The Jason Arday scandal

Whether you watch the BBC or not, you can see it on their news website wherever you are, on which it's been covered for a good while now, including this: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cpvwd30we17o

Still, always room for a bit of BBC bashing.

@IDasIX
I wonder if you realise how Arday's story about how he overcame his autism and GDD to become a Cambridge Professeur, affected parents of children with SEND.
This is a post I made on the other much longer thread.
I do understand how angry academics feel about the damage done to academic processes. Just at a time when universities are trying to show the value of studying for a degree. However, I agree completely with ** I remember reading on Mumsnet threads back in 2023, the hope for non verbal children engendered by the story of Jason Arday. His story implied falsely, that if you worked hard enough with your autistic, non verbal children, they too could become a Cambridge Professor. It is comparable to the stories of curing cancer with some simple remedy or exercise. It is such a cruel assertion. I hope his memoir does fully explain the background details to his autism diagnosis and his early problems with GDD . I wonder if Jason Arday realises the harm he has done by embellishing his struggles with SEND and supposedly overcoming such significant problems.

This started a long time before Nathan Cofnas wrote his Substack on Jason Arday with previous journalistic interest being shut down by lawyers.

I don't think the "whataboutism" of other white academics accused of plagiarism washes its face here - this is not just about plagiarism. There's an entire backstory which seems ludicrous to anyone with a brain (autism, illiteracy, epilepsy, a stroke, hairline fracture whilst running multiple marathons, a brain tumor causing memory loss just before his PhD viva, a car crash, a coma, testicular cancer..) plus the not insignificant evidence of academic fraud which I believe has been the prompt which has started the new Cambridge investigation.

I have a 16 year old non verbal son
I realuse some non verbal. Children do gain speech but ime they remain severly impaired and generally need a lot of support with basic life skills
So it seemed very far fetched to me.

This x100!!

As far as the PhD plagiarism goes, I'm surprised there is not more focus on Liverpool John Moores rather than Cambridge, as they awarded the PhD. I wouldn't expect subsequent employers to check the content, though they might verify that it actually existed. (From the Guardian yesterday, "Cambridge initially came to Arday’s defence... It said it had passed complaints on to Liverpool John Moores University").

For the outlandish claims of marathons etc., I'm not clear whether they were on his application, though I assume they would have been. They would definitely be ringing alarm bells. As for the other things about not speaking till 11 and not reading/writing till 18, I'm sure that happens to some people, but to then go on to get a degree, a PhD and a professorship? Hmm.

And from his own comments (quote from BBC): "The Times reported Arday defended himself by arguing that he had not received adequate supervision during his PhD given his autism and "learning disabilities".
In an interview with the Times, Arday said that he could not afford a proofreader to catch mistakes when he started out in academia." Yes, the uni should be supervising him, but frankly, if you have learning disabilities and also need a paid proofreader, how on earth are you PhD material? A PhD is supposed to produce a rigorous academic thesis, and if you are not capable of doing that you shouldn't be accepted for a PhD in the first place, and you certainly shouldn't be awarded one for a subpar thesis.

Do you seriously think this is a one off, friend?

I don't disagree that one needs to be literate to pass GCSEs but I'm of the same school year as him and also did gcse textiles. I don't recall having to submit much - if any - written work for the final assessments. Certainly none of the depth and breadth as you describe. My grade came solely down to the piece I produced at the end of the 2 years.

This guys is an opportunistic narcissist- a proper narcissist. The rage when he found out when he was being investigated demonstrated that.

No sympathy for Cambridge University - simple HR checks about his visiting professorships would have uncovered it so they are as bad as him.

I have realised the reason I am so angry recently is the clever people in society have completely outsourced their critical thinking. If someone isn't smart, or is ignorant on a subject thats different- but smart people should be held to a higher standard.

I think this guy is very good at utilising the current zietgiest talking points to his advantage. I would love to see that investigation though, and the lawyers letters.

If you talk to someone on the phone about their PhD thesis being plagerised and then you get a knock on the door from the police- that is proof you are on the right track.

Oxford, he was head of the Oxford Union. Disgusting person.

A student, not an academic!

I can help. George Abaraonye achieved A B B as his A level grades.

That is below the usual standard for those offered a place at Oxford.

I suppose he must have had something else about him to help bolster his case.

This is a consequence of DEI hirings and inevitable. It's a tragic shame for those whose jobs were given on merit who just happen to be part of the DEI community, but ultimately I believe we'll get to the right place.

What do you mean, he "looks like a fantastist!"??

He clearly is a fantasist, based on the evidence, but I really don't see on what reasonable grounds you can say he looks like one?

I am glad my daughter did not do her PhD at Liverpool JM. What does that say about the scrutiny of doctoral theses when they don't even pick up great chunks of cut-and-paste plagiarism? Every thesis from LJM will be given a stink eye for a while. So unfair to other students who don't cheat but are not a nice brown boy who can cry racism every time he is caught out.

Unfortunately I know from working in Higher Education for 9 years that University academic departments are full of people who have inflated their importance and abilities. People who who failed in industry but have a big ego find a home in 'research' and talking c**p under the guise of 'academia'.
Jason took it further than most but I've come across plenty of inflated qualifications and claims to expertise that just don't stand up to scrutiny.

I am just googling a former colleague now who worked as an entry level admin after dropping out of a MA. She is now a high level lecturer in science and engineering with lots of long words in her biography. She has no actual qualifications or real world experience though. Just clever at picking a very small niche that attracts funding and avoids scrutiny.

Your missing the point. He was prosecuted and for a lesser offence.

ive no doubt he was targeted due to racism

And people wonder why the far right are on the rise.

Why didn't anyone challenge his farfetched stories? How can the staff be alleged masters in critical thinking yet believe all his rubbish?

Illiterate yet got (2) gcses, professional snooker player at 10, professional football player, champion marathon runner. No evidence of any of this! Why didn't anyone Google him?! He didn't even try to be convincing and have fake evidence.

Oh Cambridge uni. What utter fools you are .

This is the issue. I have problems with spelling, syntaxing and reading comprehension. It can be irritating when I give a draft copy of something I have worked hard on and the only feedback is on the spelling errors that not the actual work.

While, I agree that a PhD is academic and the final submission should be held to a very high standard- I don't have a problem with using proofreaders. They are there to catch the spelling/syntaxing errors that a word processor won't catch like peace/piece etc. I personally use Grammarly that highlights issues for me and I can choose whether to keep it.

Having seen a bit of the Thesis it is obvious that he isn't able to reason and large chunks - even the references- are taken out of someone elses. When I put my work through Turnitin it picks up loads of stuff-from other students papers etc.. I don't understand how after giving it in, and a review this wasn't picked up.

What next, get the local handyman in to take a class as he has completed a thesis in astrophysics?

It's a big story. Of course they're covering it.
I wondered why you thought they wouldn't cover it, and why you are surprised that they are.

I agree with this, and I would add to it, albeit in a tangential way.

Society tends to look at academia as the goalkeepers for so many things. The bastion of truth. A place of new ideas and inventions, proving things, improving.

I know nothing about sociology, I am an Engineer, and I have seen Engineering Academia not only embrace vaporware projects, but actively promote them.

The scenario is a snake oil salesman pushes an idea. The politicians buy in, they go to the Universities, and they should be the ones saying "woah... steady on, won't work cos physics". But no, they take the money and say "no problem".

What's a diblijg?
And a faang company?