A national tale of plagiarism and lies
Cambridge University has cleared Professor Jason Arday of plagiarism allegations without carrying out a full investigation into his published academic work. The allegations, first raised privately in 2023, went public in late July.
Arday was appointed Professor of Sociology of Education in March 2023, becoming the youngest black professor in Cambridge’s history. His backstory drew worldwide coverage. Diagnosed with autism and global developmental delay at three, he did not speak until 11, and learned to read and write at 18. He completed his PhD at Liverpool John Moores University around 2015 and became a professor at Glasgow in 2021, then Cambridge two years later.
36 passages and a corrected journal article
In July, Nathan Cofnas, a philosopher at the University of Ghent, published side-by-side comparisons alleging that 36 passages in Arday’s 2015 PhD thesis closely match a 2009 Brunel University thesis by Paula Zwozdiak-Myers. Publisher MDPI has corrected a 2018 journal article by Arday after concerns about unattributed material from a separate medical study.
Dave Harris, an emeritus professor at Plymouth Marjon, began documenting issues with Arday’s thesis and journal articles in 2023. He worked with Martyn Hammersley of the Open University. Both are independent academics focused on research standards, with no evidence of outside funding for their work.
The investigation that was never published
Times Higher Education reporter Jack Grove investigated the case in depth last year, drawing on evidence from Harris and Hammersley. The piece was never published after legal letters from law firm Carter-Ruck on behalf of Arday and Cambridge, Retraction Watch reported.
Cambridge says Arday has been cleared of ‘allegations of plagiarism regarding his thesis and journal publications’ and called him a ‘victim of a vile campaign to undermine his credibility’. The university referred the thesis to Liverpool John Moores, which found no plagiarism. Cambridge said the alleged issues predated his time there and has not run a full internal investigation into his later work.
Arday has called the allegations ‘cruel, racially motivated’ and said: ‘I am not a liar.’ A solidarity petition organised through the Good Law Project has attracted hundreds of signatures.
Marathons, snooker, and a corrected statement
Questions have also been raised about parts of Arday’s life story. A 2010 local newspaper report confirms he completed 30 marathons for Shelter and the Shooting Star Children’s Hospice, raising about £6,000. He has since claimed to have raised £5m to £5.5m for more than 70 charities over 20 years, figures that remain unverified in detail. Reported distances for a separate running feat vary between tellings, from 500 to 600 miles.
Cambridge called Arday a ‘victim of a vile campaign to undermine his credibility’, yet never fully investigated his published work.
The University of Bath corrected a statement about Arday, noting he played football at semi-professional level and did not pursue snooker professionally. His account of having a brain tumour removed two weeks before his PhD viva is self-reported, with no independent corroboration published.
Earlier profiles by the BBC and Good Morning America reported Arday’s biographical claims without independent verification. The Guardian’s report this week detailed fresh claims about his record.
Arday’s memoir, Great and Unfortunate Things, is due out on 27 August. Cambridge stands by its clearance statement. No retractions have been made beyond the corrected 2018 article.
