Did Jason Arday spoof his resume? Ex-Cambridge professor caught in plagiarism scandal under fire for another false claim

Jason Arday, the former Cambridge University professor, is in the spotlight since controversy over his PhD dissertation emerged, accusing him to have lifted more than 100 passages. The 41-year-old, who became the youngest black man ever to hold a professorship at the University of Cambridge is under scanner for allegedly fudging his resume and claiming that he held positions at three other universities.

Surrounded in allegations of extensive plagiarism in his doctoral thesis, Jason Arday is facing another storm tarnishing his image. Media reports suggest that Arday made bogus claims to work at three different academic institutions in his official biography at the University of Cambridge.

Given below is the list of 3 universities Jason Arday claimed he worked at

• As per National Review report, he falsely claimed that he is a visiting professor at Ohio State University’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion. However, the public research university's administrators said they have no record of him as an employee and the school’s DEI office closed in 2025, the National Review said. “We have no record of an employee by that name,” the news outlet quoted Ohio State University spokesman Benjamin Johnson as saying.
• Embroiled in plagiarism scandal, Arday is facing backlash for claiming that he worked as a visiting professor at the University of Glasgow’s School of Education, according to the Daily Mail. A University of Glasgow spokesperson informed The New York Post that although Arday was employed by the University of Glasgow between 2021 and 2023 but has not held a position of “visiting professor” since he left the Scottish university for Cambridge. “Jason Arday was employed as Professor of Sociology of Education at the University of Glasgow between 2021 and 2023. He left the University to take up his role as Professorial Chair at the University of Cambridge,” the spokesperson said.

• The above-mentioned top schools weren't the only things he reportedly spoofed on his resume. The former Sociology professor also listed working at Durham University in the Department of Sociology as an honorary professor. Arday, who became Cambridge’s youngest black professor at 37, held several roles at the UK school but holds no “formal” position there, the report said. “After leaving Durham for another university, Jason had an unpaid academic association with Durham University in relation to ongoing project work,” a spokesperson of the UK school informed The Post. He added, “This type of arrangement is standard practice in academia.”

Moreover, Arday also claimed that he has autism spectrum disorder and was nonverbal until age 11. Ever since, Ghent University postdoctoral researcher Nathan Cofnas published a Substack article detailing several instances in which Arday’s doctoral dissertation appeared to be plagiarised, Arday has faced widespread scrutiny as authorities investigate his academic qualifications and claims about his life.

Arday, who joined Cambridge University in 2023, said that he fully supports “fair investigation processes for genuine concerns” of academic misconduct. Refuting allegation, he clarified that his work was reviewed by concerned authorities and no instance of plagiarism was found. He said, "There have been multiple thorough investigations across several institutions as a result of the allegations, and immense scrutiny, including with an academic misconduct panel who concluded that there was no plagiarism or academic misconduct,” the Guardian reported.

Notably, Cambridge University said the university where Arday completed the PhD, Liverpool John Moores, had reviewed the work and found he had not plagiarised. “We take allegations of academic misconduct incredibly seriously,” a Cambridge spokesperson said, adding, “It is university procedure that investigations are carried out by the institution at which the research was undertaken. This is standard practice in the sector because that institution has access to the information to ensure a full and fair investigation.”