Cambridge University’s Prof Arday at centre of plagiarism row defends his work

A Cambridge University professor, Jason Arday, has found himself at the center of a plagiarism controversy after it was alleged that his academic work contains numerous instances of copied content. Arday, who became the university's youngest black professor in 2023, defended himself in an interview, stating that he was accountable for any errors but insisted he was not a liar.

He claimed that his autism and reliance on mimicry to make sense of information led to some mistakes in his early work, and that similar scrutiny could expose similar errors in other academics' work. Critics, including Nathan Cofnas, a self-described "race realist" who was sacked from his role at Cambridge in 2024, have accused Arday of plagiarism and questioned some of his achievements.

Cofnas claimed he found passages from Arday's PhD dissertation in other academic works, and that Arday had previously faced concerns from a retired professor about his subsequent academic articles. Arday has maintained that the accusations are baseless and motivated by racism due to his activism in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies.

Over 12,000 people, including Green Party leader Zack Polanski and several Labour MPs, have signed a petition supporting Arday. Some academics have called for a thorough investigation into the allegations, while others, like cognitive neuroscientist Simon Baron-Cohen, have criticized the relentless bullying of an autistic individual.