed allegations made against him, and questions surrounding them had not all been finally determined when he died.

‘Whatever people’s views about those controversies, nothing should take away from Jason’s humanity or his family’s right to grieve in dignity and privacy.’

Prime Minister Andy Burnham described his death as a ‘tragedy on so many levels’.

‘It’s not a moment for any rushing to judgement. It’s a moment for reflection, I would say, reflecting on how things came to this,’ he said.

A friend of the academic also spoke about receiving voice notes from him just before his death, saying that ‘he couldn’t go on’.

Speaking on Radio 4’s Today programme, University of Cambridge professor and director of the Autism Research Centre, Sir Simon Baron-Cohen, shared that he had spoken to Arday on Friday morning.

Sir Simon told the BBC show: ‘He was being subjected to relentless scrutiny, including ridicule, discrediting absolutely every detail of his life, and he wasn’t coping with the loss of his career, the loss of his reputation, and he felt he couldn’t go on.

‘He used those words in voice notes.’

Recalling that his ‘kind and gentle’ friend had been ‘a vulnerable child, a vulnerable teenager, and a vulnerable adult’, he added that he ‘needed and deserved safeguarding and support and reasonable adjustment every step of the way’.

Professor Arday was found dead at his home in London on Friday.

Metropolitan Police said they were called out by the London Ambulance Service at 3.12pm and the professor was found ‘unresponsive’ at the property on Daley Thompson Way, Battersea.

A spokesperson for the Met 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 added that they arrived on the scene at 3.06pm.

‘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.’

In a statement, the professor’s family said they are ‘in shock to have lost this amazing father, partner, brother, uncle, and son’.

They said he had been ‘subjected to a campaign of sustained abuse for more than three years’ by those who ‘would leave no stone unturned in their quest to undermine him’.

‘The campaign of misinformation was too much for Jason, who was a gentle man and who always wanted to see the best in everyone,’ they added, via his publisher Simon & Schuster UK.

His family addedthat they will not be commenting further.

His death comes after he resigned from his role as a professor at Cambridge nine days ago, one he took on in 2023 as its youngest-ever Black professor.

Speaking after the news of his death broke, Cambridge Vice-Chancellor Professor Deborah Prentice said she was ‘desperately saddened’, adding: ‘Our heartfelt sympathies go to Jason Arday’s family and friends at this incredibly difficult time.’

Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan, shadow communities secretary Sir James Cleverly, and Your Party co-founder Zarah Sultana also joined in with tributes, describing Arday’s death as a ‘tragedy’.

Professor Arday’s academic work focused on areas including race, education, and social inequality.

On August 5, he stepped down from his department in sociology of education amid accusations of plagiarism, with an investigation launched into his ‘appointment and tenure’.

He denied the claims against him but admitted he had made mistakes and cited an ‘unrelenting level of public scrutiny’ as his reasons for resigning, adding in his resignation letter that the ‘personal cost’ of such criticism had become ‘too great’, taking a toll on him and his loved ones.

Describing the reaction as a ‘personal attack’, he said that stepping away was the ‘only way to bring this chapter to an end’.

Professor Arday stressed that his decision to resign should ‘not be mistaken for an acceptance of the narratives that have surrounded [him]’.

The academic came under review due to allegations concerning his PhD thesis, other work, and accounts of his personal achievements.

Controversy also swarmed his claims about his life and fundraising, such as how he previously said he completed a 600-mile endurance challenge in six days but later said it had taken 12 days. 

He also clarified a widely reported claim that he had raised £5,500,000 for charity, explaining that the fundraising was a group effort of 100 people and not carried out by him alone.

Additionally, he claimed he appeared on the TV show Seven Up!, the original instalment of which was broadcast two decades before he was born.

In an interview with The Times before his resignation, Arday stated: ‘I am accountable for the mistakes I’ve made. I hold myself accountable, and other people should hold me accountable.

‘We’re talking about academia here. I didn’t murder somebody.

‘I think the cruelty that I’ve experienced and the positioning of me as this kind of liar and fantasist is totally unacceptable.’

Discussing the claims about his work, Arday attributed some citation problems in his earlier academia to the way he absorbs information.

He said that he used mimicry as part of learning while autistic.

It came after an analysis of his PhD thesis allegedly showed ‘more than 100 passages’ were either identical or near-matches to the work of other students.

This included a 2009 PhD thesis by a Brunel University student, according to the Daily Telegraph, where the plagiarism claims were first published. It said Arday did credit her 17 times.

While Arday refuted any allegations of deliberately copying material after similarities were noted, the dispute ultimately prompted wider questions about Cambridge’s appointment procedures.

Previously, Liverpool John Moores University, which awarded Arday’s doctorate, had already investigated allegations concerning his thesis. He was cleared of misconduct.

Last weekend, Arday cancelled events promoting his forthcoming memoir, Great And Unfortunate Things, which had been due for publication in the UK on August 27.