A Cambridge professor ensnared in plagiarism accusations also reportedly fudged his resume by claiming he held positions at three other universities. Jason Arday, the youngest Black man ever to hold a professorship at the University of Cambridge, has come under fire for appearing to have lifted more than 100 passages in his PhD dissertation from another academic’s work. Recent reports, however, also allege the professor falsely claimed to work at three different academic institutions in his official biography at the University of Cambridge. Arday listed on his bio that he is a visiting professor at Ohio State University’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion—though the school’s DEI office closed in 2025 and school administrators said they have no record of him as an employee, according to the National Review. “We have no record of an employee by that name,” Ohio State University spokesman Benjamin Johnson told the outlet.
But it wasn’t the only line he spoofed on his resume. The University of Glasgow—where Arday also claims he works as a visiting professor in the School of Education—similarly said they have no record of him working there, the Daily Mail reported. A spokesperson for the school told the outlet in a statement that Arday “isn’t a visiting professor at the University of Glasgow.” He lists working at Durham University in the Department of Sociology as an honorary professor, and although he held several roles at the UK school, he currently holds no “formal” position there, according to the outlet. A spokesperson for Durham told the outlet that Arday instead “had an unpaid academic association … in relation to ongoing project work.” Ohio State, Durham University, and the University of Glasgow did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
Arday, who became Cambridge’s youngest Black professor at 37, has been the subject of glowing media profiles about his journey to overcome adversity and achieve elite academic prestige. The sociology of education professor has also said he has autism spectrum disorder and was nonverbal until age 11. But controversy surrounding the educator swirled last month after Nathan Cofnas, a postdoctoral researcher at Ghent University in Belgium, published a Substack article detailing several instances in which Arday’s doctoral dissertation appeared to be plagiarized. The Telegraph also reported an analysis showing that more than 100 passages in his thesis appeared to be similar to or lifted from the thesis of Brunel University student Paula Zwozdiak-Myers. Cofnas, who previously held a research position at Cambridge’s Emmanuel College, was sacked in 2024 after his writings on IQ differences across racial groups and disparate outcomes in meritocracies drew backlash, the National Review reported. He controversially claimed the number of Black students at Harvard would fall below 1% if admissions were meritocratic, the outlet said. Lawyers at the Ivy League university described the assertion as “incomplete, preliminary, and based on limited inputs.” Cofnas also sued Emmanuel College, but lost.
Cambridge told the Guardian in a statement that it had passed the plagiarism complaints to the university where Arday completed the PhD, Liverpool John Moores, which had reviewed the work and found he had not plagiarised. “We take allegations of academic misconduct incredibly seriously,” a Cambridge spokesperson said. “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.” Arday also told the outlet that he fully supports “fair investigation processes for genuine concerns” of academic misconduct. “To clarify, 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,” Arday added.
[UPDATE 8-5-2026 5:45PM]
[UPDATE: Thurday; August 6, 2026]
Article from The Spector: Scotland Yard attempted to shut down a journalist who investigated the claims made by Jason Arday
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