31,000 sign petition for inquiry into death of Cambridge professor Jason Arday
More than 31,000 people, including several Members of Parliament, have signed a petition urging the U.K. government to hold a public inquiry into alleged media harassment of the late academic Jason Arday, campaign organisers said on Sunday, August 16, 2026.
The petition, launched by the Good Law Project activist group, follows the death of Dr. Arday on Friday, August 14. The 41-year-old, who was appointed three years ago as the youngest-ever Black professor at Cambridge University, was found dead. Police have said they are not treating his death as suspicious.
Dr. Arday resigned earlier this month from the University of Cambridge and as a fellow of Jesus College after both institutions launched investigations into allegations of plagiarism and fabricating or exaggerating aspects of his life story. He had disputed the allegations.
The Good Law Project, which had been supporting Dr. Arday, said on its website: "There cannot be any doubt that Dr. Arday's tragic death was the direct, foreseeable and foreseen result of press harassment." The group also claimed that "a significant element in that harassment was the colour of his skin" and that racism lay at the heart of the story.
The allegations against Dr. Arday received widespread coverage in U.K. media after Nathan Cofnas, a former Cambridge academic who was dismissed in 2024 and has described himself as a "race realist," said in July that he had found numerous instances of plagiarism in Dr. Arday's work. British media and right-wing commentators seized on the row, suggesting that Dr. Arday had unfairly benefited from diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) policies.
In his resignation letter, dated August 5, Dr. Arday said the decision was "the only way" to end a "difficult period," but should not be "mistaken for an acceptance of the narratives that have surrounded me."
Following the news of his death, his family and friends denounced what they described as "a campaign of sustained abuse" since his 2023 appointment. Friends also stated that Dr. Arday was vulnerable, noting that he had written extensively about being diagnosed as autistic in childhood and not speaking until the age of 11.
Simon Woolley, Dr. Arday's former mentor and a senior figure at Cambridge University, told the BBC on Sunday that he and a group of friends had met with Dr. Arday on Monday, August 10. Mr. Woolley recounted: "He said he felt hounded to death, his words, that he couldn't see a way out." "On that day, we saw a man half his body weight and desperate beyond belief," he added.
The Good Law Project said "many of the signatories" to its campaign had "warned multiple media outlets privately that their relentless pursuit of Dr. Arday risked his suicide."
A vigil for the late academic is scheduled to be held in London's Trafalgar Square on Monday evening, August 17. A fundraising campaign to support his family has already raised nearly £89,000.
