Arday, 41, was found unresponsive Friday afternoon at an address in south London, according to the capital’s Metropolitan Police Service, which did not confirm the identity of the deceased person discovered.
“We are desperately saddened to hear this tragic news,” Cambridge University’s top administrator, Vice-Chancellor Deborah Prentice, said in a brief statement.
“Our heartfelt sympathies go to Jason Arday’s family and friends at this incredibly difficult time.”
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 announced on August 5 that he was resigning from both his university post as a professor and as a fellow of Jesus College, shortly after they announced probes into the various accusations.
In a letter posted online, Arday had 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”.
