Ex-Cambridge professor Jason Arday cancels live event after plagiarism row

Jason Arday has cancelled an appearance in London next month, following his resignation as a Cambridge professor in the wake of allegations of plagiarism and questions about some of his achievements.

Arday's talk at the Royal Geographical Society's conference has been "cancelled at the request of the speaker", the organisation said.

He is also no longer listed on the websites of two other scheduled events in the coming months.

Arday - who became Cambridge's youngest ever black professor in 2023 - has admitted errors in his early work, but said he was not a "liar" and that the recent furore had led to "an unrelenting level of public scrutiny and personal attack".

He had been due to take part in a "fireside chat" at the Royal Geographical Society's conference in London on 2 September.

Arday's appearance at Topping & Company book shop in Edinburgh on 18 September is no longer listed on the website and has reportedly also been cancelled. The shop declined to comment.

He was also announced as a guest for the Arizona Women's Board Authors' Luncheon on 24 October, but is no longer listed on the event's website.

He is still listed as a speaker for the Stroud Book Festival in Gloucestershire in November.

In another development, BBC News has learned that Arday resigned on Sunday as a publication director and trustee of the British Sociological Association (BSA), the national body for sociology academics.

The BSA, to which Arday gave a lecture earlier this year claiming black academics were being targeted in "evil" ways, told the BBC it would shortly amend its website to reflect the change.

It was one of multiple roles Arday held in various organisations.

The NHS Race and Health Observatory - which studies racial and ethnic inequality in health - lists him as a member of its "academic reference advisory group", citing his now-out-of-date Cambridge title. Arday was also named as a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts by Cambridge when it appointed him.

Neither organisation replied to the BBC's request for clarification on whether they remained current roles.

Arday also sat on ITV's Cultural Advisory Council and as an expert the Welsh Government's anti-racism external accountability group, but both roles ended earlier this year.

When asked by the BBC, Advance HE declined to confirm whether Arday remains a senior fellow of its formerly named Higher Education Academy, citing data protection law. The senior fellowship is awarded to individuals who "lead or influence the learning and teaching practices of others".

The Runnymede Trust think tank, for whom Arday was a trustee until 2024, released a statement defending him last week and condemning "racialised, hyper-aggressive media scrutiny".

The publisher of Arday's memoir Great and Unfortunate Things is going ahead with its release in the US on Tuesday and in the UK on 27 August as planned.

The book tells the story of his life from being non-verbal until the age of 11 and unable to read or write until 18, then going through a series of "improbable triumphs and heartbreaking setbacks", before being appointed professor of sociology of education at Cambridge.

However, he has been accused of plagiarism in his PhD thesis, and questions have been raised about the reliability of parts of his life story, including that he ran 600 miles in six days and that he had raised £5.5m for charity.

On Wednesday, the University of Cambridge said it had launched an investigation "following new information" about his "academic qualifications and honorary appointments".

Announcing his resignation on the same day, Arday said the "personal cost" of the scrutiny had become "too great".

He said: "While criticism is an inevitable part of academic life, what I have experienced has gone far beyond scholarly disagreement.

"The relentless accusations, speculation and public commentary have taken a profound toll on me and on those I love."

He stressed that his resignation should not "be mistaken for an acceptance of the narratives that have surrounded me".